At the Becker's Hospital Review CEO Strategy Roundtable in Chicago on Nov. 5, Lindsey Dunn, editor with Becker's Hospital Review, moderated a panel discussing best ideas for community hospitals today.
Mike Williams, president and CEO of Plano, Texas-based Community Hospital Corp., said there are three criteria a community hospital needs to be successful. First, the hospital must be geographically essential, meaning it is needed by virtue of its location. Secondly, the hospital needs to be clinically competent and prove it needs to exist. Finally, the hospital has to be optimally efficient.
"If these three things exist, the greatest challenge we see is the recruitment and integration of the medical staff," Mr. Williams said.
Suzanne Richards, CEO of Victor Valley Community Hospital in Victorville, Calif., said she sees this issue reflected in competition with the larger systems in the area, largely reflected in terms of revenue.
"Our number one issue is competing with the other hospitals with capital, with all these new pieces of equipment the doctors want to have," Ms. Richards said. "I have to work with other ways to attract the physicians. They aren't going to have the new toys. It's a different type of relationship building."
To build these physician relationships during recruitment, Jeff Hill, CEO of Steele Memorial Medical Center in Salmon, Idaho, said his community hospital seeks physicians who share the hospital's vision and identity and truly want to be there.
"We look for physicians who want to come to our community," Mr. Hill said. "We look for physicians that are into the amenities that we offer. We try to be creative and look for those people who have similar values as we do."
At Ozarks Community Hospital in Springfield, Mo., physicians are often coming to the hospital instead of the hospital actively recruiting, said CEO Paul Taylor. Mr. Taylor said they largely see physicians from two camps: either they are primary care physicians who want to leave a larger system, or they are independent physicians who are questioning if they can remain independent.
For the primary care physicians looking to leave their system, Mr. Taylor said the key is to provide physicians something different than the larger systems do. "We make certain our employer contracts are different from the big system so it gives them a choice," he said.
More articles on physician recruitment:
Florida lawmakers plan to fill physician gap with nurse practitioners
Physician recruitment and retention comes with a hefty price tag in Alaska
VA's Southeast Network turns to national recruitment