Iowa hospital offers cash as a physician recruiting tool

Hancock County (Iowa) Health System is offering $10,000 to anyone who refers a qualified physician who is then hired to practice for the organization. The referral program was created because of a physician shortage in Iowa. Across the nation, high demand for primary or preventative care practitioners—family medicine physicians, pediatricians, and internal medicine physicians—has made physician recruitment a very competitive business.

The main goal of the referral program is to not only hire a quality physician but also to hire one who wants to stay. A recent study from the American Medical Association found the average family physician gets two calls a week from recruiters asking if he or she would be interested in moving somewhere else, said Vance Jackson, Administrator/CEO, Hancock County Health System. He compared the process of hiring a family practice physician in 2013 to recruiting a professional athlete.

Source: Mason City Globe Gazette