Ending the “Post and Pray” Era: Why Physician Recruitment Requires a New Strategy

For years, healthcare organizations have relied on what I call the “post and pray” approach to physician recruitment.

A position opens.

The job is posted on a few websites.

Maybe an advertisement runs in a journal.

Then everyone waits.

And hopes.

Unfortunately, hope is not a recruitment strategy.

Today’s physician market has fundamentally changed. The organizations that continue relying on outdated recruiting methods are finding themselves with longer vacancies, higher costs, frustrated clinical teams, and patients waiting longer for care. Meanwhile, organizations that have embraced strategic physician recruitment are consistently attracting physicians others never even have the opportunity to meet.

The difference isn’t luck.

It’s leadership.

The Best Physicians Aren’t Looking for You

One of the biggest misconceptions in physician recruitment is believing that great candidates are actively searching job boards.

Most aren’t.

The physicians hospitals desperately want are usually busy caring for patients, leading departments, conducting research, or trying to regain some semblance of work-life balance after another demanding week.

They may be open to the right opportunity.

But they aren’t spending their evenings scrolling through job postings.

That means healthcare organizations must shift from being advertisers to becoming relationship builders.

The future belongs to organizations that actively source physicians, build long-term relationships, and engage candidates long before they decide it’s time to make a career move.

Recruitment has become proactive—not reactive.

Recruitment Is No Longer an HR Function

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over more than twenty years in physician recruitment is this:

The organizations that recruit the best physicians don’t treat recruitment as an HR responsibility. They treat it as a strategic business initiative.

Recruitment affects everything.

• Patient access
• Revenue
• Physician burnout
• Community health
• Growth strategies
• Service line expansion
• Market reputation

Yet many organizations still expect recruiters to solve workforce shortages without executive involvement.

That approach simply doesn’t work anymore.

The most successful organizations I’ve worked with have CEOs, Chief Medical Officers, operational leaders, physician champions, and recruiters sitting at the same table making recruitment decisions together.

When leadership owns recruitment, everything changes.

Candidates notice.

Physicians notice.

Employees notice.

Culture begins long before a physician signs a contract.

Speed Has Become a Competitive Advantage

Today’s physician candidates often have multiple opportunities available at the same time.

I’ve seen organizations lose exceptional physicians because it took three weeks to schedule a second interview.

I’ve seen candidates accept another position simply because another organization communicated better.

Every delay sends a message.

Whether intentional or not, slow communication tells candidates:

“This is probably what it will feel like to work here.”

Great physician recruitment isn’t just about making offers.

It’s about creating an outstanding candidate experience from the very first conversation.

Organizations that communicate quickly, make decisions efficiently, and respect physicians’ time consistently outperform those buried in bureaucracy.

The Hidden Cost of Every Vacancy

One of my favorite conversations with healthcare executives is helping them calculate what an open physician position is actually costing.

Most leaders know vacancies are expensive.

Few realize just how expensive.

An unfilled physician position doesn’t simply represent lost salary dollars.

It affects:

• Professional fee revenue
• Surgical volume
• Imaging
• Laboratory services
• Pharmacy revenue
• Downstream referrals
• Patient satisfaction
• Staff morale
• Physician burnout
• Community access to care

Depending on the specialty, vacancies can easily cost $7,500 to well over $10,000 every single day.

When leaders begin measuring the true Cost of Vacancy (COV), recruitment stops being viewed as an expense.

It becomes one of the highest-return investments an organization can make.

Suddenly, investing in sourcing technology, recruiter education, physician marketing, and competitive compensation packages becomes a financial decision—not simply an HR decision.

Recruitment Doesn’t End with a Signed Contract

Too many organizations celebrate when a physician signs an agreement.

I believe that’s when the real work begins.

Successful physician recruitment includes the entire physician lifecycle.

It begins before the physician ever arrives and continues throughout their career with your organization.

That means focusing on:

• Thoughtful onboarding
• Community integration
• Family support
• Leadership development
• Professional growth
• Regular Stay Interviews
• Burnout prevention
• Career pathway planning

Retention isn’t separate from recruitment.

Retention is recruitment.

Every physician who stays becomes your greatest recruiter.

Every physician who leaves becomes a story another candidate may hear.

Building Relationships Instead of Filling Positions

The healthcare organizations that will thrive over the next decade won’t simply be the ones with the largest recruitment budgets.

They’ll be the organizations that build genuine relationships.

Organizations that listen.

Organizations that communicate.

Organizations that understand physicians are people first—not just providers filling an FTE.

The physician shortage isn’t going away anytime soon.

That means healthcare leaders must stop asking,

“How do we fill this opening?”

And start asking,

“How do we become the organization physicians want to join—and never want to leave?”

That shift changes everything.

A New Era of Physician Recruitment

I wrote The Physician Recruitment Playbook because I believe physician recruitment deserves a seat at the executive table.

Recruitment is no longer a transactional process.

It is one of the most important strategic initiatives any healthcare organization will undertake.

Communities depend on having access to exceptional physicians.

Patients depend on having timely care.

Healthcare organizations depend on having the right providers in the right places at the right time.

The “post and pray” era is over.

The future belongs to organizations willing to build relationships, invest strategically, and lead recruitment with purpose.

Those organizations won’t just fill positions.

They’ll build healthcare systems where physicians thrive—and where communities receive the care they deserve.

Tammy D. Hager, MBA, FABC, CRPR

Tammy Hager’s journey in healthcare operations began over two decades ago, starting on the front lines of hospital-based recruitment and operations management. This foundational experience gave her an intimate understanding of the complex challenges healthcare organizations face across recruitment, credentialing, and operational systems.

Throughout her career, Tammy has held leadership positions at prestigious healthcare systems and organizations, where she developed comprehensive expertise in physician recruitment, credentialing workflows, data integration, and healthcare workforce solutions. She has personally overseen hundreds of successful placements while simultaneously optimizing operational processes that support healthcare delivery.

As the author of “The Physician Recruitment Playbook,” Tammy has distilled her decades of expertise into a comprehensive guide that empowers healthcare leaders to achieve operational excellence. Her passion for transforming healthcare operations drives her mission to share knowledge and develop solutions that make a lasting impact.

You can find “The Physician Recruitment Playbook” here!