Radiologist Hiring Preferences Based on Practice Needs

Edward I. Bluth, Paul A. Larson, Lawrence A. Liebscher

The ACR Commission on Human Resources and Commission on General, Small and Rural Practice collaborated on developing a question regarding hiring preferences to include in the annual Commission on Human Resources Workforce Survey in order to understand hiring preferences. Group leads were asked to rank five types of prospective radiologists from most desirable to least desirable for hire on the basis of the needs of their practices: single-specialty radiologists, focusing on only one subspecialty; single-specialty radiologists with general capabilities; multispecialty radiologists; general radiologists; and radiologists who did two fellowships in the same specialty. The most desired hiring preference was for a single-specialty radiologist with general capabilities. Sixty-eight percent of the practice leaders identified a single-specialty radiologist with general capabilities as the most desirable type of individual to hire, compared with 21% who chose multispecialty radiologists, 13% who chose single-specialty radiologists and general radiologists, and 5% who expressed a preference for radiologists who did two fellowships in the same specialty. The most desirable candidates for hire appear to be those who are fellowship trained as subspecialists but who are also capable of reading in other clinical areas or modalities. This preference is true for most private practices, multispecialty practices, and hospital-owned practices. In contrast to those practices, chairs and leaders of academic medical center practices prefer to hire single-specialty radiologists slightly more than single-specialty radiologists with general capabilities.