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MediCorp seeks specialists MEDICINE >> Hospitals must compete to attract physicians Mary Washington Hospital has learned that it must employ new specialists if it wants to lure them to Fredericksburg Date published: 3/9/2007
BY JIM HALL When recruiters called last year--and dozens did--Dr. Reshma Parab told them that she wanted three things from her first job: She wanted to practice endocrinology, her speciality, and not primary care. She also wanted to live in a medium-size city. New York City, where she did her fellowship training, was too crowded and too expensive, she said. And she wanted to be employed by a hospital or an established group. She didn't want to set up her own office. "You have to be pretty savvy to be able to run a successful practice right off from a fellowship," Parab said. "I don't think most of us have those skills." MediCorp Health System and Mary Washington Hospital met Parab's conditions, and she began working there in August. With two colleagues, she helped set up the hospital's first endocrinology practice for the treatment of diabetes and thyroid problems. "I was really surprised how quickly we got busy," she said. Parab's arrival here is symbolic of a change taking place across the nation. Officials at Mary Washington and other hospitals realize now that if they want to recruit specialists, they'll probably have to put them on the payroll. NEW SPECIALTIESOne of the oddities of modern medicine is that doctors usually work at hospitals but not for them. Of the 337 doctors with clinical privileges at Mary Washington, only 22 are employed full or part time by the hospital, according to MediCorp figures. The hospital's parent company has long preferred that doctors join existing groups or set up their own practices. And many still do. Last year MediCorp paid recruiting costs or offered start-up loans to 25 specialists who moved to the region to work in private practice. But a shift in the company's strategy became apparent in 2005, when the hospital took over a cardiac-surgery practice and set up a neurosurgery practice and pediatric hospitalist program. "It happened quickly," said Robert K. Lively, MediCorp's executive director of physician relations. Since the beginning of last year, the company has employed 14 specialists, including Parab. These specialists work in diabetes management, general surgery, weight-loss surgery, cancer surgery and infectious-disease control. Another group are pediatric hospitalists. These hirings occurred after MediCorp identified gaps in the region's medical offerings and concluded that existing practices would not be recruiting in those areas.
Read more stories about Fredericksburg Date published: 3/9/2007
Good grief....is MWH outsourcing to foreign countries? I can't even pronounce half of their names! First or last
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