According to Becker’s Hospital Review’s Emerging compensation trends for advanced practice clinicians infographic, “Advanced practice clinicians — nurse practitioners and physician assistants — are among the fastest growing occupations in the U.S. labor force.” And, when a particular profession skyrockets like this one is, it’s crucial that healthcare recruiters know what to offer a qualified candidate in order to be competitive with other health systems. When it comes to hiring a Physician Assistant or Nurse Practitioner in 2016-2017, here are some things you should consider.
1. The Demand is High!
The fact is, while the demand for Advanced Practice Clinicians (APCs) is growing, so are vacancies. In fact, “the vacancy rate of APCs at healthcare organizations jumped 1.6 percent between 2014 and 2015, to 9.3 percent.” This just means that recruiters are going to have to work harder and do competitor research to fill roles. Now is the time to really dive into what you can offer and what makes you unique as a health care system.
2. Offer Premium Pay
Typically, APCs are exempt from overtime in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, but according to Becker Hospital Review’s Infographic:
- “61% pay at least some of their exempt APCs for working extra shifts.”
- “52% require unrestricted call coverage, with 70% of these providing on-call pay to at least some APCs.”
- “47% provide APCs with shift differentials.”
When it comes to pay, staying competitive is important. Make sure to consider the feedback you gather from candidates about the what competitors are willing to offer when it comes to premium pay strategy and then try to offer something comparable.
3. Consider Incentives
According to the infographic, “nearly half of organizations provide incentives to at least some of their physician assistants and nurse practitioners.” Specifically, the median range seems to a 5% of their base salary, which works out to about $8.5K. If you aren’t offering this kind of option, consider talking to leadership about incorporating that option in future packages.
4. Understand Career Trajectory
Even though historically APCs are still relatively new to the health care spectrum, that doesn’t stop them from rapidly moving up into leadership positions. In fact, according to the infographic, as early as 2013 31% of APCs occupied leadership roles. That number was much higher in 2015 though! A staggering 73% assumed those roles by then. With that in mind, recruiters should really make sure to have defined answers when it comes to career advancement paths within their system, because the question is only going to becoming more prevalent.
For full details on APCs and institution hiring trends, we recommend you check out the original infographic here.
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