Top Pediatric Subspecialty Shortages

The nation's children's hospitals and medical groups are continuing to experience a shortage in some key pediatric subspecialties with most recruiting in more than one subspecialty area. Our recent recruitment requests and a review of job openings nationwide indicate that the top pediatric subspecialties currently being recruited are:

Critical Care
Emergency Medicine
Gastroenterology
Hospitalist Medicine
Neonatology
Neurology
Surgery

Other pediatric subspecialties currently in high demand are: Endocrinology, Orthopedics, Cardiology, and Pulmonology.

Reasons for the number of vacancies include:

In some specialties, the low number of fellowship training slots
The realization by some pediatricians that several years of additional training will not necessarily increase their income
Physician lifestyle issues, creating more interest in part-time, shared jobs, less on-call
Reluctance or inability to move due to the current real estate market

As a result of these shortages, some medical groups and children's hospitals have done without the additional staffing, causing angst and turmoil in medical staffs who feel they are overworked and not properly paid for the extra time. Others have increased their dependency on locum tenens to fill the gap, which can be an expensive proposition if necessary for the long term. In some cases, the shortage has also caused the loss of patient base to providers outside the pediatric environment, resulting in less ancillary service utilization and surgery at pediatric hospitals. Worst of all, the shortage can cause significant delays in treatment due to long waits for appointments, particularly in Endocrinology, Neurology, Cardiology and Gastroenterology. The net effect of this can mean damage to the facility's reputation and a significant reduction in income to the medical practice.

So how can you successfully tackle the pediatric subspecialty physician shortage?

Immediately pursue an aggressive and effective recruitment program. Use all the resources available to you and consider using the services of an experienced pediatric subspecialty physician search firm. Their ability to fill the position quickly will often make up for the expense.
Design a competitive financial package to attract quality candidates. This is not the time to ruminate on what the salary level "used to be". You must show candidates your commitment to a quality program by offering them a competitive financial package, including enhancements such as signing bonuses and/or educational loan repayment schedules.
Don't delay! Have you computed how much your facility is losing every day you don't have this subspecialist available? Take into account the:

Cost of locum tenens
Cost of additional on-call payments
Loss of income from hospital utilization
Loss of revenue from other hospital services
Cost of continued recruitment advertising
Unhappiness of referring physicians
Loss of reputation in the community by not providing the services of the subspecialist

For the latest tips in developing a subspecialty specific recruitment package and program, please
contact us.

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