Radiologist Hiring Preferences Based on Practice Needs.

Area of Science:

• Radiology Workforce Analysis
• Medical Practice Management
• Physician Recruitment Strategies

Background:

• The American College of Radiology (ACR) Commissions on Human Resources and General, Small and Rural Practice collaborated to address physician hiring preferences.
• A specific question was developed for the annual ACR Workforce Survey to gather data on desired radiologist profiles.

Purpose of the Study:

• To understand the hiring preferences of radiology practice leaders.
• To identify the most sought-after qualifications and training backgrounds for new radiologists.

Main Methods:

• Practice leaders ranked five types of prospective radiologists based on their practice needs.
• Ranking criteria included single-specialty (subspecialty-focused), single-specialty with general capabilities, multispecialty, general radiologists, and those with dual fellowships in the same specialty.

Main Results:

• The most preferred candidate profile was a single-specialty radiologist with general capabilities, selected by 68% of practice leaders.
• Multispecialty radiologists were the second most desired (21%), followed by single-specialty and general radiologists (13%), and those with two fellowships (5%).

Conclusions:

• Radiology practices generally prefer candidates with fellowship training who also possess broad clinical or modality skills.
• This preference holds for private, multispecialty, and hospital-owned practices.
• Academic medical center leaders showed a slight preference for single-specialty radiologists over those with general capabilities.