How Can Physicians' Job Satisfaction Be Improved?

As seen in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
(Section M1, Wednesday, November 28, 2007)

In any marketplace, when demand is high and the supply is low, resources must be conserved and cultivated to ensure their availability to future generations. The practice of medicine is no different. The aging population has a doubling-effect: increasing the demand for medical care while reducing the supply of physicians who are retiring in record numbers.

Keeping physicians productive and satisfied in their medical practices, while attracting young people to the profession, has become a top priority for the healthcare industry.

The American Medical Group Association has extensively studied the interaction between physician satisfaction, recruitment and retention. Compensation issues are assumed to be the primary causes of dissatisfaction, and certainly reimbursement and malpractice insurance costs lead the list of concerns. However, in our joint physician retention survey with AMGA, we found that “poor cultural fit” with the medical group is the primary cause of turnover.

In the same survey, we discovered that medical groups who assign a mentor to newly recruited physicians reported a measurable improvement in retention. Medical groups shared other strategies for improving retention, such as engaging the spouse and significant other in recruitment and orientation, setting clear expectations for compensation and performance, and offering flexible work schedules.

The underlying message is that physicians are people. Their professional satisfaction is dependent on creating relationships and cultivating a work environment that addresses their needs for “fit and family.” In such an environment, the medical staff can work together to achieve important goals such as clinical quality, patient satisfaction, professional development, fair compensation and recruitment of new physicians to ensure continued delivery of care to future generations of patients.

Physician Recruitment - Contracting and Selection Strategies

Join Brian McCartie, Regional Vice President, for a webinar with the American Urological Association on the topic of physician recruitment, December 11, 2007, at 8:00pm - 9:30pm EST.

The demand for urologists continues to increase while the supply of available urologists remains relatively stable. As a result, attracting a qualified physician to a medical practice is becoming more and more difficult.

This webinar is designed to impart knowledge acquired from physician recruitment experts on the key elements of selecting the right recruit and negotiating a contract that meets both the needs of the practice and the new physician.

Top Physician Retention Strategies

On Tuesday, February 12, 2008, join Brian McCartie, Regional Vice President for Cejka Search and Kevin Donovan, FACHE, FACMPE, Vice President of Physician and Ambulatory Services for Elliot Health System as they discuss the top physician retention strategies via an audio conference sponsored by HealthLeaders Audio Presentations.

Just Released: 2007 Physician Executive Compensation Survey

The findings of the 2007 Physician Executive Compensation Survey -- conducted by Cejka Search in partnership with the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE) -- were released today at the ACPE 2007 Fall Institute in Tucson, Arizona.

Among the findings, overall physician executive compensation increased 7.5 percent from $240,000 to $258,000. Since the first survey was published in 1997, overall physician executive compensation has grown 36.6 percent.

To read a summary of the findings, go to http://www.cejkasearch.com/acpe.

Overview of the 2007 Physician Executive Compensation Survey

Join Carol Westfall, President of Cejka Search, as she provides an overview of this year's 2007 Physician Executive Compensation Survey at the American College of Physician Executives 2007 Fall Institute in Tucson, AZ, on November 13.

2007 Physician Executive Compensation Survey - Reserve Your Copy Today

The pre-order form for the 2007 Physician Executive Compensation Survey has been released on the Cejka Search web site homepage.

The survey report -- in partnership with the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE) -- is published once every two years and examines several compensation categories including: compensation by organization type, group size, time allocated to administrative duties, geographic area, organization location, scope of operations, revenue, years of experience, scope of responsibilities, executive bonus percent, medical specialty, and post-graduate business degrees.

The cost to receive a full electronic copy of the report is $150 for ACPE members and $350 for non-ACPE members. Partial editions of the report also are available for purchase (electronic version only). For further details, visit the Cejka Search web site at http://www.cejkasearch.com/.