Physician business ideas, Physician Recruiting - The Physician Market

The best book on the market state and status of physicians in America is Guide to Physician Recruiting (154 pages, Physician Support Resources, Inc, Publisher, 2007, $59). It’s pricey, but it’s worth it.


In the interest of full disclosure, I know one of the authors, Phillip Miller, and the publisher, Mike Martin, who has published two of my books. The authors are James Merritt, Joseph Hawkins, and Phillip Miller of the Merritt, Hawkins & Associatesa physician recruiting firm, and a division of AMN Healthcare in Irving, Texas., 800-876-0500, www.merritthawkins.com


The chapter on the physician market opens, “Without doctors, hospitals are just empty hotels with mediocre food.”


The authors note physicians drive the lion’s share of America’s $2.2 trillion health market. Physician services are much in demand, but America is in the midst of a “serious, widespread, and protracted physician shortage,” as outlined in the author’s previous book, Will the Last Physician in America Please Turn Off the Lights? A Look at America’s Looming Doctor Shortage.


The book offers this table from Cooper, R, et, in the Feb, 2002 Health Affairs as evidence of the shortage.


Total Physicians, 2000, 772,000, 2010, 887, 300, 2020, 964,700

Physicians per 100,000, 2000,000, 270, 2010, 283, 2020, 280

Pop. Millions 2000, 286, 2010, 326, 2020, 335

Physician Shortage, 2000, N.S. 2010, 50,000, 201, 200,000


The book brims with numerical nuggets you won’t find elsewhere.

Examples are,


• Return on Investment in Specialty Hospitals

1. Average doctor investment $10,000 to $50,000
2. Annual return 30%
3. Annual take-home $3,000 0 $15,000
4. Efficiency gains, to one more $6,000/month
case per week
5. Annual increase in income $72,000


• Average Base Salaries/Guarantees offers to Physicians

Cardiology $342,000
Orthopedic surgery $370,000
Internal Medicine $162,000
OB/GYN $232,000
Family Practice $145,000
Gastroenterology $315,000
General Surgery $272,000
Urology $320,000


• Percent of Medical Residents Who are Female

OB/GYN 68%
Pediatrics 65%
Dermatology 54%
Psychiatry 49%
Family Medicine 47%
Pathology 47%
Internal Medicine 40%


• Based on Population, In What Size Community Would You Like to Practice?

Over 1 million 7.0%
500,000 – 1 million 18.0%
250,000 to 500,000 26.0%
100,00- 250,000 30.0%
50,000 – 100,000 16.0%
25,000 - 50,000 4.0%
10,000 - 25,000 <1%
10,000 0%


• International Medical Graduates by Specialty

Nephrology 40%
Anesthesiology 32%
Psychiatry 31%
Internal Medicine 30%
Cardiology 30%
Neurology 30%
Pulmonology 27%
Gastroenterolgy 26%


• Percent Increase in Physician Searches, 2006 vs. 2005

Emergency Medicine up 94%
Hospitalist up 81%
Family Practice up 49%
Internal Medicine up 46%
General Surgery up 42%
OB/GYN up 34%
Urology up 37%
Neurology up 23%

There are other tidbits as well, costs of recruiting, size of hospitals recruiting, number and types of locum tenens, problems in retaining physicians. All in all, this is a deep and detailed look at the physician market.