ASPR In-House Physician Recruitment Benchmarking Report

RPT_CoverPDFASPR is pleased to announce that the 2014 ASPR In-House Physician Recruitment Benchmarking Report is now available. The newly published Report is an annual survey conducted by the Association of Staff Physician Recruiters (ASPR), a professional organization exclusively for in-house physician recruitment professionals. ASPR is the leading authority on physician recruitment, onboarding, and retention. ASPR is comprised of approximately 1,400 in-house physician recruitment professionals employed directly by hospitals, clinics, physician practices, academic medical centers, and managed care organizations from across the United States and Canada.

The 2014 ASPR In-House Physician Recruitment Benchmarking Report is designed to provide easy-to-comprehend statistics in order to help in-house physician recruitment professionals compare their recruitment data against industry norms. Benchmarks are critical for our industry as we constantly strive for improved processes and results within our organizations to meet the health care needs within our communities. The purpose of the survey is to collect and distribute credible industry data that may be utilized to meet these objectives.

The report provides a detailed analysis of key statistics on provider recruitment searches conducted by in-house physician recruiters during calendar year 2013. A total of 145 organizations participated providing data for 427 in-house physician recruiters and 4,987 active searches. Please refer to the full report and Searchable Results for comprehensive information.

Demographics
The geographical distribution of participating organizations was relatively balanced with 30.3% in the Midwest, 24.7% in Eastern states, 24.7% in Southern states, 16.9% in Western states, and 3.5% in Canada. Regarding population size of the organization’s primary location, 34.5% of reporting organization’s primary location was in a Metropolitan area of 100,001 to 250,000 people, 31% were located in a Metropolitan area of more than 500,000 people, 10.6% were located in an area with a population of 50,001 to 100,000 people, 19% were located in an area with a population of 10,001 to 50,000 and 6.3% were located in an area with 10,000 or less people.

The typical responding organization performed 26 active searches during 2013 and employed two in-house physician recruiters. Both of these statistics appear to signal a significant increase in physician recruiting, given that in 2012, the median organization performed just 20 searches and employed one in-house physician recruiter. Organizations generally offset their additional searches by adding in-house physician recruiters, rather than adding searches to their existing staff ’s workload. The median number of searches conducted per recruiter overall was 15; however this number varies by geography, population size, and total number of searches conducted by the organization.

Searches
The Searches section relays key statistics about 4,987 searches, less than 40% of which was to replace a departing provider. Approximately 58% of active searches were filled by year-end; 38% remained open; 2% were cancelled; and 2% were put on hold.

Approximately 8% of all active searches in 2013 used Locum Tenens. This percentage has remained nearly unchanged over the past three years. Approximately 69% of the reported searches were for practices owned by Hospitals/Integrated Delivery Systems and 11% were for practices owned by physicians.

Primary Care continues to be in high demand both for physicians and advanced practice providers. The specialties for which physician searches were most frequently performed during 2013 included Family Medicine, Hospital Medicine, Internal Medicine, General Pediatrics, and Emergency Medicine, which was identical to the previous year. Nearly 70% of responding organizations searched for a Family Medicine provider. More than 19% of all searches were for Advanced Practice Providers. Approximately 71% of Nurse Practitioner searches and 50% of Physician Assistant searches were specifically for Primary Care compared to 38% and 43% respectively in the prior year.

In an effort to further examine the days to fill data, searches were grouped into four divisions: Advanced Practice, Primary Care, Specialty Care, and Surgery. Of these divisions, Advanced Practice searches were filled in 79 days, while surgical specialties required 169 days. Primary Care and Specialty Care positions were typically filled in 134 and 164 days, respectively.

Recruiter Profile and Compensation
The Profile and Compensation section reports data on 427 in-house physician recruitment professionals from 142 organizations. As in past studies, the most frequently cited position title was “Physician Recruiter”. In addition to a physician recruiter, 29% of organizations also employ a “Physician Recruitment Coordinator/Assistant.” The typical recruiter has 7.5 years of recruitment experience and spends 90% or more of their time on recruitment activities. Approximately 27% supervise staff, 53% have provider onboarding responsibilities, and 38% have provider retention responsibilities.

As similarly reported in previous studies, 80% of individuals involved in in-house physician recruiting hold a Bachelor’s degree or higher (22% hold a Master’s degree or higher). Nearly one third of in-house physician recruiters are certified as a Fellow of ASPR or have obtained designations towards certification.

All compensation values were reported and validated directly by a member of the organization’s Human Resources department. Compensation varies by title, with the title of Director of Physician Recruitment being the most highly compensated. Nearly half of all in-house physician recruiters were eligible to receive a bonus in 2013, which is a significant increase from the 33% that were reportedly eligible in 2012. Those with higher titles were more likely to receive bonuses.

As expected, a correlation exists between years of experience and total compensation. The highest income earners are more likely to have ASPR certification/designation, advanced degrees, responsibilities for supervising staff, and more years of experience.

Expenses
The Expenses section captures data within four categories: Candidate Expenses, Search Firm Fees, Marketing Expenses, and Departmental Expenses. Ninety-six (96) organizations provided their expense data for this year’s survey.

The typical organization reported an annual recruitment budget of $321,000, an increase from $245,000 in 2012. Budgets varied based on the number of searches the organization conducted. The median range spanned from $63,000 for those with fewer than 10 searches to $680,000 for those with more than 50 searches. Reported budgets also show variation based on geographic region and population size.

Approximately two-thirds of participating organizations paid fees to a search firm during the year. Use of external search firms by in-house recruiters appears to be limited to roughly one in seven searches, based on a reported median search firm expense of $2,803 per search (search firm fee $20,000 ÷ $2,803). For organizations conducting 50 or more searches per year and having a median of four recruiters, the per search expense was $934 indicating a recruitment firm utilization rate of 1 in 21 searches. This data indicates less reliance on search firms for organizations with additional staffing and potential efficiencies of larger departments.

Access the Full Report and Searchable Data
Access to the full 2014 ASPR In-House Physician Recruitment Benchmarking Report and Searchable Data may be obtained at www.aspr.org/benchmarking. Survey participants receive free access to the report and Searchable Data as well as an Organizational Benchmarking Report that compares their data to national data. Those that did not participate in the survey may purchase access to the report and Searchable Data. Discounts are available to purchase prior year’s reports.