If you're having a hard time getting an appointment with a primary care doctor, you're not alone. A physician recruitment review coming from Merritt Hawkins finds primary care doctors are the most in-demand physicians.
In 2010-2011, family practice and general internal medicine physicians were the two top most requested physician search assignments for the sixth consecutive year, the national health care search and consulting firm reports. Radiologists, cardiologists and anesthesiologists—formerly the top requested search assignments— have dropped to 17th, 18th and 19th place, respectively. Part of the decline for these specialists is attributed to reimbursement cuts and a reduction in elective procedures, the report notes.
Basic need is driving the demand for primary care docs.
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And while supply of more popular, high paying specialties has grown in recent years, the supply of primary care physicians has remained static, explains Phil Miller, vice president of communications at Merritt Hawkins. Physicians also are embracing more controllable lifestyles and are working fewer hours, so supply is constrained at a time when demand for primary care is taking off.
"Add to this mix the 32 million patients who are projected to obtain health insurance through health reform and you have the proverbial perfect storm," Miller says. "We need more primary care physicians, but it takes years to train them, so we have a problem on our hands for the foreseeable future."
To entice physicians, health care organizations continue to offer signing bonuses and relocation and continuing medical education allowances in recruitment packages. New to recruitment offerings is a housing allowance, though that may go away if or when the housing market rebounds.
While incentives are still volume-based, Merritt Hawkins also anticipates more production bonuses will move toward the quality metrics encouraged by health care reform, though it's not clear value-based compensation will become the national standard.
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