Healthcare Career Blog, Physician Blogs

Breaking news for professionals seeking opportunities in hospitals nationwide

Author Healthcare Career Blogger | 28.07.2009 | Category Anesthesiology jobs, CRNA, Colorado Physician Jobs, Healthcare Career Blog, Hospitals, Locum Tenens, Medical doctor jobs, OB/GYN physician jobs, Physician Career Path, Physicians

The Candidate Direct Healthcare Career Blog brings you this breaking news for professionals seeking opportunities in hospitals nationwide.

Given the severe shortage of physicians jobs and CRNAs, many current position postings for permanent and locum tenens are in often in urban and rural communities in a multitude of healthcare settings. There are also physician jobs in the top rated university teaching hospitals in the nation.

If you like the idea of working in a community setting in less populated areas, you are in luck! It’s no coincidence that many of these places are also in choice locations for locum tenens who wish to combine work and leisure and visit places like Fort Lauderdale Florida, Colorado Springs, or Atlanta Georgia.

America’s Best Hospitals

U.S. News and World Report released its annual list of the country’s best hospitals, ranked by various specialties like cancer care, heart treatment and children’s health.

Of the 174 hospitals that are ranked in one or more specialties, 21 qualified for the Honor Roll by earning high scores in at least six specialties. Here are the top 11 (two tied for 10th place):

1. Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
2. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
3. Ronald Reagan U.C.L.A. Medical Center, Los Angeles
4. Cleveland Clinic
5. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
6. New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell
7. University of California, San Francisco Medical Center
8. Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
9. Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St. Louis
10. Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston
11. Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.

For more information and Physician Career Resources, be sure to visit the  Physician Career Resources page

Learn how retired physicians can re-enter the workforce; find guidelines for physician re-entry regulations by state; update a CV; resources for physician residents, physician credentialing and much more.

Locum Tenens ideal for retired physicians looking to rejoin the workforce

Author Healthcare Career Blogger | 10.07.2009 | Category Anesthesiology jobs, CRNA, Colorado Physician Jobs, Emergency jobs, Family Medicine, Healthcare Career Blog, Hospitalist physician, Internal Medicine, Locum Tenens, Medical doctor jobs, OB GYN jobs, OB/GYN physician jobs, Orthopedic Surgery, Physician Career Path, Physician Shortage, Physicians, Pschyriatry Jobs, Retired Physician, Surgery jobs, jobs

Coming out of retirement isn’t easy for anyone. Especially for doctors who haven’t practiced in a while.

Doctors looking to re-enter the workforce after a brief career solstice face a number of challenges. Depending on how many years you’ve been out, you may have to catch up on continuing education credits, learn new technologies and be flexible in your medical setting. Either way, the medical profession beckons your skills, even if just for two to three shifts a week.

What’s the solution for a doctor coming out of retirement?

First thing, says Dennis Urbanski, American Traveler Managing Director, is to find a locum tenens agency experienced in matching older physicians with the medical facilities that need them.

“With the physician shortage the way it is, putting a retired doctor back in the workforce is a godsend.”

Urbanski says locum tenens is ideal both for doctors in search of 20 or 30 hours of practice and for providers looking to supplement quality patient care. Top salaries are available, along with mal practice insurance, housing, paid travel and competitive locum tenens benefits.

Urbanski suggests that older, retired doctors make a realistic assessment of their current skill set prior to calling a locum tenens agency. This helps recruiters determine the most efficient course for re-entry and employment. Typically, physicians out of work for a year or less are easier to employ than those who haven’t practiced for two years and more. This, of course, depends on specialty, said Urbanski.

“Hospitalist jobs, for instance, are ideal for doctors coming out of retirement. For those who possess the needed proficiency in inpatient medicine – and who don’t mind working weekends or night shifts – there are hundreds if not thousands of available jobs.”

Once thing retired doctors must consider prior to re-entering the workforce, say experts, is that things will not be the same as when they left. A doctor may find physician jobs in rural areas easier to get than in big city hospitals and university settings. Conversely, high-need areas of the country, often associated with low-income households, are quicker to employ retired physicians because of needed skills and an increased demand for healthcare.

“There are plenty of jobs out there for doctors, retired or not,” said Urbanski. The challenge is; effectively marketing their skills among locations and medical settings in demand. Hospitalist jobs and primary care jobs are hot right now.”

Last month alone, 20,000 people searched Google for locum tenens and more than 27,000 searched for hospitalist jobs.

Find physician reentry resources

Physician Jobs Lead to Substantial Student Loan Repayment Award

Author Healthcare Career Blogger | 31.03.2009 | Category Colorado Physician Jobs, Education, Locum Tenens, Medical doctor jobs, OB GYN jobs, Physician Career Path, Physician Recruitment, Physicians, Pschyriatry Jobs

As the doctor shortage worsens in rural and high-need areas nationwide, states are stepping up incentives to recruit physicians of all types. New York State alone has pledged $22 million to its Doctors Across New York Program and Michigan is working hard to abate a projected physician shortage of 6,000 doctors over the next ten years. Physician recruitment agencies are focused on these areas and fast-tracking physician specialists for permanent and locum tenens jobs.

Why offer payback incentives in a field known for high salaries? The simple fact is, practicing medicine in what the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services refers to as a designated Health Professional Shortage Area – or underserved market – isn’t as lucrative as physician jobs located in larger market areas. So, in exchange for student loan payback incentives, qualifying doctors agree to work in shortage areas for three to five years and dedicate one-third of their practice to treating patients with Medicaid, Medicare or no insurance at all, depending on the requirements of individual state and federal payback programs.

The Colorado Health Foundation’s Physician Loan Repayment Program is currently awarding eligible doctors up to $50,000 a year for a maximum of three years if they serve in a qualified rural or urban Colorado community. Currently, 57 percent of the state’s 64 counties lack enough primary-care physicians to sufficiently serve the population. The program awarded more than $2 million to 18 physicians in 2008. Physician recruitment agencies are ideal sources to find physician jobs and locum tenens opportunities in these areas as well as highly coveted positions located in Metropolitan areas.

Student loan payback incentives have been around for a few years. After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the state of Louisiana developed the Greater New Orleans Health Service Corps, an organization offering incentives of up to $110,000, including student loan repayment and income guarantees to doctors, dentists and other medical professionals willing to work in post-disaster conditions – a move to lure needed doctors into the ravaged city and to stanch an outmigration of doctors eyeing greener pastures. The federal government provided $15 million to finance the Louisiana program and the state awarded 81 grants to attract physicians for primary care medical doctor jobs, OB GYN jobs, psychiatry jobs, dentists and a handful of nurses and counselors.

For doctors less interested in pay and more inclined to utilize their skills to help what most would consider the underprivileged, states across the country have various programs in place that offer doctors loan repayment in exchange for medical services. Oregon’s Rural Health Services Loan Repayment Program offers to repay 20 to 25 percent of the loan principle for health professionals who agree to work in a rural
hospital, a rural health clinic or pharmacy located in either a federally designated Health Professional Shortage Area or state designated Area of Unmet Health Care.

For doctors not interested in practicing medicine, The National Institute for Health offers health professionals up to $35,000 in student loan repayment for a commitment as a medical researcher. Not such a bad deal, say loan payback proponents.