 |
|
RECRUITING: HIRING YOUNG<
by: Theresa Defino
Despite conflicts that often arise among different generations, adding a young doc to your practice can be an asset to everyone When Thomas Z. Pineo completed his residency and was hunting for a job five years ago, money wasn’t all that mattered to him. Sure, the family practitioner wanted a competitive starting salary and a nice benefits package, but he also wanted to find a practice where he could fit in and be treated with respect by the other physicians regardless of his age. Pineo had heard of practices in which more senior docs abuse the younger ones, dumping “problem” patients on them or sticking them with an impossible call schedule. He wanted none of that. From the nearly 200 practices he investigated, Pineo chose Greenville Medical Center in Pennsylvania. There he found a supportive and egalitarian environment that suited him just fine. In fact, rather than being caught in a generational crossfire, Pineo benefited from being the youngest physician. He joined the practice just as another doctor was retiring, and he took on many of the elder doctor’s patients. When the soon-to-be retired doctor was out of the office, “I started taking his overflow patients and covering for him,” Pineo recalls. The doctor had also stopped taking new patients, so he sent them on to Pineo as well. But the retiring doc didn't give up call until he left. And all the physicians in Pineo’s practice share call equally among others in their specialty, regardless of their age or seniority. Chicago-based orthopedic surgeon Steven Mash believes in hiring physicians across the age spectrum. In practice since 1978, Mash is the managing partner of M & M Orthopaedics as well as the practice’s primary physician recruiter. Mash's practice has roughly 20 physicians at five locations. Mash hires both physicians who are fresh out of residency as well as those who are seasoned practitioners. “I am a big believer that these [younger] individuals need to be at parity” with more senior physicians, says Mash. Some practices limit incomes among their younger doctors by denying them equal shares in large assets, such as an MRI machine. That's just wrong, says Mash, because it makes “the junior guy feel used and abused.” Pairing younger and older docs, evenly distributing their responsibilities, and offering all physicians equal financial opportunities are some methods that can successfully bridge the age gap among junior and senior physicians. Recruiters and medical employment experts say such strategies also work to make a practice attractive to younger workers without ruffling the feathers of more established staffers. “As you grow, unless you are able to keep everyone feeling integrated, needed, and wanted, you run the risk of polarizing into camps,” says Michael Parshall, vice president of the Health Care Group, a consulting firm in Plymouth Meeting, Pa. “If you break [policies] among the young folks or old folks and don't allow those policies to cross the divide, you will fracture and split. There are a lot of practices that have come apart because they did not deal with these things effectively.” In fact, incorporating physicians across the age spectrum may be the best thing a practice can do to ensure its continuity. “Having a spacing of doctors allows for good succession and an infusion of new ideas and new techniques,” says Parshall. He adds that this factor does not necessarily mean younger doctors are always the first to adopt new technologies. “But fresh training can open up new avenues.” he adds. Mash has hired a lot of young physicians, and nowadays he is contending with a “demographic bubble” of physicians all aged around 40. “We need to further balance the age spread so we< |
For Healthcare ProfessionalsAffiliationsBusinesses and InsurersConsultation CenterContinuing Medical EducationCredentialing & Provider EnrollmentDrug Information CenterIdentity and Access ManagementMedical ServicesNational Provider IdentifierShands Medical Laboratories |
