The issue
In many healthcare organizations, physician workforce planning begins with a list of vacant positions. While it is a great starting point for some, a vacancy list only tells you where you are short today. But it won’t tell you how many physicians you need, whether the current model of care is sustainable, or what your workforce requirement will look like three to five years from now.
Why this matters
A proper medical staff workforce plan actually starts with the service requirement.
What care needs to be delivered? What volume is expected? What coverage is required? What work should be performed by physicians, and what could be delivered differently through redesigned models of care or alternative providers?
From there, organizations need to understand the relationship between your required capacity, funded capacity, actual productive capacity, future workforce risk and recruitment need.
A department may appear fully staffed on paper while carrying significant retirement risk, part-time clinical commitments, leadership and teaching obligations, or insufficient call coverage. Conversely, an identified vacancy may reflect an outdated service model rather than a true requirement for another physician.
What leaders should consider
- Do you know what percentage of time your medical staff are working on your service?
- Do you know what a true “FTE” comprises?
- Are you aware of what services in your organization are at risk and have a plan to address this?
The practical takeaway
Strong workforce planning should incorporate service demand, physician FTE, productivity assumptions, compensation models, call requirements, succession, retirement, recruitment pipelines, geographic coverage and opportunities for different models of care.
A way forward
The better question is not “How many physicians are we missing,” but rather “what physician and clinical workforce do we need to deliver the care we are accountable for, now and in the future?”
Astrid Levelt
Founder and Principal, Cogentis Health Group