The aging population and shortage of qualified doctors have created an abundance of unfilled physician jobs. As evident in healthcare hiring trends, the law of supply and demand is not simply an economic principal. With less individuals graduating from medical school, incentives and salaries have increased to aid in recruitment.

According to a recent study produced by Martin, Fletcher, a national healthcare recruitment firm, these added benefits are offered due to a very real fear being experienced throughout the industry. The companies CEO, John Buffa says that “a shortage of 1 million nurses alone is expected by 2020 if hiring trends don’t improve, meaning that healthcare facilities must be aggressive in their compensation packages in order to attract enough staff to stay buoyant.

With hospitals across the nation beginning to compete for the best and most qualified physicians for available jobs, it is no surprise that doctors are reaping the benefits. Some of the most popular incentives being used to assist in the recruiting process include: A/R based buy in, production-driven income that begin in the first year, and full pension for retirement.

Martin, Fletcher also released statistics that showed that the top five highest paying physician jobs are the fields of invasive cardiology ($460,000), radiology ($425,000), orthopedics ($424,000), gastroenterology ($405,000), and urology ($380,000). According to the survey the lowest paying physician jobs were found to be family practitioners, internal medicine, pediatrics and hospitalists. The median salaries of these positions ranged from $146,260 to $170,980, which in certainly nothing to scoff at.

The survey found that the western area of the United States is one of the most profitable areas one to work in for the overall healthcare industry but the northeastern region offers the most money to nurses. It was also found that 88 percent of hospitals give signing bonuses that averaged at $7,500 and 40 percent of nurses, CRNAs, and pharmacists receive full college loan forgiveness.

A physician’s job also comes with the easy of relocation due to the fact that 99 percent of hospitals are currently offering relocation benefits that average at $5,280. With so many little extras offered to encourage the hiring of competent medical practitioners, one can only hope that the damage of the much expected shortage of 2020 will be lessened.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 6th, 2007 at 6:47 am and is filed under Job Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.