Questions to ask physician recruitment/locums companies?

[MochaDoc]

Hi everyone,

 

I've recently been in contact with a few physician recruitment/locums companies that seem legitimate but I'd like to know what questions I should ask prior to taking an assignment? In addition to compensation, provision of malpractice insurance and presence/absence of non-compete agreements are there other questions I should be asking? All help is appreciated.

[MochaDoc]

Rex wrote:

im not sure what you mean by legitimate.  These companies are almost always the same.  They are in essence match.com only they get paid typically only if they make a match or get paid a bonus for the match and thus the emphasis is always on making a match.  That doesnt make them evil but you need to appreciate the mentality of these companies.  Ive done locums at times in the past this way but have no intention of doing it again in the future.  I always made less than other positions i found on my own and it frequently had some hidden angle as to why they needed a recruiting company.  Sometimes it was that i would get paid a % but all the medicaid patients some how were scheduled that day or all the really difficult cases where you make the same amount as the easy case.  If they supply the malpractice then you need to understand the limitations of their malpractice which isnt commonly through the recruitment company but through the physicians office.  The times this has worked best for me is when its been an older physician who just wants to spend a vacation with their grandkids.  Someone who isnt very monetarily concerned at this point in his/her life but wants to make sure his/her patients are taken care of.  The worst have been young physicians just trying to expand and make more money and are worried about the office costs of one more day.  There really shouldnt be any non compete except that you cant say no to the recruiter and secretly sign a deal with the doctors office to screw them out of their pay.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, Rex.

"Legitimate" wasn't necessarily the best word choice but I'm essentially looking for information that will help me "separate the wheat from the chaff" in order to avoid signing with a less than desirable company or accepting less than ideal contract conditions. Having no experience with such companies and not knowing physicians offline who have extensive experience with these companies, I'm as naive as they come which is why I sought out information on this forum.

 

I agree rates are better if you can find the jobs directly. One exceptionally honest recruiter informed me of the company's exact cut of my proposed hourly rate and it was an impressive amount. Things fell through with that opportunity but I respected the recruiter's honesty and the knowledge I gained from our brief discussions.

 

Now that I'm dealing with a second locums company, I also agree, that the contract terms seem similar/somewhat boilerplate.

[EDDOCMOM]

I signed up to some online site and put in the area of the country I was interested in.  I was then contacted by 2 physician recruiters from hospitals and dealt with them directly and landed a good job.

[Don]

What site did you use?