Minority Physicians Underrepresented In California, Study Finds
April 8, 2008
While blacks and Hispanics make up 40% of California’s population, fewer than 10% of practicing physicians are black or Hispanic, according to a report released on Wednesday by the University of California-San Francisco Center for California Health Workforce Studies, the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Fernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, 4/3).
According to the report, minority physicians are more likely than other doctors to practice in urban or underserved communities, which helps address health disparities between whites and minorities (Krieger, San Jose Mercury News, 4/3). Kevin Grumbach, director of the Center for California Health Workforce Studies, said, “It’s not just a civil rights issue, but a public health issue. Research shows clearly that having more minority physicians improves access to care for the U.S. population because they are more likely to take care of patients who have no insurance or who are covered by Medi-Cal.” Medi-Cal is California’s Medicaid program (Griffith, Sacramento Bee, 4/3).
The report is based on data from the California Medical Board. A 2001 state law mandated that the board gather data on physician specialties, work hours, ethnicity, practice location and spoken languages (East Bay Business Times, 4/2). Of the state’s nearly 62,000 practicing physicians:
- About 39,000, or 61%, are white, while about 48% of the state’s population is white;
- About 26% are Asian or Pacific Islander, while 11% of the population is Asian/Pacific Islander;
- About 3,300, or 5%, are Hispanic, while about 33% of the state’s population is Hispanic; and
- About 2,000, or 3%, are black, while 7% of the state’s population is black (San Francisco Chronicle, 4/3).
The study also found some disparities among the Asian population. For example, fewer than 0.5% of the total physician population is of Cambodian, Loatian, Hmong and Samoan descent (Darcé, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4/3). Experts attributed the disparities in physician ethnicity to court decisions that have blocked the use of affirmative action policies for admissions to state university medical schools, as well as the high cost of medical schools (San Jose Mercury News, 4/3).
The report recommended ways to boost the number of minority physicians, such as:
- Increasing investments in minority education;
- Promoting diversity in state medical education;
- Holding health professional schools accountable for their diversity, recruitment and retention of underrepresented minorities; and
- Increasing incentives for working in underserved communities (San Francisco Chronicle, 4/3).
Claire Pomeroy, dean of the University of California-Davis School of Medicine, said that health disparities will persist unless the health work force becomes more representative of the population. She added, “Medicine is not just technical skills, but connections between doctors and patients. Those connections are made by having a diverse work force” (Sacramento Bee, 4/3).
The report is available online (.pdf).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2007 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach: New Journal To Be Launched In 2009 By SAGE
April 7, 2008
Sports Health is a bi-monthly publication that will publish its first issue in January 2009. It is aimed at physicians and allied health professionals who work with athletes.
“The comprehensive care of athletes requires a diverse team of professionals, including athletic trainers, physical therapists, primary care physicians and orthopaedic surgeons,” said Edward M. Wojtys, MD, Sports Health Editor-in-Chief. Dr. Wojtys is a professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Chief of the Sports Medicine Service, and Medical Director of MedSport, all at the University of Michigan. “Our goal with this publication is to improve the care and rehabilitation of athletes.”
Sports Health features associate editors from each of the collaborating organizations. Editor-in-chief Dr. Wojtys was nominated by AOSSM. Dr. George Davies of SPTS is the co-founder and previous co-editor of the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy. Dr. Matthew Gammons of AMSSM is the primary care sports physician at the Killington Medical Clinic and the Vermont Orthopaedic Clinic where he currently works with patients incurring a variety of sports-related injuries. He also serves as one of the team physicians for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard teams. Dr. Riann Palmieri-Smith of NATA is an Assistant Professor in Athletic Training, Movement Science and Orthopaedics at the University of Michigan and has served as a Section Editor for the Journal of Athletic Training in the Pathology, Physiology, and Biodynamics section.
“SAGE is pleased to be partnering again with AOSSM, for whom we currently publish the American Journal of Sports Medicine. We are also pleased to be working for the first time with such prestigious organizations as the AMSSM, NATA and SPTS in the launch of this important new journal,” said Jayne Marks, SAGE Vice-President, Global Business Development. “The publication of Sports Health helps solidify SAGE’s position as a leading publisher of high-quality, cutting-edge information for medical professionals and researchers.”
Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Vol. 1, Issue 1. Jan. 2009. Bi-monthly. ISSN: 1941-7381. E-ISSN: 1941-0921. 2009 subscription pricing: $125 individual. $325 institution. Sports Health is a benefit of membership for members of the AOSSM, AMSSM and SPTS, and an option of membership for members of the NATA.
—————————-
—————————-
SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. A privately owned corporation, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, and Singapore. http://www.sagepub.com/
The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) is a world leader in sports medicine education, research, communication, and fellowship and includes the top national and international orthopaedic sports medicine specialists. (http://www.sportsmed.org/)
The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) is a multi-disciplinary organization of physicians whose members are dedicated to education, research, collaboration and fellowship within the field of Sports Medicine. (http://www.amssm.org/)
The National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) is the professional membership association for certified athletic trainers and others who support the athletic training profession. (http://www.nata.org/)
The Sports Physical Therapy Section (SPTS) is a component member of the American Physical Therapy Association, which provides a common forum for members with an interest in sports physical therapy. (http://www.spts.org/)
Source: Andrea Rulfo
SAGE Publications
Michigan Faces Physician Shortfall, Survey Finds
April 5, 2008
Forty-one percent of Michigan’s 40,000 licensed physicians do not plan to continue practicing medicine 10 years from now, and 61% said that their practices are full or almost full, according to a survey by the Michigan Department of Community Health, the Detroit Free Press reports. As a result, patients might experience longer wait times to see certain types of specialists, including endocrinologists, orthopedic surgeons and child psychiatrists. The report also found that Medicaid beneficiaries and out-of-state residents will face shortages because too many physicians are concentrated in some areas of the state and too few are in other areas.
The survey found that:
- 36% of physicians were employed outside the state or did not practice medicine;
- 62% of doctors practiced medicine, with 36% in primary care and the rest as specialists; and
- About 75% of physicians accept Medicaid beneficiaries, but they spent less than 15% of their time with such patients (Anstett, Detroit Free Press, 4/2).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2007 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
Making A Living Will
April 5, 2008
The American College of Physicians (ACP), along with other national, state, and community organizations, is participating in National Healthcare Decisions Day. Set for April 16, 2008, the initiative encourages all adults with decision-making capacity in the United States to talk to their family or doctor about their wishes, consider appointing a proxy, or document their healthcare wishes in a living will, and for providers and facilities to respect those decisions.
“The importance of advance healthcare planning cannot be over-emphasized,” says John Tooker, MD, MBA, FACP, ACP’s executive vice president and chief executive officer. “For patients to ensure that future treatments conform to their wishes, it is important for them to document those wishes in advance.”
ACP supports advance healthcare planning in its Ethics Manual, patient education materials, clinical guideline to improve palliative care of at the end of life, and end-of-life care consensus panel papers.
Patients actively participating in decision-making and feedback is one of the “Joint Principles of the Patient-Centered Medical Home,” which ACP and three other national physician organizations released in March 2007.
—————————-
—————————-
ACP is a member of the National Healthcare Decisions Day Executive Committee. As a participating organization, ACP is providing information and tools for the public to talk about their wishes with family, friends, and healthcare providers, and execute written advance directives (healthcare power of attorney and living will) in accordance with state laws. These resources are available at http://www.acponline.org/running_practice/ethics/resources/conferences and http://www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org/.
The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization and the second-largest physician group in the United States. ACP members include 125,000 internal medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and medical students. Internists specialize in the prevention, detection, and treatment of illness in adults.
Source: Steve Majewski
American College of Physicians
UCSF Study Finds Fewer Physicians In Underserved Communities
April 4, 2008
A study released by the Center for California Health Workforce Studies at University of California, San Francisco, reveals that minority physicians are underrepresented in California, particularly among Latinos and African Americans.
The study also found that these physicians are more likely to practice in underserved communities and to enter primary care practice, two critical needs facing California’s health care system.
These findings highlight the problems that underserved communities must face when trying to obtain health care, and point strongly to the need to strengthen the state’s safety net programs like Medi-Cal, according to the California Medical Association.
“Every Californian deserves access to a doctor, and this study shows that particularly in some communities, we have a ways to go,” said Richard Frankenstein, M.D., president of the California Medical Association. “As we look at 10% cuts in our state’s Medi-Cal program, we face even further erosion of access to care for our most vulnerable patients.”
Concerned about the lack of reliable data on Californians’ ability to have access to doctors, the CMA sponsored Assembly Bill 1586 (Negrete McLeod), legislation that would require the Medical Board of California to collect data on ethnicity, hours spent in patient care, languages spoken, specialty and location upon renewal of a physician’s license every two years. Since the bill was enacted in 2001, this is the first report to come out of the data, but the Center intends to continue analyzing data in several categories.
The data collected by the Medical Board and revealed in the report also show that although there are over 100,000 physicians licensed to practice in California, only 62,000 are active in full-time patient care, echoing CMA’s long-held concerns about an overall physician supply problem in the state.
The CMA also has advocated for two more medical schools in the UC system at Merced and Riverside to help augment an undersupply of medical students and physicians in the state, a goal echoed in the report.
The report also includes in its recommendations an increase in incentives for physicians to work in underserved communities, such as the Steven M. Thompson Physician Loan Repayment Program. Senate Bill 1379, by Senator Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego, and pending before the legislature, would secure permanent funding for the program, which has been dependent primarily on private funds in the past. The program, named for the late Thompson, who was the CMA vice president of government relations, provides up to $105,000 in loan repayment to new physicians who agree to serve in an underserved area for at least three years.
The CMA is also seeking federal legislation that would revamp the Medicare Physician Scarcity Area (PSA) and the Health Care Professional Shortage Area programs to improve access to physicians in rural areas, particularly in Northern California and the Central Valley. A new payment structure could help retain current physicians in the programs and lay the groundwork to attract new physicians.
California Medical Association
Doctors Want Better Work-Life Balance, Australia
April 3, 2008
Most doctors want flexible work arrangements to allow them to spend more time with family and friends according to a survey released by the AMA.
The AMA Work-Life Flexibility Survey reveals 81 per cent of hospital doctors surveyed want greater access to flexible working arrangements to allow them to spend more time with family and friends, take time to look after their kids, or continue further formal training.
AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, said doctors are dedicated people who are committed to their work and caring for their patients, but it was important to remember that doctors have the same personal demands on their time as anyone else.
“The demands of being a doctor must be balanced with personal needs or the doctor’s working life may be shortened. We need to do everything we can to keep them in the workforce as long as possible,” she said.
The survey showed 85 per cent of doctors believe they will need some form of flexible working and training arrangement over the next decade.
Dr Capolingua said this large unmet demand for work-life flexibility meant hospitals and training providers would need to change to meet the expectations of doctors entering the profession.
“Health employers will need to adapt as future graduates demand a workplace that will allow them to achieve a genuine balance between work and lifestyle.
“Those hospitals that have the most family and employee friendly arrangements will become the employers of choice.”
The demand for flexible arrangements is evenly divided between junior and senior doctors but senior doctors are the biggest users of flexible arrangements. Demand for work-life flexibility is similar among male and female doctors.
Dr Capolingua said flexible work practices are equally beneficial for doctors, the hospitals they work in and, most importantly, their patients.
“We have to look after the health of our doctors so they can provide the best care for their patients,” she said.
“The AMA has campaigned for a number of years for greater work-life flexibility, and will continue to do so.”
The AMA has a number of work-life flexibility resources, including the AMA - Medical Journal of Australia Job Share Register, to help doctors to achieve work-life balance. These resources are available at http://www.ama.com.au.
The full Work-Life Flexibility Report can be viewed online at http://www.ama.com.au.
Key Findings from the AMA Work-Life Flexibility Survey
The AMA Work-Life Flexibility Survey was an online survey of over 600 junior and senior-salaried public hospital doctors from across Australia.
The survey was designed to assess the level of access by public hospital doctors to flexible training and working arrangements in their workplace and their requirements for such arrangements in the future.
Findings from the survey include:
-81 per cent of doctors indicated that they would like greater access to flexible working arrangements,
-85 per cent of doctors believe that they will need some form of flexible working and training arrangement as a legitimate and accessible career option over the next one to 10 years,
-The results of the survey confirm that the demography and attitudes of the medical workforce are changing, in line with societal change - more women than men are graduating from medical schools and all medical practitioners of both genders are seeking a better quality of life and better working conditions,
-The demand for flexible arrangements is evenly divided between junior doctors and their senior counterparts,
-Senior doctors are the biggest users of flexible arrangements,
-Flexible working hours is the most commonly sought-after arrangement for doctors of both genders,
-Junior doctors have the greatest demand for flexible rostering and flexible working hours,
-The most common reasons why doctors want flexible arrangements include time with families and friends, caring for children, and reducing work-related stress,
-Doctors believe that cultural and institutional factors and staff shortages are the major barriers to flexible training and working arrangements in the medical workplace. The ability to access flexible training arrangements is an ongoing problem for junior doctors,
-Just over half of the doctors surveyed have accessed some form of flexible working and training arrangement in the 12 months preceding the survey. Part-time work is the most commonly used flexible arrangement, and
-Flexible working arrangements are more common for female doctors than male doctors; 60 per cent of female doctors have accessed some form of flexible working arrangement in the 12 months preceding the survey compared to 44 per cent of male doctors.
Australian Medical Association
New “Patient Charter For Physician Performance Measurement, Reporting And Tiering Programs”
April 2, 2008
An announcement that leading consumer and employer groups have forged an agreement with physician organizations and health insurers on principles to guide measurement and reporting on physician performance is a significant step toward improving the quality of care for patients in this country, according to one of the nation’s leading consumer health advocates, National Partnership for Women & Families President Debra L. Ness.
The new “Patient Charter for Physician Performance Measurement, Reporting and Tiering Programs” is a set of principles that will guide health plans in measuring doctors’ performance and reporting the information to consumers. Ness hailed it as a way to promote better decision making and more patient-centered care. “This is a critical building block in the effort to improve the quality of health care in this country,” she said. “Right now in the United States, patients have no more than a 50/50 chance of getting the right care at the right time for the right reason. Poor care takes a terrible toll in lives diminished or lost and health dollars wasted. It disproportionately affects women and people of color, and diverts precious resources from imperatives like providing health insurance coverage for all people. The agreement reached today can begin to change that by putting patients first and giving them the tools they need to make the best possible choices about their medical care.”
“For too long, health plans and doctors have been at odds and patients have suffered as a result,” Ness continued. “Today, it is easier to find information about a dishwasher you want to buy than a doctor who may hold your life in her/his hands. Consumers need meaningful information about quality and cost so they can make informed choices and sound decisions about where they get their care and how they spend their health care dollars. The new ‘Patient Charter’ calls for complete transparency, measurement based on sound science, input from consumers to ensure that the information reported is useful to them, and input from doctors to ensure fairness.”
In addition to the National Partnership, the new “Patient Charter” was endorsed by AARP, AFL-CIO, Leapfrog Group, National Business Coalition on Health, and Pacific Business Group on Health, with support from the American College of Physicians, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Medical Association, American College of Cardiology, and American College of Surgeons. Insurers who have agreed to adopt the “Patient Charter” include Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, Wellpoint and America’s Health Insurance Plans.
“Patients win if this ‘Charter’ is implemented broadly,” Ness concluded. “We thank all parties for coming to the table and joining us in the hard work needed to reach this agreement. Now it’s time to put it into practice. This is a critical piece of the health care reform our nation urgently needs.”
Where it is followed, the “Patient Charter” is designed to ensure that:
* Consumers can make more informed decisions based on both quality and cost, with adequate guidance about how to use the information;
* Both consumers and physicians have input into the measurement process and how results are reported. This will help ensure that information is trusted by physicians and meaningful to consumers;
* Measurement is based on sound national standards and methodology.
* Measurement is a transparent process so that both consumers and physicians can understand the basis upon which performance is being measured and reported;
* Physicians have adequate notice and opportunity to correct any errors. There will be no surprises and no black boxes; and
* Physicians will have information that helps them improve the quality of care they provide.
—————————-
—————————-
The agreement was spearheaded by the Consumer-Purchaser Disclosure Project (http://healthcaredisclosure.org/), a group of leading consumer, labor and employer organizations that works to ensure that all Americans have access to publicly reported health care performance information. It is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The National Partnership for Women & Families is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy group dedicated to promoting fairness in the workplace, access to quality health care, and policies that help women and men create a balance between work and family responsibilities. For more information, visit http://www.nationalpartnership.org/.
Source: Jonathan Osmundsen
Manning Selvage & Lee
Doctors Who Train At Community Health Centers More Likely To Treat The Underserved
April 2, 2008
University of Washington researchers have found that community health center-trained family physicians were more likely to work in underserved settings than their non-community health center-trained counterparts (64 percent versus 37 percent), based on a study published in the April issue of Family Medicine. The news comes on the heels of last month’s announcement from the National Resident Matching Program that there is an increased interest in family medicine and more residency positions in that field available across the United States. In addition, the need for family physicians is expected to skyrocket by 2020 to nearly 140,000 family docs, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Scant research has been conducted in the family medicine residency-community health center (CHC) realm, despite an affiliation that dates back more than 25 years. CHCs are federally funded primary care clinics that provide care for underinsured and uninsured patients.
Dr. Carl Morris, assistant professor in the University of Washington’s Department of Family Medicine, and the study’s lead author, said he was not surprised by the findings. Morris trained as a medical resident from 1994 to 1997 at Sea Mar Community Health Center in Seattle. “These residencies help students match a mission-driven interest with professional aspirations,” Morris said. “As a resident, I was inspired by the role models I trained with, and my training helped me better understand the service mission of community health centers.” Morris had a strong desire to provide health-care services to those who needed them most, and he said that his residency provided him with on-the-ground skills to do just that.
With a continued increase in the numbers of uninsured, the recent economic downturn and the anticipated doubling in numbers of physicians needed in CHCs, the UW study results suggest one strategy to bring more health providers to underserved areas is by ensuring there are residency programs based in those centers.
Morris and Drs. Brian Johnson, Sara Kim and Frederick Chen conducted a cross-sectional survey of the 838 graduates from the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) Family Medicine Residency network from 1986 to 2002 to reach their conclusion. Because there are no national data to identify either the number of family medicine residencies affiliated with CHCs or the number of residents training with them, more research is needed to better understand the relationship, researchers cautioned.
—————————-
—————————-
Source: Mary Guiden
University of Washington
Reports On Physicians Are Meaningful, Reliable, And Fair With Patient Charter
April 2, 2008
The American College of Physicians (ACP) has joined other leading medical, consumer, labor, and employer organizations to endorse the Patient Charter for Physician Performance Measurement, Reporting and Tiering Programs. These organizations believe that health plans that evaluate, rate, and report physician performance to consumers should be independently assessed. The review and standardization of such programs, coupled with full public disclosure of performance results, will promote consistency, efficiency, and fairness and make physician performance information more accessible and easier for consumers to understand.
“The ACP and its members are deeply committed to improving the quality of health care. The Patient Charter is an important step for patients, health care organizations, and physicians to have reliable information to evaluate quality and performance,” says David C. Dale, MD, FACP, president, American College of Physicians. “By agreeing to an independent audit, health plans are providing assurances that their programs for rating physicians are fair and valid and giving patients trustworthy information about their doctors.”
The Patient Charter includes four primary criteria for physician performance measurement, reporting, and tiering programs:
* Measures should be meaningful to consumers and reflect the importance of patient-centered care.
* Physicians and physician organizations should have input to these programs and the methods used to stratify performance. They should also have access to the information collected and given notice before individual information is released.
* Measures and methodology should be transparent, valid, accessible, and understandable by consumers, physicians, and other clinicians.
* Measures should be based on national standards, primarily standards endorsed by the National Quality Forum (NQF). Standards from other groups and organization may be used, but they will be replaced by NQF standards when available.
ACP believes that the new Patient Charter will promote the consistency, efficiency, and fairness in the provision of health care and make valid and meaningful physician information more accessible and easier for patients to understand. ACP expects that the adoption of the Patient Charter will encourage improvements in the quality and efficiency of care provided to patients.
—————————-
—————————-
For more information, visit the Consumer-Purchaser Disclosure Project Web site (http://healthcaredisclosure.org/).
In addition to the Patient Charter, ACP is actively involved in the national performance measurement movement through involvement in the National Quality Forum (NQF), the Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement, and the AQA (formerly the Ambulatory Care Quality Alliance).
The American College of Physicians (http://www.acponline.org/) is the largest medical specialty organization and the second-largest physician group in the United States. ACP members include 125,000 internal medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and medical students. Internists specialize in the prevention, detection, and treatment of illness in adults.
Source: Steve Majewski
American College of Physicians
Locum Tenens Practice Option May Extend Careers In Medicine, Help Physicians Avoid Burn-Out
April 2, 2008
Locum tenens may extend the medical careers of physicians and help them avoid burn-out, according to a survey commissioned in January 2008 by VISTA Staffing Solutions. Physicians surveyed indicated that locum tenens would be most attractive to physicians considering semi-retirement, those making a professional transition from one position to another, and residents completing training who want to try out diverse geographic settings and practice types before settling down.
Locum tenens-Latin for “one holding a place”-is the industry term for physicians who fill temporary assignments, covering for a colleague during medical or military leave, for example, or staffing a healthcare facility while that facility recruits a permanent physician. The practice is worldwide, and a $1.6 billion industry in the US alone, according to Staffing Industry Analysts. Interestingly, however, 69% of survey respondents said they had no personal experience working as or hiring locum tenens physicians.
The VISTA survey was conducted via Ask 100 Doctors® from Encore Research Group, an on-line physician consultation program that provides nearly instant consensus medical opinions.
Extend careers
The survey tested the potential impact of locum tenens on physicians’ careers and any resulting impact on physician supply. Almost 70% of respondents “agreed” or “strongly agreed” with the statement, “Locum tenens can extend careers in medicine.”
Avoid burn-out
Next, the survey asked whether locum tenens could help physicians avoid burn-out by giving them a feasible way to work part-time, make a transition, or secure locum tenens coverage for their own practices. More than half, 53%, “agreed” to “strongly agreed,” with 25% in the neutral position. One physician wrote, “I worked as a locum tenens when I left a job that had completely burnt me out. I was looking at leaving medicine completely and the locum tenens gave me time to find another position that kept me practicing medicine.”
Better distribute physician supply
For many reasons, physicians are drawn to practice in suburban and urban areas, creating a maldistribution of physicians and acute rural shortages. The survey asked if locum tenens could help solve this problem. Positive responses exceeded negative responses (43% to 31%), however, some comments indicated that poor compensation for primary care physicians and the shrinking supply of new physicians will continue to aggravate the problem. One respondent wrote, “I think locum tenens are popular in areas physicians would like to visit, so I don’t think it would greatly benefit the physician maldistribution problem, unless underserved areas were more highly compensated.”
Improve physician skills
Because locum tenens gives physicians the opportunity to work in a variety of practice types and geographic settings, the survey asked whether the doctors believed that locum tenens can improve physicians’ skills through diversity of experiences. This was the most evenly split question in the survey, with about one-third disagreeing, one-third neutral, and a little more than one-third agreeing. Comments ranged from, “I personally think locum tenens would be fun. As for hiring them, I would always be somewhat wary of someone who was not either beginning or finishing their career,” to “Change of scenery and exposure to different communities should enrich a physician’s experience and professional expertise.”
Timing is everything
Results showed that locum tenens is an attractive practice option for physicians considering semi-retirement, those transitioning from one position to another, and residents completing training who want to try out diverse geographic settings and practice types before settling down.
Some 82% of physicians indicated that locum tenens would be a good way to transition into semi-retirement due to no longer having to pay for professional liability insurance and practice overhead. (Locum tenens agencies secure insurance and the doctors’ travel, housing, and local transportation expenses are paid for by the facility or practice, so the work is essentially overhead free.) One physician wrote, “I see this as one good way to go part-time toward the end of my career as I no longer wish to work 55 hours a week, which is ‘regular time.’”
In addition, 58% of the physicians said locum tenens would be a good option for physicians seeking to make a professional transition, for example while they find a new permanent position or while they wait for a license to be granted in a new state. Comments provided at the end of the survey support this, for example, one physician wrote, “I have considered it (locum tenens), especially when I was changing locations. A new Medicare number takes a long time to get and shortfalls of income nearly always happen. This is an ideal time to do locum tenens. I should have done that several years ago because I had to take out deferred investments to cover expenses and got penalized.”
Working as a locum tenens right after completing residency training was cited as an attractive option by 47% of the physicians surveyed. One wrote, “I credit it (locum tenens) with allowing a smoother transition from inpatient doc (during residency) to outpatient doc (real life practice).”
In addition, 28% of the physicians said locum tenens was an attractive option to supplement income while building a practice and 19% said it was an attractive option during vacations or when one is not scheduled to work in his or her full-time job.
Type of practice preferences
Half the physicians surveyed indicated they would prefer “return engagements” or a schedule of rotations to specific practices. Almost as many (45%) said they would prefer any opportunity within driving distance of home. Working a high-intensity, short-term assignment to maximize earning potential (regardless of location) was of interest to 39% of respondents. Additionally, 30% expressed interest in an out-of-state rural practice and 13% in an out-of-state urban practice. One physician said, “The other [locum tenens] doctors with me where I was working were immediately out of residency and still looking at where they wanted to practice. It was a good way for them to see different areas of the country and different practices to decide what they wanted to do.”
Length of assignment preferences
Locum tenens assignments vary in length from weekend call coverage to seasonal stints (i.e., tourist season) to international placements of a year or longer, with every option in between. Survey respondents indicated they would prefer assignments of one to four weeks (36%), or one to three months (29%). Another 30% thought they would prefer partial days or single days on a regular schedule, i.e., Wednesday afternoons or Saturdays.
This is one area within the survey where age of the respondents had an impact on results. Physicians 30 to 39 indicated a strong preference for partial or single days on a regular schedule. Physicians 40-49 preferred one-to-four week assignments and physicians 50-59 preferred one-to-four week with an increasing interest in one-to-three month assignments.
In summary
The locum tenens practice alternative is perceived as a way to extend physicians’ careers in medicine and help them avoid burn-out, according to respondents. Physicians believe it is most attractive to physicians looking for a feasible way to semi-retire, those in transition from one position to another, and residents who want to try out different parts of the country (or world) and various practice settings before making a permanent commitment to a full-time practice.
Is locum tenens the right option for you? Contact a VISTA recruiter today to discuss your plans and priorities and we will help you find out: 800-366-1884, email at facts@vistastaff.com, online at http://www.vistastaff.com. You can read stories of physicians who have worked in locum tenens jobs at our blog, http://www.vistastaff.com/physicians/blog.
VISTA Staffing Solutions is the physician staffing division of On Assignment, Inc. Founded in 1990, VISTA is the only physician staffing agency that provides the full range of work options for physicians and coverage options for healthcare facilities and practices. These options include locum tenens across the US, long-term placements in the US, New Zealand, and Australia, and clinical, clinical academic, and clinical executive physician search and consulting. For more information visit http://www.vistastaff.com.
About On Assignment
On Assignment, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASGN), is a diversified professional staffing firm providing flexible and permanent staffing solutions in specialty skills including Laboratory/Scientific, Healthcare/Nursing/Physicians, Medical Financial, Information Technology and Engineering. The corporate headquarters is located in Calabasas, California. On Assignment, Inc. was founded in 1985 as Lab Support and went public in 1992. The company’s branch network encompasses over 80 branch offices across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, and also provides physicians in Australia and New Zealand.
About Ask 100 Doctors
This survey was commissioned by VISTA Staffing Solutions and conducted by Ask 100 Doctors® (patent pending), an online consultation system that connects thousands of physicians. This system can provide nearly instant consensus medical opinions for a variety of case scenarios or establish that no consensus exists. Ask 100 Doctors® has sophisticated capabilities of scale and sub analysis making the system a unique research tool for individuals and organizations seeking detailed insight into how doctors think about today’s vexing medical dilemmas.
Ask 100 Doctors® was developed by the Encore Research Group. Encore is an acronym for ENcouraging COmmunity Research and Education. The mission of Encore Research is to develop products that enable physicians to help communities understand and navigate the increasingly complicated world of health care. Applications are designed to be free of commercial bias. Ask 100 Doctors® is a unique tool that allows users to understand the strength of consensus among physicians for a vast variety of medical issues. Encore Research is primarily owned and operated by a group of physicians.
VISTA Staffing Solutions
