Insight Into How Your Competitors Handle Physician Screening and Site Visits
In today's competitive healthcare landscape, understanding how peer organizations manage physician recruitment processes is crucial. The 2023 AAPPR Internal Physician and Provider Recruitment Benchmarking Report provides valuable insights into current practices in physician screening and site visits, helping recruitment professionals refine their strategies.
Work Focus
The report highlights that a significant portion of recruitment efforts remains concentrated on physicians, with 60% of over 19,000 active searches in 2022 dedicated to physician roles. This focus underscores the ongoing challenges in addressing physician shortages across various specialties.
Screening
Effective screening is a critical component of physician recruitment. Organizations typically involve both recruiters and physician leaders in the screening process to ensure a comprehensive evaluation of candidates. Key screening criteria include:
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Board Certification Eligibility: Verifying that candidates meet certification requirements.
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Employment History: Assessing job stability and identifying any gaps in employment.
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Curriculum Vitae (CV) Review: Evaluating for formatting issues and inconsistencies.
Behavioral-based interviewing remains a prevalent technique, allowing interviewers to assess how candidates have handled situations in past roles, providing insight into their problem-solving and interpersonal skills.
Site Visits
Site visits offer candidates a tangible sense of the organization's environment and culture. During these visits, candidates often meet with key personnel, including department heads and potential colleagues, to discuss role expectations and organizational values.
Community tours are commonly integrated into the site visit itinerary, frequently coordinated with local realtors to showcase housing options, schools, and recreational activities. This approach helps candidates envision their potential life in the community, which is particularly important given that 84.7% of organizations utilize applicant tracking systems to manage and enhance the recruitment experience.
Once a candidate has been selected, most offers of employment are extended within a week of the final interview. These offers are commonly presented to the candidate in the form of a written contract, but verbal offers or letters of intent are also favored by some organizations. After an offer has been extended, close to half of the organizations then run a complete background check, thereby concluding the screening process.
Originally posted 5/26/2020. Article Update 5/19/2025
With a career focused on healthcare Business Development and Service Line performance, Paul had recently been at the forefront redefining the traditional In-house Provider Recruiting role. In his position as Medical Staff Development Officer at University Hospitals, Lake Health Region in Cleveland, Ohio, Paul integrated collegial interaction, analytics, and provider experience expertise to drive a differentiated recruitment strategy.
Paul has brought that knowledge and experience to Client Sourcing at PracticeMatch. Joining PracticeMatch in 2021, Paul supports Client Sourcing’s pro-active recruiting model that generates a robust prospect pool, creates an effective and efficient recruiting experience, and identifies key metrics to ensure optimal performance for the client. Paul has a commitment to learning, development and passion for building a team of recruiting professionals to leverage their national footprint which benefits its client organizations and their candidates.
References:
Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment (AAPPR). 2023 Internal Physician and Provider Recruitment Benchmarking Report. Hayes Locums, 2023, https://www.hayeslocums.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/AAPPR_Report2023-2.pdf. Accessed 19 May 2025.
