|
|
Background Information
Mission
The Virginia Peninsula Physicians’ Initiative is dedicated to improving access to health care and thereby promoting health of all Virginia Peninsula citizens by promoting the Virginia Peninsula as “The” place for physicians to live and practice.
Vision
The Virginia Peninsula Physicians’ Initiative contributes to the quality of life and economic development of the Virginia Peninsula by assuring access to a full range of primary, secondary and tertiary physicians, specialists and other healthcare providers.
Goal
The goal is to create state and national visibility of the attractiveness of the Virginia Peninsula for physicians to practice.
Background
The Virginia Peninsula Physicians Initiative grew out of the need to recruit medical specialists on the Virginia Peninsula. The issue of physician specialty shortages was brought to Mayor Joe Frank’s attention at a Newport News Rotary Club meeting. Learning of the issues, the Mayor convened a Physicians Task Force in February of 2005, made up of physicians, business leaders and hospital and health system executive and community leaders. The goal has been to ascertain the unique opportunities and barriers to attracting, recruiting and retaining physicians and other healthcare providers to the Virginia Peninsula.
In April of 2005, the Office of Policy and Planning of the Virginia Department of Health (OHPP) offered a matching grant of $25,000 to develop a plan for physician recruitment for the Virginia Peninsula. In addition to the financial support, this office has been instrumental in helping expand the designation of parts of Newport News and the inclusion of parts of Hampton receiving an expanded designation of the Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) this designation allows a 10% bonus for practitioners located in the designated area.
The OHPP offers their free healthcare recruitment website “Primary Practice Opportunities of Virginia” (PPOVA) as a valuable resource to VPPI. PPOVA is a comprehensive health care provider resource designed to assist in the recruitment of health care providers throughout Virginia. It’s mission is to increase access to primary health care and improve health care outcomes for Virginia's medically underserved and vulnerable populations. Additionally, the website provides information on Incentive Programs such as Loan Repayment Programs and Nursing Scholarships, J-1 Visa Application Process and much more. Healthcare Professionals will also find listings of the Virginia’s Health Shortage Designated sites as well as practice opportunities available in the State of Virginia. PPOVA allows health employers to recruit by posting their available opportunities as well as allows prospective candidates to search these opportunities and apply to positions of interest. It is intended that the Virginia Peninsula Physician Initiative (VPPI) will partner with this resource and serve as a model for other regions in building local support for community physician recruitment that OHPP and PPOVA can share with other states and other parts of the Commonwealth.
The Newport News Economic Development Authority (NNEDA) agreed to administer the state and local contracts and grant funds. A call for matching funds was put forth and a match was successfully reached, thanks to the support of the following funding partners. A Request for Proposal was issued and a consultant hired to work with the Task Force in August of 2005.
It is understood by Task Force members that a nationwide shortage of physicians exists, making the issue for the Peninsula one of competing for scarce resources. Access to quality physicians and surgeons is seen both as a community need and an economic development issue. The availability of quality healthcare accessible to the Virginia Peninsula workforce will greatly assist with attracting new businesses to the area.
During its deliberations, the Task force discovered that Virginia’s Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance (HREDA) could serve as a good model for this physician recruitment initiative. HREDA has a process in place to recruit private businesses to the area and is supported by municipalities as well as business partners. When an interested party steps forward, the municipality with the greatest interest and probability of attracting that business takes the lead with HREDA playing a supporting role. This model is relevant to the Virginia Peninsula Physicians Initiative for physician and other medical and health professional recruiting as it collaborates with the existing recruitment efforts of healthcare and physician practices.
Following the identification of specific community needs and reasons for the physician shortages, a plan to recruit physicians by positioning the Virginia Peninsula as an attractive place to live and work while protecting the proprietary plans of the individual health systems and physician practices was developed. It was concluded the Virginia Peninsula is less known nationally than the surrounding communities of Williamsburg and Virginia Beach. It was also confirmed that most physicians who come to practice and live on the Virginia Peninsula do so because of a pre-existing knowledge of the area, personal relationships or because they want to live in Southeastern Virginia. This information guides the strategic development and the tactics of this initiative. While a list of specific needs was generated initially it is understood that barriers, issues and needs will evolve and change as our communities and the way healthcare is delivered changes. Consequently, analysis and on-going assessment of the barriers and outcomes of the initiative actions are continually reviewed and revised.
In addition to developing a list of specific needed specialists, other issues that contribute to the recruitment and retention of physicians were identified including:
- Increasing physician practice expense for malpractice coverage, general office operations and labor costs
- Declining reimbursement or reimbursement growing more slowly than expenses
- Early retirements from active practice
- The amount of call time required is unattractive and is due in part to the small size of practices for several specialty groups. Additionally, the added burden of trauma call requirements exists for many specialty groups for the Level II Trauma Center at Riverside Regional Medical Center
- Absence of a site that expressly promotes the Virginia Peninsula to physicians and other healthcare providers as a place to practice and live
- The number of physician specialists nearing retirement is alarming and the need for physician specialists nationally far outweighs future supply. The Virginia Peninsula is competing for a shrinking pool of available physicians. No site exists to see the overall picture of the Virginia Peninsula’s needs as recruitment and retention is done at the facility or practice level
- There is a lack of recognition and documentation regarding the positive economic impact that physician specialty practices have on the rest of the business community. The number of referrals to other local providers and facilities and to other businesses, such as home care, medical supplies, advertising, realtors, transportation, etc., has not been calculated nor has a program to describe the benefits of a strong, accessible medical and healthcare when recruiting other new businesses to the Virginia Peninsula been told.
Once these barriers were identified, attention was focused on development and implementation of the processes and programs to generate interest from potential candidates. This website and other tools have been developed to attract physicians to build strong relationships and networks with residency directors, specialty organizations and attendance at national conferences. Efforts highlight the professional and personal benefits of employment opportunities and living on the Virginia Peninsula.
A committee on legislative issues and regulatory issues was established to explore regulatory or statutory changes that can assist in recruitment and retention barrier resolution. Headed by Dr. Joseph Wilson, mission and short and long term goals were determined. Because this initiative was in its infancy during the 2005-2006 sessions, the Task Force agreed to support a bill introduced by Delegate Hamilton to improve funding of trauma centers. Another issue was one of assignment of benefits, currently on hold by the legislature as it is being studied further. At the request of the Task Force, the City Attorney submitted for consideration a House Joint resolution requesting the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) to conduct a study on regional variations of physicians’ compensation from Medicare and Medicaid and third party carriers. As new issues are defined that might be ameliorated with regulatory or legislative changes, legislators will be approached for either new bill introduction or support of previous or existing bills. This will be an on-going activity of the Task Force.
|
