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The healthcare industry is facing a wide variety of challenges—and solutions aren’t always straightforward. Each month, Modern Healthcare asks leaders in the field to weigh in on their approaches to the sector’s thorny issues.
This week, we hear from Matthew McKinney, director of provider recruitment at Geisinger Health, and Dr. Jack Resneck Jr. president of the American Medical Association, about the ongoing challenges of recruiting and retaining physicians.
What are some ongoing issues you’re seeing in physician staffing?
Matthew McKinney: This has many layers, but overall, it has become harder to attract experienced physicians. Those coming out of residency and fellowship training need to find that first job. So we’ve been very intentional in building pipelines and attracting recently trained physicians. What’s also evident is the continued demand for telemedicine roles, locum tenens work and per diem positions.
Dr. Jack Resneck Jr.: Regarding the physician shortage, we used to talk about individual specialties. We used to talk about rural areas. But one of the things we can safely say right now is that it’s almost every specialty and almost every area. Whether you’re in a big urban center or a suburban area or a rural area, we’re seeing shortages. … And the future workforce estimates are daunting.
What are physicians telling you they need from leadership?
McKinney: It’s unique to the individual, but more broadly, the need for flexibility and work-life balance remains critically important. We have committed a lot of resources and infrastructure to support those needs. Also, a concern for many physicians right out of training is their medical school debt. So we offer recruitment incentives like loan repayment or an educational subsidy.
Resneck: What I hear when I’m on the road talking to physicians is pretty darn consistent across specialties, geographies and communities. They want relief from a collection of [administrative and bureaucratic] things that get in the way of what drew them to medicine in the first place: being able to take fantastic care of their patients.
What are some policy changes that would help mitigate staffing challenges?
McKinney: One would be to expedite the time it takes to obtain a medical license. We’ve seen progress in our state, but it would help if the process were much faster or we had some type of national reciprocating program. Also, although we are an exempt organization for [specialty occupation] visas, a greater ability to sponsor more J-1 visa waivers would help bring in more physicians.
Resneck: We are at a point now where the only thing that is going to fix [physician shortages] on the front end is a major change in graduate medical education funding across the board, not specific to specialties. We also must properly fund Medicare, stop government interference in healthcare and get burdens like prior authorization out of the way.
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