Centegra keeps hiring of doctors up as national share of hospital hiring drops

HUNTLEY – Pediatrician Kristi Redlich hadn't given much thought to what kind of place she wanted to end up after her residency.

She just knew she wanted to do outpatient, general pediatrics. She liked the variety of patients she would see and the set schedule that came with working at an office or clinic.

“Initially, the idea of a smaller group was more appealing to me,” Redlich said. “I thought it would give me the opportunity to be more of a contributor and to shape more policies and procedures and to know the families and the patients better.”

But life in private practice didn’t turn out the way she expected.

Her first job at a private practice in Orland Park meant a very long commute from where she was living in Chicago.

She moved to another practice in East Dundee after moving to the Barrington area, where she now lives with her husband and two young sons, but it just felt unstable, and she didn’t have much of an opportunity for input.

So, in April, like a growing number of doctors across the country, she left the world of independent practices and started with Centegra Health System's new Centegra Physician Care facility in Huntley, which shares a building with an immediate care center and sits next to Centegra's still-in-progress third hospital.

About one in three physicians will stay independent by the end of next year, a survey by consulting company Accenture found. That number is down 10 percent from the company's 2012 report as more doctors seek to avoid the growing complexities of running a private practice.

“I wasn’t sure, in all honesty, if that’s what I wanted, but since I’ve been here, I’ve really actually liked it,” Redlich said. “I think it’s a great balance where we’re given some independence as pediatricians to manage a great deal on our own, but we still have access to the specialists.”

Centegra continues to actively recruit and hire physicians, as it has done for the past 10 to 12 years, Centegra President and Chief Operating Officer Jason Sciarro said.

Advocate Health Care was unable to provide someone to comment on its hiring practices but said in a statement “the hiring rates of physicians and distribution of clinical staff fluctuate based on a variety of factors and in response to the ever-changing health care landscape.”

Nationwide, hospitals are making up a much smaller share of the hiring for physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, down to 51 percent of 3,120 searches conducted between April 2014 and March 2015 from 64 percent of searches the previous two years, according to a report from physician recruitment firm Merritt Hawkins.

This is the first drop the firm has recorded since a 2003-04 survey, when hospitals accounted for 11 percent of searches, the report said.

The trends that may be affecting other hospitals – closures in rural areas, some states choosing not to expand Medicaid, reductions in federal payments – are not affecting Centegra’s hiring, Sciarro said.

Instead, they’re having trouble finding doctors with the sub-specialties the hospital system is looking for, including emergency room doctors, surgeons, hospitalists and neurologists, in part because not enough are in the pipeline and because McHenry County’s distance from Chicago can be hindrance, he said.

So Centegra has been working with Chicago hospitals and universities to build partnerships, allowing patients to receive the same quality of care they could get in the city in McHenry County, Sciarro said, adding the first such partnership took place nine years ago and brought a cardiac surgeon to the area.

“What we’re trying to do – and we’ll do it anyway we can – is ensure that services are available locally, of high quality and are sustainable in the future,” Sciarro said.