Hint: Think Beyond the Signing Bonus
Are you concerned about losing a new physician in the first few years of hire? Wary of spending a lot to recruit a candidate physician – signing bonuses, relocation, search fees – only to see him or her leave? Here are a few ideas to keep good physicians on board.
Right now, most financial packages are weighted toward getting the physician signed. A typical signing bonus is $15K-$20K, depending on specialty, often with a loan repayment component, as well. What does that do for the candidate physician or you in the long run in terms of long-term stability?
Unlike a one-time signing bonus, retention incentives offer bonuses after specific periods. To be competitive, you’ll still need some kind of signing bonus. But if the goal is to keep the candidate physician, why not weight the compensation toward retention instead?
For example, if the physician you’re negotiating with wants a signing bonus of $10,000, try offering $10,000 up front or $5,000 now and $10,000 more after a year (or as much as you can offer down the road). Arrange the package to pay out more over time, but only if the physician is still there and has built a solid practice and billings.
Examples of Retention Packages
- A hospital in Colorado offers a signing bonus of $7,500 and a small bonus after year one and two, with $20,000 after year three, $10,000 after four and $10,000 after five.
- A national health system developed its own standards of practice and gives $1,000/month for meeting standards, providing an extra $12,000 per year.
- A nationwide clinic system offers $10,000 at signing with a $7,500 performance bonus yearly.
Whatever your compensation formula is, be sure you keep it easy to understand. And the longer you can take the retention bonus out, the better. After three years, we’ve seen the chances of a candidate staying long term go up significantly (because he or she will have built a practice and gotten comfortable in the community).
Making commitments that far into the future can be challenging in these unpredictable times of healthcare changes, but approaching physician recruitment with confidence will go a long way toward ensuring you have the talent you need to succeed.