Ramp Up Productivity and Improve Retention to Build Revenue

Imagine building a physician onboarding system within your hospital with the power to:

• Cut credentialing time by two-thirds
• Accelerate ramp-up to full productivity by nine months
• Lower turnover by 75%

It sounds daunting, but given the potential impact on revenue, it’s important to know how effective onboarding can build your bottom line. But, first let’s start where most organizations are today. Many hospitals operate under the false assumption that “orientation” is the same as “onboarding.”

If that sounds like you – you are not alone. The majority (88%) of organizations said they have an onboarding program, but only 33% have a formalized structure or committee, according to the American Medical Group Association.

Yet, underinvesting in physician and advanced practitioner onboarding is both a common – and costly – error that can delay productivity on the front-end and later result in costly turnover.

Organizations with one month of orientation reported 66% higher turnover than those with one year of onboarding. That amounts to “real money” when you consider that replacing a physician costs $250,000 or more and can also leave a million-dollar hole in your revenue budget.

Based on industry data for net revenue generated per physician on behalf of their affiliated hospitals, the contribution of a physician practicing at full productivity equals $1,448,548 annually.

A highly-integrated recruitment, onboarding and retention strategy will engage new physicians and advanced practice providers, helping them navigate your organization and efficiently ramp up into their first year of practice. The result: increased satisfaction, recruitment success and long-term retention.
Best practices include:

• Streamlined processes for getting practitioners productive quickly to drive revenue
• Year-long onboarding engagement for the practitioner and family
• Mentorship guided by physician leaders to reduce turnover risk
• Accountable reporting toward measurable growth and retention goals
• Cross-functional teams and committed leadership

Guided by experienced onboarding professionals, including a credentialed physician to structure mentorship, the goal is to create a sustainable program in which the team has the tools, techniques and training to do what it takes to make onboarding successful.

The bottom line: Effective onboarding can produce a return on investment exceeding $1 million per physician per year through faster productivity combined with reduced vacancy rates and lower replacement costs.

To learn more, see the 10 critical success factors for physician and advanced practitioner onboarding and learn how Dayton Children’s has been able to achieve results through better onboarding and navigation practices
 

Sources:

• American Medical Group Association and Cejka Search 2012 Physician Retention Survey
• Merritt-Hawkins 2013 Physician Revenue Survey