The national physician shortage has not only boosted salaries and signing and relocation bonuses, it has also increased family medicine physicians' hiring expectations, according to a recent survey from Cejka Search.
Researchers surveyed 764 family medicine residents on their expectations regarding job perks, salaries and benefits.
Here are six things to know.
- Within the area of family medicine, there are 0.3 active physician candidates for every one job opening in the U.S. For internal medicine, there are 0.6 candidates for every one job, according to Cejka Search's analysis of national average June 2016 employment data.
- Compensation for primary care physicians increased from a starting average salary of $202,430 in 2015 to $220,000 in 2016. Average signing bonuses increased by 65 percent and relocation bonuses jumped 87 percent in the same period.
- Candidate expectations for job perks and benefits have also increased. Survey results showed a large majority of residents surveyed expected malpractice insurance (76.2 percent), medical insurance (70.2 percent), vacation time (68.8 percent) and tail coverage (68.1 percent).
- Fifty percent of family medicine residents preferred to work in a suburban community, 27 percent preferred a rural setting and 23.3 percent would like to work in a metropolitan community.
- Residents listed single specialty (46.2 percent) and multi-specialty groups (43 percent) as the most desirable practice settings, followed by integrated delivery system (25.8 percent), hospital (24.7 percent), health system (19.4 percent), solo practice (18.3 percent) and managed care (8.6 percent).
- When considering job location, residents reported the most important factors as being close to family (77.3 percent), lifestyle preferences (53.4 percent), personal ties to the area (34.1 percent) and having been trained in the area (29.6 percent).
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