Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Building a Physician Recruitment Strategy Beyond Compensation with Dr. Erik Summers

Transcript

Building a Physician Recruitment Strategy Beyond Compensation with Dr. Erik Summers · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  - At Vituity, we're transforming
• 0:03
  - health care to improve lives. As a physician
• 0:06
  - owned multi specialty partnership,
• 0:08
  - we put patients first in every decision.
• 0:12
  - With 6,000
• 0:13
  - clinicians
• 0:14
  - caring for over 10,000,000 people each year, we
• 0:17
  - lead with innovation
• 0:19
  - to make care more connected,
• 0:21
  - more responsive,
• 0:22
  - and more human.
• 0:25
  - Learn more at bituity.com.
• 0:30
  - Welcome to the Becker's healthcare clinical leadership podcast.
• 0:33
  - I'm Mariah Taylor, assistant editor, and I'm thrilled
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  - to be speaking with Eric Summers, chief medical
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  - officer at Medical University of South Carolina.
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  - Thank you so much for joining me today,
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  - doctor Summers. I'm excited to learn more about
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  - your strategy of recruiting physicians without raising pay.
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  - But before we dive into that, I'd love
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  - for you to introduce yourself and tell us
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  - a little bit more about your background.
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  - Yeah. Thank you for inviting me. So
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  - so, yes, I'm, Eric Summers, chief medical officer
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  - at MUSC. I've been here for about a
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  - year and a half.
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  - Before that, I was chief medical officer at,
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  - Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston Salem.
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  - Like a lot of physicians have,
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  - hopped around different medical centers,
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  - East Carolina,
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  - Mayo, UAB.
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  - But,
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  - now I'm in Charleston, and I enjoy it
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  - with my
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  - three kids and wife. And
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  - we,
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  - we're a great place to work, great place
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  - to be.
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  - Amazing.
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  - Now I'm really excited to dive more into
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  - what you're doing over there in physician recruitment.
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  - As I'm sure you and all of our
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  - listeners know right now, many health systems are
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  - hitting the ceiling where they can't really use
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  - compensation as a recruitment level lever anymore.
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  - So how are you rethinking the value proposition
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  - for physicians and which nonfinancial
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  - strategies are actually moving the needle?
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  - Yeah. Thank you.
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  - So you're right. I mean, there there's the
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  - financial component, and then there's the non financial.
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  - And, you know, one of the things that
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  - I think about when I think about recruiting
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  - is the importance of the small things.
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  - Being faithful in the small things because that's
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  - where your strength lies. And so
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  - we as a group have been very intentional
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  - in our recruiting approach. What what do people
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  - want? What do candidates want? Well, sure.
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  - Finance is is part of that, but they
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  - want to be part of something. They wanna
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  - be part of a team.
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  - They want to, be part of a community,
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  - a culture.
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  - And so,
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  - we've been very intentional
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  - about,
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  - recruiting and showing not just
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  - our organization
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  - and who we are as an organization, but
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  - what is the community like? How if you
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  - were to live here, how would your experience
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  - be? You know, be it
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  - in Charleston or,
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  - other parts like Mount Pleasant or Daniel Island.
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  - We wanna give that experience to see people
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  - seeing themselves in the future living
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  - in our community. And and that,
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  - that has had an impact. No doubt about
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  - it.
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  - Excellent.
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  - Now you and I have talked before for
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  - an article I published a few weeks ago
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  - now about how you're using a very personal
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  - touch to bring physicians in and get them
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  - excited about the city and your system.
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  - And one of the things you'd mentioned is
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  - that you actually invite candidates to sit in
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  - on department meetings. And I'd love to hear
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  - what prompted that level of transparency,
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  - and how does it reshape how candidates evaluate
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  - your culture?
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  - Yeah. There's there's two big pieces to that.
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  - One is,
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  - you've gotta have the culture to bring people
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  - into your department meetings. If you don't have
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  - the right collegiality,
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  - collaboration, culture,
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  - that that may not be the best suggestion.
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  - But
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  - but in,
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  - the example that in my world in hospital
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  - medicine,
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  - when we brought candidates in to our department
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  - meetings and they watched
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  - how we interacted,
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  - it was,
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  - in my opinion, the number one recruiting tool
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  - we had because
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  - what they saw
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  - was
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  - anyone could speak up. People felt free to
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  - speak up. There was
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  - respectful but collegial differences of opinion that were
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  - expressed,
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  - and
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  - and it was okay.
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  - And so when people see that, they're sometimes
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  - they're a little taken aback, you know,
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  - oh, somebody's saying something a little loud and,
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  - you know, we we wanna be respectful. But
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  - but you realize, you see it in the
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  - eyes, you see it in the team. This
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  - is a team
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  - where everyone
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  - everyone's opinion has value.
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  - When you see that, when you feel it,
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  - boy, they wanted to come. And I I
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  - remember,
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  - leading hospital medicine back at Wake Forest, and
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  - and,
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  - there was a good and bad of this.
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  - The the
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  - the good was that we have plenty of
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  - candidates. The bad was we got up to
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  - three digits,
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  - 103
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  - as I remember, and that's just a lot
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  - of people you have to go through.
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  - But at the end of the day, people
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  - people want to feel valued. They wanna be
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  - part of something bigger.
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  - You know, this is this is a service,
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  - organization, a service profession,
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  - and and they wanna be able to help
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  - as many people as they can. And so
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  - so that was our, number one recruiting tool
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  - back in the day at
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  - at Wake Forest. But you gotta have the
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  - culture to do that. Otherwise,
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  - it could be a, derecruiting tool.
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  - Absolutely.
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  - And you've definitely taken that scale, not just
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  - to the physician, but to their families. You've
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  - mentioned to me before how you'll actually spend
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  - the day with families, helping them connect with
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  - the city, find resources for some of their
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  - interests and their favorite foods.
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  - So can you tell me a little bit
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  - more about how you've learned about their families
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  - and how that has helped you
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  - help physicians see that they wanna work with
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  - you?
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  - Yeah. And so,
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  - you know, like I mentioned before, I've been
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  - here for a year and a half, so
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  - I I live this. You know, it's,
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  - for many candidates, it's not just themselves. It's
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  - their family.
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  - And so,
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  - my family,
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  - was very settled and went to Salem. And
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  - and,
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  - while Charleston is a
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  - wonderful town, it's still a it's still a
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  - change. And so,
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  - what's been wonderful is MUSC has been very
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  - intentional
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  - about their recruitment approach
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  - to the families. And,
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  - they actually
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  - help start an organization, Executive Connections,
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  - that we now work with to bring in,
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  - our candidates. And so it's that it you
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  - know, one once again, it's the little things.
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  - It's those extra things that matter.
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  - So our,
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  - executive connections, they talk with the families. What
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  - is of interest? Maybe your daughter likes lacrosse.
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  - Maybe,
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  - your son is into,
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  - basketball or
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  - dancing or whatever it is. They find the
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  - the things that are of importance to the
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  - entire family.
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  - And then they go out to the community
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  - and they find leaders in those areas.
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  - I remember
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  - when I went through it, my
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  - we had a lunch in a local area,
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  - where
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  - I now go regularly to to to this,
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  - restaurant.
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  - We sat down with a leader and, a
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  - coach in soccer because one of my kids
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  - was into soccer, and we had a conversation
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  - about the community.
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  - Those little things
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  - are are the, what I would call, the
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  - attachments
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  - that you have to the community. It it
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  - helps you to see yourself. Okay.
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  - My daughter can work with this coach. My
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  - my
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  - son can work with,
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  - the arts world. So though those are intentional
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  - but important
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  - aspects
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  - of of improving the recruiting. And, you know,
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  - we have done surveys and polls
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  - on,
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  - when candidates go through this process. We have
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  - a 100% positive experience
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  - rate,
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  - which, you know, how do you get to
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  - a 100%? You know, you think one person
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  - wouldn't be happy, but it's such a immersive
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  - experience and
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  - and very helpful. Everyone loves it.
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  - And we've also seen, compared to,
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  - you know or prior, we've seen a 75%
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  - increase in candidates
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  - sign on the dotted line,
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  - and come work for us that go through
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  - this program.
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  - Each family, it's not the same thing. One
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  - size doesn't fit all. You've got to focus
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  - on what is important to them.
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  - Maybe it's maybe it's their faith or the
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  - schools
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  - or
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  - or activities,
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  - and and you focus your recruiting on that.
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  - Those are things that I
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  - don't sense others
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  - or some may be doing it, but certainly
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  - not the majority. And and I think we
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  - gained from that. I think we the impact
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  - is significant.
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  - And like I said, based on the statistics,
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  - we're we're recruiting,
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  - more people that that we want. So,
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  - we're very excited about that. And I think
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  - it's,
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  - we're gonna continue to to take that holistic
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  - approach
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  - with recruiting.
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  - Absolutely. I mean, those are some really impressive
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  - results coming from a very high touch kind
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  - of approach.
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  - I imagine, though, with it being so involved
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  - with not just the physician, but the families,
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  - it's got to take a lot of coordination
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  - and a fair amount of time. So how
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  - are you balancing that level of personalization
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  - given, you know, leadership bandwidth and time constraints?
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  - Yeah. Well, I would love to take the
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  - families out myself for the day and and
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  - go, you know,
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  - have eat at a nice restaurant and and
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  - tour around because
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  - it would be wonderful. Yes. I mean, we
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  - can't do everything. So, you know, I,
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  - spend a little time with with the families,
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  - mainly with the candidate.
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  - But but, really, our experts in
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  - executive connections,
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  - they they,
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  - they're the ones that spend that whole day
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  - with the family. And and we get, like
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  - I said, we get that feedback.
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  - And when a 100% say this was incredibly
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  - valuable,
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  - and we we learned
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  - the little things,
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  - the nuances of the community, and that that
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  - helped us to join. So,
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  - you know, we all have pieces of the
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  - puzzle, and families
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  - are a big piece.
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  - I would not have come to Charleston
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  - if my family was not,
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  - committed to coming. And,
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  - this the executive connection program helped, helped with
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  - that commitment.
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  - Absolutely.
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  - And I love your commitment to making physicians
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  - feel comfortable as well as their families.
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  - And I'm curious for systems out there who
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  - would love to take a similarly
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  - personalized approach and really give them that one
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  - on one attention,
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  - what
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  - aspects of your program do you suggest they
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  - start with first?
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  - You know, I I
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  - I guess it's you know, I'm not a
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  - I'm just a simple guy, and I like
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  - the simple things. And and,
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  - sure,
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  - you know, when when you are coming for
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  - a big position or just or a physician
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  - in a department, etcetera,
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  - There's
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  - the the competency of your group. But
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  - but sitting down,
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  - the communication,
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  - showing the commitment that you have to patients,
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  - listening
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  - to your candidates,
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  - really listening
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  - to what they what they're looking for and
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  - what they need,
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  - that takes
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  - that takes time. It takes emotional intelligence
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  - also. What are what are what is your
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  - what are the candidates thinking, and and how
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  - can you,
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  - help them define what they need?
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  - That,
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  - that intentional
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  - those intentional things,
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  - I think, not only have an impact with
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  - recruiting for physicians, it has an impact with
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  - how we take care of patients, how we
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  - create relationships in our hospital. So that's something
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  - that we're teaching our leaders,
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  - making effort to teach our leaders throughout throughout
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  - the institution.
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  - But,
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  - some people may not come, but I will
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  - tell you
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  - that, I have seen,
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  - the value of those little things,
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  - in terms of,
• 12:13
  - bringing people
• 12:14
  - to your,
• 12:15
  - institution and hiring. And and, ultimately, you have
• 12:18
  - to continue that commitment. It's not
• 12:21
  - sometimes people say, oh, we were gonna put
• 12:22
  - our best
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  - foot forward in the interview. And then when
• 12:25
  - when
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  - when physicians get to the
• 12:29
  - organization, they don't see what they saw in
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  - the interview.
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  - We wanna be very transparent and show
• 12:34
  - show our good or bad or opportunities,
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  - because,
• 12:38
  - if if somebody comes and they're not happy,
• 12:41
  - they're gonna leave very quickly, and we don't
• 12:43
  - want that. We want providers that are here
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  - for many, many years
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  - that,
• 12:48
  - you know, help put our patients first.
• 12:51
  - Absolutely.
• 12:51
  - Well, thank you for taking the time to
• 12:53
  - share with us about your approach and everything
• 12:55
  - you got going on down there in South
• 12:57
  - Carolina. It's been an absolute pleasure having you
• 13:00
  - on the podcast today.
• 13:01
  - Yeah. Thank you so much for inviting me.
• 13:05
  - At Vitality,
• 13:06
  - we're transforming health care to improve lives. As
• 13:10
  - a physician owned multi specialty partnership,
• 13:13
  - we put patients first in every decision.
• 13:16
  - With 6,000 clinicians
• 13:18
  - caring for over 10,000,000 people each year, we
• 13:21
  - lead with innovation
• 13:23
  - to make care more connected,
• 13:25
  - more responsive,
• 13:27
  - and more human.
• 13:29
  - Learn more at vituity.com.