

Healthcare organizations invest significant time, energy, and money into hiring physicians. But according to Douglas Farrago, MD, the author of ‘The Hospital Guide to Physician Retention,’ very few organizations invest adequate resources into keeping physicians. Farrago, a Family physician, became interested in the topic from his personal experience as an employed physician. “I wrote this book to help companies improve their physician work environment, so that doctors don’t want to leave.”
Farrago says that increasing retention efforts can save organizations money and improve quality care. “It costs a lot to hire and train a physician,” he says. “Lowering your turnover rate by just one percent can save an organization up to a million dollars.” Retaining physicians also lowers overall healthcare costs, with a recent analysis estimating that primary care turnover adds nearly a billion dollars in excess healthcare expenditures per year.