This is the third article in an ongoing series summarizing the findings in a recent white paper published by the President of Jackson Physician Search, Tony Stajduhar. To read “Physician Recruitment: The Cost to Hire and Return on Investment” in its entirety, find it here.
In our last article, we looked at how organizations can utilize benchmarking to drill down and find the true costs of your recruitment and hiring process. While it is important to benchmark against national medians to understand how physician compensation and your recruitment costs will impact your return on investment, it doesn’t tell you the whole story. Other variables that play an important role in ROI consideration are payer mix, your market’s clinician supply/demand, quality incentive payouts, and cost of living.
Finally, a big piece of the puzzle that often gets overlooked is ‘Physician Contribution.’ Simply put, physician’s contribution relates to the typical inpatient and outpatient revenues, referral revenues, and other incomes not directly related to patient care. For example, a primary care physician can generate as much as $1.5 million in indirect revenue, from labs to imaging, and hospital admissions. Additionally, as much as 10% of primary care visits result in specialty referrals!
While examining the data, it is easy to pinpoint your revenue generation indicators, what your specific referral ratios are for each physician by department, and more. With that, you are still missing pieces of the revenue puzzle. Physician’s contribution also includes non-monetary benefits that can’t be discounted.
Non-monetary conditions include better staff morale and patient satisfaction because the department is fully staffed. Patients are less likely to migrate to a new provider because their needs are being met in an environment that is noticeably more efficient and timely. Physician retention and overall organizational culture will improve leading to lower turnover, shorter vacancies, and improved fill rates. It is important to recognize the link between a healthy culture and physician recruitment and retention. Healthy workplace culture is not a condition that is hidden from view. Being recognized as a great place to work is generally known within community circles and any physician, or any potential staff member, doing their due diligence on a job opportunity will learn that information.
Organizations that aren’t focused on creating a healthy culture will ultimately pay a price. Research demonstrates a direct link between culture and performance measurables related to healthcare. In a healthy workplace culture where the clinical staff understands their role and how it relates to the organization’s mission and values, you can find a 33% increase in overall quality.
If your organization is behind the curve on developing and maintaining a healthy culture, or if you are looking to improve your recruitment and retention process, contact us today and find out how Jackson Physician Search can help.
