Physician facts offered during Rural Health Clinic conference
NRHA's conference designed exclusively for rural health clinic leaders kicked off today in Kansas City, Mo. Craig Hunter told administrators it's vital that they track patient satisfaction. On recruiting, he said: "Doctors want to walk into an environment that already has electronic records and where patient demand is already pent up. Your contracts need to set the expectation that the doctor needs to grow the practice too." Hunter also surprised some conference participants with these stats: 1. 1/3 of U.S. physicians are 58 years old or older. Worse: It will take 1.3-1.75 other clinicians to replace the productivity of one of the more senior docs. 2. 24 percent of clinical students about to look for jobs aren't sure they want to be doctors. "You better jolly well screen them good when you interview. They are darn sure screening you because they have seven other options," he said. NRHA's Rural Health Clinic conference continues through Wednesday. NRHA's 10th annual Critical Access Hospital Conference runs Wednesday through Friday. Together, these events bring 650 rural health pros to Kansas City. For the agendas, click here. For a KC news station's coverage of the events, proposed federal budget cuts that threaten to close rural health facilities and an interview with a rural Kansas physician member, click here.