Ten Keys to Physician Retention
Introduction AMN Healthcare, the nation’s leading healthcare workforce solutions company, produces a wide range of thought leadership resources on various healthcare workforce related topics. These resources include surveys, reports, podcasts, speaking presentations and white papers. In this white paper, AMN Healthcare’s Physician Solutions division (formerly known as Merritt Hawkins) examines how hospitals, medical groups and other employers can enhance physician satisfaction, alignment, and retention.
Physician Turnover and the Importance of Physician Retention
Burnout and turnover have been pervasive in the physician workforce for years. In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Harvard’s H.T. Chan School of Public Health identified physician burnout as a public health crisis. Prior to the pandemic, physician turnover rates were calculated at 7% annually for physicians practicing with medical groups, and a much larger 28% for physicians employed by hospitals ( Growing problem of physician turnover. Betsy Rubendall. Physicians Thrive. January 18, 2019 ). The higher turnover rate for hospital employed physicians is likely related to the fact that employed physicians are less tied to their place of employment than are those who may have an ownership/partnership role with a medical group. The pandemic accelerated burnout and turnover among healthcare professionals of all types, including physicians. According to the Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment’s (AAPPR) Physician and Provider Recruitment Benchmarking Study , 48% of all physician searches in 2021 were to replace departing physicians. This is up by 16% since 2018. One-third of physicians (33%) cited burnout as the reason for leaving their organizations. ( Report Finds Physician Shortage on the Rise as Burnout Continues to Drive Turnover. AAPPR Press Release. Oct. 18, 2022 ). As we have emerged from the pandemic, many of the factors that cause physician turnover and burnout, such as long hours, high levels of paperwork/bureaucracy, reimbursement reductions, and loss of clinical autonomy remain in place. In the midst of a continuing physician shortage, burnout and turnover compound the serious physician staffing challenges that many employers face nationwide. Because it is difficult to recruit new physicians, it is particularly important to retain the ones you already have. Following are ten methods by which healthcare facilities can maintain and enhance physician relations and foster physician alignment and retention.
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