New research from Jackson Physician Search and the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) reveals a significant gap in physician leadership training and development. As a result, healthcare leaders experience extreme difficulty finding qualified physician executive candidates for leadership positions. According to the new report, Developing the Next Generation of Physician Leaders, 62% of healthcare leaders find hiring physician leaders very or somewhat difficult. Only 13% said it is somewhat or very easy.
As Vice President of Executive Search at Jackson Physician Search, I regularly work with clients facing this challenge. As a dedicated physician executive search partner, my team and I guide them through the physician executive recruitment process. This involves, among other things, helping to define the physician executive role, leveraging physician networks, candidate outreach, strategic interviewing, and, of course, crafting competitive offers.
Some organizations require more help with certain aspects of the process than others, but generally, candidate acquisition is the area of greatest need. This is also true for the healthcare leaders who participated in the survey, which was the basis of the aforementioned report. According to the research, 71% of healthcare leaders said candidate acquisition is the biggest challenge when recruiting physician leaders. The report points to gaps in physician leadership training and development as the reason for this difficulty. Indeed, increasing access to physician leadership training will boost the volume of qualified candidates for physician leadership jobs, but what else can be done at an organizational level to improve candidate acquisition for physician leadership jobs?
1. Define a Formal Process for Identifying and Developing Candidates Internally
According to the survey, 66% of healthcare leaders prefer to hire physician leaders from within. The figure is surprising when considering that only 38% have a formal process for identifying internal candidates. If your organization prioritizes hiring internally and does not have a process to identify potential physician leaders, developing a formal process is the clear first step to boosting candidate acquisition. Of course, if this is not accompanied by a program designed to develop those potential leaders, these candidates will not likely be ready for the role. Only 21% of survey respondents said their organizations offer formal leadership development programs.
If you are serious about identifying and developing potential physician leaders, look for specific qualities, including curiosity, credibility, communication skills, and emotional intelligence. Once you have identified potential leaders, assign them physician executive mentors and provide them opportunities to observe and participate in the organization’s business side.
While identifying and developing internal talent is critical, also consider the tactics used by Jackson Physician Search to boost external candidate acquisition for our clients:
2. Craft an Attractive Physician Executive Job Description
Physicians with leadership experience are contacted regularly about jobs for which they would be a good fit, so your opportunity must be uniquely attractive. Impressive titles and competitive compensation are essential, but physician executives tend to be driven primarily by a desire to make an impact in their organizations and the broader communities. Among current and prospective physician leaders, a voice in organizational decisions, building and sustaining organizational culture, and impacting their community were the top three motivations to pursue leadership. For this reason, physician executive jobs must promise worthy challenges that appeal to a candidate’s sense of purpose.
Whether marketing the job on a job board or discussing the opportunity one-on-one with a potential candidate, you must be clear that the job provides an opportunity to meaningfully influence an organization that has a clear direction and offers ongoing transparency.
3. Develop a Targeted Physician Executive Candidate Pool
A comprehensive physician executive recruitment strategy will leverage job boards alongside targeted email and text campaigns. However, most physician leaders are not actively searching for jobs. So, while a well-distributed physician executive job advertisement may elicit a few qualified applicants, it’s important to research and build a pool of potential candidates proactively.
Because of the nuanced requirements for any physician leadership role, finding a “pool” of candidates who check every box is extremely difficult without the right resources. It’s not as simple as searching a database for a given specialty and region. Instead, it involves identifying physicians nationwide who have held leadership positions at organizations similar to the clients’. For example, our physician executive search team leverages personal networks from combined decades of experience as well as partnerships with trusted associations dedicated to physician leaders, such as the American Association for Physician Leadership (AAPL). This initial list of physicians may or may not be qualified and/or interested, but it provides a point to begin candidate outreach.
4. Dedicate Time for Physician Executive Candidate Outreach
Once you have established a list of potentially qualified physician leaders, a recruiter who understands the needs of the position should reach out to each name individually, through multiple channels, multiple times. The goal, of course, is to speak with them and determine if they are both qualified and interested. This process takes a significant amount of time, but it allows you to reach physician leaders who aren’t necessarily looking for a job but may be willing to consider the right opportunity. This ensures you are hiring the best physician for the job — not simply the best physician who happened to apply.
5. Partner with a Trusted Recruitment Firm that Specializes in Physician Leaders
Physician executives have the unique potential to impact their patients and entire patient populations. They also have the ability to build and shape the culture of the organizations they lead. When the stakes are this high, organizations will improve their odds by investing in a dedicated physician executive recruitment partner that is closely connected with physicians across the country. After more than 10,000+ physician placements, Jackson Physician Search has strong relationships with physicians at all stages of their careers who trust us to match them with opportunities aligned with their goals and needs, giving us an unmatched edge in physician executive recruitment.
In addition to providing access to a vast network of physicians, a successful physician executive search firm will also serve as an extension of your team. Most internal recruitment teams do not have the bandwidth to dedicate a recruiter to physician executive outreach, but this is exactly what it takes to identify the best physician executive candidates.
As organizations struggle to find qualified physicians for leadership roles, new research points to a gap in leadership training and development programs for physicians as a big part of the problem. Increasing access to leadership training programs will help in the long run, but in the meantime, there are things organizations can do to improve physician executive candidate acquisition. Crafting attractive job descriptions, building candidate pools, and candidate outreach are all crucial, but in order to execute these tactics effectively, most organizations will need a dedicated physician executive search partner.
Whether the physician executive you seek is a CMO, Medical Director, CEO, Chair, or Chief, you need a recruitment partner who has established strong relationships with physicians throughout their careers. Reach out today and discover how our collaborative approach and unparalleled service ensure a streamlined and successful physician executive search.
About Tom Rossi
Tom Rossi has over three decades of dedicated experience in recruitment and leadership within the healthcare sector. Prior to joining Jackson Physician Search as the Vice President of Executive Search in 2023, Rossi served as National Vice President of Physician Recruitment for HCA Healthcare for 20+ years. Before spearheading physician and provider recruitment, Rossi played a pivotal role in HCA’s executive recruitment division and spent six years prior to that leading a team of executive recruiters for a professional services firm.
Outside his professional endeavors, Rossi engages in meaningful volunteer work, contributing to organizations such as Football Parents at Ohio State (FPAOS) and Habitat for Humanity. Rossi cherishes family life and is a proud parent of three adult children.
