The average cost to recruit one physician to Alaska is $70,704, according to 2006 data from the report, and recruiting a midlevel provider would cost $25,652, according to that data. Prices climb when healthcare facilities fly recruits and their families in for initial tours and visits, Katy Branch, former director of University of Alaska Anchorage’s Alaska Center for Rural Health, told the Alaska Dispatch News.
With steep price tags, retention matters. However, the social and geographic isolation as well as the satisfaction of recruits’ spouses prove to be the large barriers to retention, Ms. Branch said in an interview with Alaska Dispatch News.
The aging healthcare workforce makes recruitment and retention a top concern in Alaska. To maintain the current level of healthcare operations in Alaska, 237 more physicians must be hired in the state between 2010 and 2030, according to the report.
Working remotely from Texas and California, Merritt Hawkins has brought roughly 50 physicians and midlevel providers to health systems around the state. Now with their local one-person office, the company can strengthen their recruitment efforts in the state.
“Hopefully their staff will know and love Alaska like we do and know what to recruit for to get health care providers to stay,” Ms. Branch told Alaska Dispatch News.
More articles on recruitment:
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Physician recruitment: Which social media sites are best?
Recruiting industry’s little secret
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