How Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center Developed a More Strategic Approach to Physician Recruitment

THE SITUATION

Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center (PVHMC), a 427-bed not-for-profit community hospital in Southern California, faced the challenge of effectively managing its physician recruitment efforts. As a standalone medical center, it was vital for the hospital to maintain a robust physician network while navigating California laws that prevent direct employment of physicians. The hospital also needed to ensure that its recruitment strategies would be data-driven for validation purposes and compliant with regulatory requirements.

Before partnering with SullivanCotter, the hospital relied on physician-to-population rates published by an external vendor to assess physician supply and demand in its market. Leveraging this data was a manual, labor-intensive process, and the information required greater accuracy and in-depth analysis to make informed decisions and validate recruitment needs. A more efficient approach was necessary.

Accessing the right data and analytical tools would enable the hospital to anticipate community needs and plan, justify, and execute its recruitment initiatives more efficiently. The hospital required a sophisticated solution that could help support this strategy and maintain legal compliance throughout each step of the recruitment process.

THE APPROACH

PVHMC turned to SullivanCotter’s Provider Needs Assessment (PNA), an interactive cloud-based application, to address its recruitment challenges and reach its goals. Several hospital leadership team members, including the Vice President of Administration, the Vice President of Ambulatory Services, and the Executive Director of Planning, collaborated with SullivanCotter’s consultants to implement the PNA.

The PNA provided PVHMC with a comprehensive analysis of physician supply and demand in its service area, including detailed data on the composition and practice patterns of the local physician community. This enabled the hospital to validate the need for specific physician specialties and ensure its recruitment efforts aligned with community health needs.

The hospital’s cross-functional team worked with SullivanCotter’s consultants to customize the PNA data and insights to focus on the hospital’s unique market dynamics and strategic priorities. This collaborative approach allowed PVHMC to leverage the expertise of SullivanCotter while ensuring the information gathered was personalized.

“The PNA lifted a significant burden by giving us more precise, data-driven insights into our physician community and their practice patterns. It became essential in ensuring compliance and strategically justifying the recruitment of key specialties, allowing us to make informed decisions that align with our community’s health needs,” said Leigh Cornell, Vice President of Administration, PVHMC.

OUTCOMES

Implementing the PNA has helped PVHMC improve its operational efficiency and overall recruitment strategy in several ways:

• The hospital now has access to data-driven insights that enable it to make informed recruitment decisions while remaining compliant. The PNA allows for more robust assessments of physician supply and demand, helping to validate recruitment initiatives with the leadership team and board of directors.

• The hospital developed a more strategic approach to physician recruitment. It can identify potential gaps in physician coverage and better engage with community physicians to understand their practice plans and expansion opportunities.

• SullivanCotter’s PNA offers a more in-depth analysis of the local physician market. SullivanCotter’s PNA captures the full complexity of physician supply and demand. The hospital can now identify physicians who only practice part-time in the service area or have satellite offices outside the primary service area. This provides a more accurate picture of physician availability and assists in recruitment.

“If I needed to recruit physicians, I would use the tool to indicate if we have justification and to show our leadership and CEO. We would see the list of physicians in our community and determine who we need to learn more about or see if there’s an opportunity before we recruit to understand and engage with that physician. We can see if there’s an opportunity either for them to expand their practice or for them to come to us, or if there are barriers to such,” Cornell added.

LESSONS LEARNED

The PVHMC case study offers several lessons for organizations considering a PNA:

• Dedicate time and resources: Engaging cross-functional stakeholders and ensuring they understand the data’s implications is essential for maximizing its value. This investment enables more informed decision-making and a stronger alignment with organizational goals.

• Customize the data to fit organizational needs: While the PNA provides a strong foundational framework, working closely with SullivanCotter’s consultants to tailor the data to your specific market dynamics is critical. This customization involves identifying relevant service area ZIP codes, securing accurate affiliation and employer data, and actively working with the information to build confidence.

• Shift to proactive decision-making: PVHMC transitioned from a reactive recruitment strategy to a more proactive one by embedding the PNA into its strategic planning process. This shift enabled the hospital to anticipate and address physician shortages and community health needs more effectively rather than reacting to gaps as they occurred.

• Use data to validate recruitment efforts: The PNA’s detailed analysis offers clear, data-driven justification for recruiting specific physician specialties. This helps secure the support of key stakeholders, such as leadership teams and boards of directors, and ensures alignment between recruitment initiatives and the broader organizational strategy.