When interviewing a physiatrist for a new job, it’s easy to ask questions off the cuff or that you’ve stored away over the years for interviews.  However, these questions are the kind that are always asked and that most interviewees have prepared answers to. That’s why you might end up with a physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor who was perfect during the interview but failed at their job.  By asking these unusual questions, not only will you get answers that more truly describe the person but you will also see how they work under pressure as they won’t have prepared answers.

If you could be another person, who would you be?

Who is your hero?

What makes you uncomfortable?

When are you the happiest?

Tell me about one of your professional relationships.

Tell me about your best boss.

ANOTHER way to tell a person’s character is to ask your front desk person how the individual was.  Often the way a person interacts with your office staff is a good predictor of how they will act with patients.

AND FINALLY, although interviewers tend to look for people with similar personalities to their own remember that the new physiatrist will be interacting with many different personalities within your office and among your physical medicine and rehabilitation patients so being like you won’t necessarily be the best and only great candidate.   In fact, you most likely need someone different from you who can deal with people different than you. 

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A practice search is a time-consuming process. Help from Farr Healthcare, Inc. helps economize time in this process. We do this in a number of ways to include providing a large number of available opportunities, serving as an extra voice to support you to the opportunity and keeping the practice mindful of your interest in their opportunity.

It usually takes 6 months or more from start to finish for a  practice search.   Sometimes it’s shorter and sometimes it’s longer.   It all depends on the entity you’re dealing with, if you have to apply for a license, if you have to get hospital privileges, the time it takes to get on insurance panels, etc.   A senior resident may start to look as early as July of his/her senior year.   Alot of opportunities are available in the fall during the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation’s annual meeting.   Don’t get frustrated if you start late or a deal falls through because there are many opportunities available most anytime of the year.

Curriculum vitae

First, a curriculum vitae is necessary. A sample curriculum vitae may be found under the tab Sample Curriculum Vitae. It should be clear and concise. For example, make the headers of education bold such as Medical School, Residency, and University. The curriculum vitae should be 1-2 pages if you’re finishing your residency and a few pages if you’re a practicing physician. If you have a longer curriculum vitae, include the basic information in a few pages and then offer an addendum to include information such as publications when the opportunity begins discussions. It is important that all the dates are correct such as for education and employment. If they do not follow consecutively, please include a short explanation as to why/what you were doing.

You may want to have 2 versions of your curriculum vitae if you’re pursuing opportunities in academics versus private practice, for instance. A curriculum vitae for academics would include information such as research and publications whereas the curriculum vitae for private practice opportunities would not include this information.

I do not recommend that you provide your cv to any recruitment firm or employer unless you’ve previously been provided with fairly comprehensive information about an opportunity. Once you release your cv to an entity, you have no control as to who they might provide it to without your knowledge.

An entity might provide it to doctors who you wouldn’t want to know that you’re considering practice opportunities. Although they shouldn’t, a recruitment firm might provide it to entities without your knowledge.

The inclusion of some personal information is optional. Farr Healthcare, Inc. recommends the inclusion of some personal information because it sets you apart from other candidates, personalizes you to the opportunity which makes you more than just a piece of paper to the opportunity thereby causing the opportunity to consider you before other candidates.

Do not include references on the curriculum vitae. This information may be abused by recruiters and practice representatives who might bother your references. You should always know who’s contacting your references. Be prepared to provide names, addresses and phone numbers if/when an opportunity asks for references. Ask for a few days to then tell your references that a practice representative will be in contact and inform the references of any specifics of the practice requirements. The reference will then be able to inform the practice representative about your relative features and this discussion will enhance your chances for consideration.

Categories such as Publications, Certification should be included if they pertain.

Cover letter

A cover letter is only beneficial if you use it to include information not on your curriculum vitae.

Preparing for the interview

Most practices pay the travel and other expenses for the interview. Don’t plan to take a spouse or significant other to the first interview unless the opportunity requests you to do so. Do not take children. If the opportunity is interested after the first interview, there is usually a second interview at which time the opportunity invites your spouse/significant other. Learn the names and positions of the people you’ll be meeting. Think of the questions the interviewers will ask and prepare your answers. Be an active participant in the interview by using any opportunity to highlight your features.

Never be negative about your current or former practice situations. Look your best: wear a suit. Please remember to send a thank you note after the interview.

Questions to ask during an interview

1. What has been the history of the position?
2. What are the benefits? I wouldn’t ask this until late in the interview or after the first interview.
3. How long on average does it take for the doctors to become partners?
4. Is there a restrictive covenant in the agreement? Again, I wouldn’t ask this as the first question.
5. How many procedures per day? And more questions about the responsibilities
6. How much competition is there?
7. How efficient are collections?
8. What is the current wait time for a patient to get a procedure? Said another way, is the need for services there or do they plan on the new doctor developing the practice
9. Where do the patients come from?
10. What is the practice’s philosophy – business-wise, patient-wise, etc.?

Interview questions
Being prepared for an interview is vital to the success of the practice search process.   Part of the preparation is practicing how to answer the questions during the interview.   Here’s some examples of interview questions and how to respond.

Q:   Why do you want to change employment?
A:     Don’t give them a horror story about your current employer.   No one wants to hear negative stories.   Negative stories in interviews make the person who’s telling them seem negative.   Instead give a generic answer such as that you’re looking for professional growth.

Q:   What do you wish to change about your present position?
A.   This is another question that you don’t want to present negative information.   Frankly, interviews are not the place for much, if any, negative information.   A good response could be “I’m looking for more inpatient work” if you’re interviewing for a position which involves inpatient work and you’re currently doing more outpatient work.

Q.   What are your professional goals?
A.   Your goals should jive with the goals of the practice, e.g. to help grow the practice, to make patients satisfied with their visit, being active in the community.   Therefore, to respond succesfully, you must do your homework to find out what the practice’s goals are.   This may not be available as is but you can make deductions about it from your initial conversation with the practice and the website.   For example, the practice physician may have talked with you on the phone about how the practice just added a fluro suite.   Given this expense, it’s no doubt a concern of the practice to pay off this expense so their goal is to build the interventional referral base. Professional goals can be: patient education, to become Board Certified, to become a partner.

Q,   What would a colleague say about your strengths and weaknesses?
A. This is another trick question.   Most interview questions are seeking information which the answers indirectly provide the essence of the interviewee’s character and values.   For example, you might respond to this question that your weakness is that you’re impatient.   Rather than say that you’re impatient, it’s better to say that you strive for perfection and that at times you  become impatient with yourself when trying to get something done on time and  well.

Q: Tell me about yourself.
A: Use this as an opportunity to highlight your strengths.   Don’t tell them what you’ve done since you were born.   It is ideal if you can inform the interviewer of your strengths by telling real-life scenarios you’ve experienced.

Q: What are your expectations of this position?
A: If you have a clear understanding of the job expectations, then the answer is simple.   However, most times you won’t.   Don’t be afraid to tell them that and turn the question around to them.

Q: Why do you have an interest in this position?
A: Use this question to show the entity your knowledge of them.   If, for example, their focus is Workers Compensation, then link that to your abilities in Workers Compensation.   One of the practices that I worked with in Phoenix was concerned that the new doctor could tolerate the heat there.   In this case, use this question to address any possible negatives of the position and how you enjoy what to others might be negative.

Q: Any question that you don’t have an answer for!
A: Don’t stumble to come up with an answer that you’re not sure of.   Interviews cause people to want to provide answers for every question.   However, it is the wise interviewee who will confess that he/she doesn’t know.   You could say “I don’t know, but I ‘d be happy to learn” or “I’m not sure but I’ll get back to you. ”

Preparing for the Interview

What follows is the presentation that I gave at the October, 2015 Annual AAPM&R meeting about The Strategy For Selecting The Best Practice Opportunity:

When you’re talking with a practice or a hospital and asking questions, be wary if the entity talks around the question but doesn’t give you an answer. Don’t think it’s yourself that isn’t understand. Go with your gut to acknowledge in your own mind that the group isn’t forthcoming. If they’re that way at the start, your relationship with them is probably headed only in 1 direction – down. Now on some subjects, the practice is justifiably close-mouthed. Such a subject is partnership. A practice is justifiably quiet about this subject. It’s like discussing marriage on your first date. Until they get to know you after a year or two of working together, do they feel comfortable talking about partnership.
The best opportunity will also be a practice or hospital that is good at planning for the future. How do you tell this absent seeing or hearing about their plans or even after hearing their plans? See how well-positioned the practice is presently and that is an indication of their future status. If it’s a solo practice doing things the way they’ve always been done, that might be a red flag.
Affiliate with a group/hospital that is on the cutting edge of technology and information management. This entities are well-prepared to address what payors want. What will differentiate the successful physician of the next 20 years will not be their prowess in medicine, but rather decisions made outside the practice of medicine. If you’re not an expert in planning, surround yourself by a hospital or practice associates that have this skill. Also, just because a practice has plans for the future, doesn’t mean that they may be implemented. How well organized and team-oriented is the practice? What past plans for the future are being realized now?
Community relations are a key to current and future successes. Community relations should encompass relations with referrals doctors, payors, hospitals, etc. It doesn’t mean that every doctor has to have marketing skills but some members of the practice should.
Geographics plays a part is selecting the best practice opportunity. You just can’t go anywhere and be successful as was true more so in the past. Suburban and rural locations sometimes pay more than a big city. Residents often want to stay near their residency which results in an oversupply of physiatrists in these cities. Some good states to practice from the standpoint of less physiatry supply are states without physiatry residencies such as OR, WY and MS. Residents often have favored states such as FL, CA and CO. The number of job applicants will be double for opportunities in these states. For example, I might find 5 physiatrists interested in Des Moines, IA versus 30+ physiatrists interested in NYC. The opportunity to find a good position in a major city is much less possible than it was in the past. The ability to be successful long-term is less too because your employer has a pool of available physiatrists and may discontinue a relations with you in favor of a doctor who is less costly. It’s the law of supply and demand so where there is greater supply of physiatrists, the compensations are often times less as are the benefits. Practice in a rural location is often less stressful because there’s less competition and often less regulations and oversight and a lower cost of living. You don’t have to go to Timbuktu for good pay; a recent placement of a recent I made in IA is getting paid $250,000 plus incentive.
Some physicians give strong consideration to the states with no or low income taxes such as AK, FL, AZ, DE, MS, GA, LA, SC, NV and WY. Geographics also sometimes determines practice patterns. For example, a NYC physiatrist sees less referrals because the internists have joined groups and don’t refer out anymore. On the other hand, a rural female physiatrist is doing more primary care as a result of the primary care doctors retiring because of the demands and costs of EMR. Demographics also have a role in the best practice opportunities. States with older populations like FL and TN tend to have drug-seeking patients.
The economic health of an area is also critical to a practice’s success. For example, AL has the lowest jobless rate in the Southeast. WY is a high tech hot spot.
The contract terms are another factor in finding the best practice opportunity. Most of the contract terms are fairly standard but items such as the bookkeeping of the incentive, terms to leave a practice, the restrictive covenant, partnership terms vary and you can select the contract with the most favorable terms. For example, a contract that doesn’t charge you to get out of it early is more advantageous. Sometimes this can cost $150,000 or more.
You should strongly consider practices that offer a broad range of services such as inpatient and outpatient physician services, MRI, PT, etc. By offering a broad range of services you can keep patients happy with one-stop shopping. Also, by offering a broad range of services, you’re not subject to a major financial impact on the practice if one of the services suffers a financial cutback. The same theories apply to having a variety of payors. It used to be that EMG’s were economically advantageous and then they were cut back. Another way of looking at this is what services you can offer. If you choose to only provide interventional services, you are limiting your income. Also, the large amount of physiatrists who provide these services means that you will have more competition when finding a job. Particular service types fare better in certain areas. If you like workers comp than it’s better in AZ for example than in the neighboring state of CA because of the laws there.
I recommend that you seek out medium to large-size groups or large organizations. The days of the solo practice or 2-person physiatry practice are dwindling. It’s just too hard as the group doesn’t have the ability to volume discount their expenses nor the capacity to reach out nor serve a large population which is what healthcare payors are now seeking.
A practice or facility that can offer a rehab continuum from acute rehab to SNF care is ideal. That way, no matter what type provider may be impacted by a Medicare cutback, the practice has other revenue sources. This provider will also be favored by healthcare payors for the range of services managed.
Whether partnership is offered or not can’t be solely considered as good or not good. It depends on the group. If it’s a physiatry group, then partnership should be offered. However, if the compensation adequately addresses the missed income by not being a partner, then all things are equal. Sometimes, multispecialty groups won’t offer partnership because of the different income that say orthopods or neurologists bring to the table compared with a physiatrist.
In regards to physician attrition, find out if the position you’re applying for is new or a replacement. Sometimes, new instead might mean that the position has been vacant for awhile. Why is their physician turnover? Sometimes this is difficult to find out. A physician recruiter should be able to find this out.
When considering the best practice opportunity, which of the following type of providers is the best? (SLIDE) Each has their plus’s and minus’s. A national rehab company has rehab as its #1 priority and has a pulse on what is going on in government and even an influence with government. On the flip side, it is corporate medicine with set ways of doing things. However, if it’s managing a rehab unit then there’s less chance for established ways of doing things. A rehab unit allows you to be a big fish in a little pond however rehab may not be the priority of the hospital. It also depends if it’s a community or for-profit hospital. If it’s a for-profit hospital, its mentality may be more like the national companies. Freestanding rehab hospitals are typically owned by a national companies and have the corporate mentality. The rewards are great both professionally and financially but you should be willing to be part of the corporate team. SNF’s can be part of a large chain or individually-owned and hence have the pro’s and con’s of what I’ve just described. Private practices allow for more individuality however if they’re in a metro area have the potential to be bought by the local hospital system and then individuality is lost. Academics offers the ability for collegiality and research although compensation is often less.
Selecting the best practice opportunity requires you to know the language of the field. What is an independent contractor? An independent contractor is someone who signs a contract, typically with a rehab hospital to provide rehab services. It is tantamount to being a private practice physician. You are responsible for the personal expenses such as health and malpractice insurances and whatever practice expenses there are. The advantage is that there is no middle man so what you kill is what you eat.
The restrictive covenant is language in a contract that restricts you from practicing in a certain area for a certain time should you leave the practice. These haven’t been upheld in courts but it can be costly to still have to go through the process of trying to get out of one.
A stipend is the compensation for providing a service such as being the Medical Director, Rehab. It is on top of whatever compensation you receive for services rendered.
An income guarantee is income but I think the word guarantee is misleading because it’s not usually given without strings. It usually means that whatever income is provided has to be paid back in a certain amount of time. Scrutinize the bookkeeping of an income guarantee. One doctor told me he didn’t get his January or February payments until March.
An incentive also called a performance bonus is monies you will receive if you meet usually certain productivity requirements. This is different from a bonus which is a one-time payment, oftentimes at sign-on.
NOW THAT I’VE TALKED ABOUT THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BEST PRACTICE OPPORTUNITY, I’d like to talk about the hiring trends. Everyone is looking for a physiatrist! This holds true for most areas except your urban areas, particularly where there are residency programs. Rural areas have more opportunity, more pay and less stress.
Employers want productive doctors. Attention to time management is paramount. Practice want doctors who can see 2-4 patients per hour, not 12 patients/day.
The supply of inpatient physiatrists is less and the demand is therefore greater. I’d say ¾ of graduating residents are going into pain management fellowships. Therefore the pool of graduating residents seeking a job is small. You can be among a few candidates for an inpatient/outpatient job versus among 10’s of interventional candidates for one job. There is more demand for BI doctors or even just inpatient than interventional doctors. There is a demand for peds rehab although the compensation is usually less.
There are more options available now to be an employee.
Practices want doctor who will go out and market in order to build the practice.
They want a corporate/practice ombudsman.
I just covered the need for efficiency and attention to time management.
Employers are looking for team players regardless of their practice preference.
Rehab residencies are growing with new programs in TN, NE and PA.
Some practices are hiring PA and NP’s because it’s hard to find a physiatrist and the PA/NP is less expensive.
NOW THAT I’VE TALKED ABOUT THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BEST PRACTICE OPPORTUNITIES AND THE CURRENT HIRING TRENDS, I’D LIKE TO TALK ABOUT THE PITFALLS.
Some states like TX are cracking down on prescriptions for opiates and physiatrists’ licenses are being censured. Some states have a high percentage of drug seekers so certain practices in these states like FL and TN are places to avoid.
A practice opportunity is more than about lifestyle. Don’t go to a city just because of the lifestyle it affords. Usually these are cities that as a result have an unusually high concentration of doctors so it’s more competitive there and offers less compensation and benefits.
States such as RI with high Medicare/aid populations pay less.
It’s impossible to avoid time spent on administration. One doctor told me that he was told when in residency that administrative work would be about ¼ of his time and now years later, he spend 2/3 of his time doing administrative work.
Small practices maybe at a disadvantage as I mentioned earlier. Joining a 1-person practice depends on the area. If it’s rural, it’s fine. Cities with developed health systems can complicate a practice. A physiatrist in Boston told me that doctors who used to refer to him can’t now because they’re part of a different hospital system. Another physiatrist in Las Vegas told me that the small practices are being bought out by the hospitals. A NYC physiatrist told me he’s seeing less referrals because the internists have joined group and don’t refer out anymore.
On the other hand, a rural physiatrist is doing more primary care because the family doctors are retiring because of the cost of doing business. An interventional physiatrist told me that he’s staying with the safety of a hospital system because of the collapsing reimbursement and denials for cervical epidurals and sacroiliac joints.
You must prepare for the initial phone call you’re likely to receive upon providing your cv to a practice. You must also prepare for the interview and contract negotiations. You can find more information about this on my website. Please make sure your cv has dates that are consecutive and no typo’s. My website has a sample cv and the newsletters and blogs on it provide more information.

Negotiation

Know beforehand what points are negotiable.

RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS
Restrictive covenants are a common staple of most Employment Agreements. They restrict you from practicing in your specialty within a defined geographic area for a set period of time after your employment ends. You may have been told that “they’re not enforceable anyway”, but while some states and courts do frown upon them, in most instances they are in fact enforceable so long as the geographic and defined practice scope of the covenant is reasonably related to the legitimate business interests of the employer. Does the employer actually get patients from that reach area? Are they in that line of business? In many cases the answer is “yes”.

Regardless, even if you think it is an overreaching covenant, can you afford to spend the legal fees to fight it, particularly if you need a job right away without exposing your new employer to cease and desist threats that make them fearful they are wasting their time in hiring you or you cannot get your legal fees reimbursed after all of that hassle (even if you win)? The answer is a resounding “no” so you must only sign an agreement if you can live with the covenant.

Part-Time Work
Yes, restrictive covenants are even imposed for part-time jobs that are 3 or fewer days a week. You will still be introduced to their patient base and referral sources so you are a threat regardless. Nonetheless, I recommend balking at signing one if you are only there for 2 or fewer days per week, or seeing if they are willing to modify the length of time of the covenant or the geographic scope because of this. Perhaps the geographic scope will increase only if you leave your employment in year 2.

If you have another job at the same time, then make sure that the covenant does not interfere with the locations of your other job. Even if you work at one location on behalf of another employer, they may have more than one office and expect you to either switch or to refer across offices. If one of their offices or facility affiliations falls within the defined geographic area, then make sure that you have express permission to continue to work for them without issue.

Geographic Area
Always ask for them to reduce this. The worst they can do is say “no”. Within an urban environment, miles might not be an appropriate border, and streets, avenues and natural boundaries (parks or rivers) may be better. In suburban or rural areas, the appropriate mile radius is largely dependent on the nature of travel and the availability of healthcare in the area. Experienced attorneys can advise you as to propriety. In any event, see if you can prevent it from falling outside of the border of a particular city, county or even the state in which you are located.

Typically they will have a broad covenant that applies to all of their locations, even if you do not work there. If it says you cannot work within a specified mile radius of any office or facility of theirs (or those with which they are affiliated), then try to have them limit it to their main site only, your primary site only, or just both their main site and the secondary primary site in which you are assigned. The manner of determining your primary site might be based on number of days on average spent there, percentage of time split, or number of patient encounters. The objective basis should be stated in the agreement. Having a covenant apply a radius surrounding every office including offices in which you may never work or only sporadically provide coverage could have the result of drastically expanding the geographic area beyond fairness.

Article contributed by Ron Lebow, More information on this subject will follow in the next newsletter

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CHECKLIST FOR PREPARING TO NEGOTIATE A PHYSIATRY CONTRACT
o Practice negotiation in daily life and for your contract negotiation
o Consider the contract terms from the employer’s perspective
o Set targets/goals for what would be the features of the best negotiation outcome (salary, benefits, etc.), the features of your
expected negotiation and the features of the least acceptable negotiation outcome
o Make a list of the strong points of you for the position
o ID how much risk you’re willing to take in the negotiation
o Do you have something special to offer, e.g. a business background, moonlighting, marketing activities?
o Is the compensation competitive?
o What is the compensation and incentive based on, e.g. productivity, quality, cost, etc.?
o How will the compensation data be collected and submitted?
o Does the sign-on bonus have pay-back requirements?
o When do the benefits (health insurance, etc.) start?
o What is the call schedule?
o Is there a basis e.g. payor for what patients you will see?
o What if any resources (PA, tech, etc.) will I be provided?
o Is the incentive attainable?
o Is there a restrictive covenant and, if so, what is its length, geographic limitation, etc.?
o What are the terms of terminating the contract?
o What type of malpractice will be provided?
o What is the contract term? Is it renewable? By whom is it renewable?

Occasionally, I will receive fellow physiatry residents’ names from newly graduating residents as their references.  Or, practicing physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians sometimes give me references of individuals who report to them.

Your fellow PM&R residents know you well however they’re more friends than fellow professionals so their value as a reference is not the best.  If you’re going to provide a fellow physical med and rehab resident as a reference only include one, as typically you’ll be asked for 3 references.  Select references who are faculty if you’re a graduating physiatry resident.

For practicing PM&R doctors, it’s suspect that your employee will feel obligated to give you a good reference.  They aren’t good references.  Select references who are your colleagues.

When you are part of a 2-person household, it’s more than about your physiatry interests in your practice search.  Your partner has particular interests in determining where to move.  Therefore, it’s very important to talk with your partner about their interests, be they hobbies, geographic location, schooling, etc. before you pursue a job.  This front-end discussion will save you and the hiring entity time and expedite your physical medicine and rehabilitation practice search.  It  also avoids finding out midway through discussions with a PM& R hiring entity that your partner doesn’t have an interest in the area and upsetting the physiatric hiring entity when you withdraw from the position.

I was asked this question recently by a doctor looking for a new position. I think it was the first time I’ve been asked. Yes, I work with institutions to find physiatrists. I work with any entity that wants to add a physiatrist. They sign a recruitment agreement with me. I receive compensation when I recruit a physiatrist to the entity.
That being said, I welcome you to contact me if you’re seeking a position. It’s helpful for me to know what services you want to provide and in what geographic area. Hopefully, I might already have a position(s) to match your interests.
If not, oftentimes, I contact practices in your area of interest to find out if they might have a need. This fits into my daily work routine as I’m contacting physiatrists daily across the country. I hope to hear from you!