Healthcare News and Trends
Annual Report Examines Physician Starting Salaries and Other Recruiting Incentives
July 08, 2019
By Travis
Singleton, EVP at Merritt Hawkins
Twenty-six years ago,
Merritt Hawkins began filling
a pressing industry need by providing data on starting salaries and additional incentives typically used
to recruit physicians.
So began Merritt Hawkins’ annual Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives. At the
time of inception, it was the only
national source of data on this topic, and it
continues to be the most comprehensive resource hospitals, medical groups,
and other facilities can use to determine which physician recruiting incentives
are customary and competitive in today’s market.
Though other organizations, such
as the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) and the American Medical
Group Association (AMGA), provide nationally benchmarked data regarding total physician
compensation, Merritt Hawkins’ Review
remains the most widely referenced benchmark on physician starting salaries.
In addition to starting salary data, the Review also includes key
findings quantifying physician signing bonuses, production
bonuses, continuing medical education (CME) allowances, relation allowances,
and other recruiting incentives. Data in the newly released 2019 Review is derived from a sample of 3,131
search assignments Merritt Hawkins and its affiliated companies conducted or that were ongoing from April 1, 2018
to March 31, 2019. Therefore, it
is not reported data as would be gathered in a survey but
data derived from real-world recruiting contracts.
The Review has
grown in scope over the years and now offers a wide ranging discussion of
physician recruiting trends and how these reflect ongoing changes in the healthcare
industry overall.
The 2019 Review,
for example, examines why a growing number of healthcare facilities are seeking
medical specialists and underscores the fact that population aging is creating
a robust market for both primary care and specialist doctors. The Review also examines how hospital and health system
consolidation is changing the way physicians are recruited, how value-based
payments are being incorporated into physician contracts, and a number of other
industry trends.
Merritt Hawkins’ 2019 Review of Physician and Advanced
Practitioner Recruiting Incentives offers both a big-picture look at the
changing landscape in healthcare and key benchmark data of practical use to
hospitals, medical groups, and other organizations and individuals recruiting and interacting with physicians.
Download your full copy of the report here. For any questions regarding the report, please reach out to us here.
Travis Singleton is Executive Vice President of Merritt Hawkins, the nation's leading physician search firm and a company of AMN Healthcare. He can be reached here.
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