Becker's Hospital Review

66 Clinical Integration & ACOs F amily medicine is still the most sought- after specialty. For the eighth year in a row, healthcare staffing firm Merritt Hawkins found family medicine physicians to be the most in-demand clinician specialty based on staffing requests the firm receives. The following are Merritt Hawkins' top 10 most- requested physician searches by medical specialty. 1. Family medicine 2. Internal medicine 3. Hospitalist 4. Psychiatry 5. Nurse practitioner 6. Pediatrician 7. Emergency medicine 8. Obstetrics/gynecology 9. Physician assistant 10. Neurology General internists nabbed the second spot on the list, a position they have held for eight years in a row also. This highlights "the continued na- tionwide demand for primary care physicians," according to Merritt Hawkins' 2014 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives report. One major change is the increasing demand for advanced practitioners like physician assistants and nurse practitioners. The number of search as- signments for PAs and NPs conducted by Merritt Hawkins has increased 320 percent over the last three years. The report is based on the 3,158 physician and advanced practitioner search assignments con- ducted by Merritt Hawkins and AMN Health- care's staffing companies between April 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014. n 22 Pioneer ACOs Remain After Sharp Healthcare Drops Out By Ayla Ellison S an Diego-based Sharp Healthcare, which was selected as a Medi- care Pioneer accountable care organization in 2011, left the Pio- neer program this summer after determining its ACO was at risk for "significant shared loss" for performance year three. Sharp Healthcare is the 10th Pioneer ACO to drop out of the program. The Pioneer ACO Model is a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innova- tion initiative. CMS announced the original 32 Pioneer ACOs in December 2011, with the first performance period for Pioneers beginning Jan. 1, 2012. In July 2013, nine Pioneer ACOs left the program after CMS released pre- liminary results from the first performance year. Seven of the nine ACOs that left the program switched to the Medicare Shared Savings Program. Sharp Healthcare's ACO, which includes seven hospitals and two medical groups, did not achieve enough savings in 2012 — its first performance year — to share in them with CMS. In June, Sharp Healthcare announced its ACO was dropping out of the Pioneer program in its financial statement for the third quarter. Under the Pioneer agreement, Sharp Healthcare could terminate its par- ticipation in the Pioneer program during the first six months of any annual period and not have financial responsibility for that period. With Sharp Healthcare's departure, only 22 of the original Pioneer ACOs remain. n The 10 Most In-Demand Clinician Specialties By Heather Punke Physicians' Top 10 Considerations for New Job Opportunities By Lindsey Dunn P roximity to loved ones is the No. 1 consideration of physicians who are considering new job opportunities, according to an ex- clusive Becker's Healthcare survey. The survey, conducted by physician engagement platform Quantia, in- cluded responses from 215 physicians between June and August. Physicians' top 10 considerations when assessing new job opportunities, according to the survey, include: • Proximity to family, friends or loved ones — 26.1 percent selected this as their top consideration • Location of organization (i.e., in a certain part of the country or a certain city) — 24.6 percent • Compensations relative to cost of living — 16.7 percent • Total compensation — 13.0 percent • Reputation of the hospital, practice or program — 5.12 percent • Type/Size of community (i.e., urban, rural, suburban, etc.) — 4.7 percent • Part-time potential — 4.7 percent • Number of hours on-call — 2.8 percent • Paid time off — 1.4 percent • Loan repayment — 0.9 percent n C M Y CM MY CY CMY K

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