Physician Recruiting
A data-driven medical practice deserves a data-driven recruiter.
Coverage
Physician Specialties We Recruit
Primary & outpatient care
- Family Medicine
- Internal Medicine
- Pediatrics
- Geriatrics
- Med-Peds
- Urgent Care Medicine
- Occupational Medicine
- Sports Medicine
Hospital-based medicine
- Hospitalist
- Emergency Medicine
- Critical Care and Intensivist
- Anesthesiology
- Radiology
- Pathology
- Neonatology
- Palliative Care and Hospice
Medicine subspecialties
- Cardiology
- Gastroenterology
- Endocrinology
- Nephrology
- Pulmonology
- Rheumatology
- Infectious Disease
- Oncology and Hematology
Surgical specialties
- General Surgery
- Orthopedic Surgery
- Neurosurgery
- Cardiothoracic Surgery
- Vascular Surgery
- Plastic Surgery
- Urology
- Colorectal Surgery
Women’s health & specialty care
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Maternal-Fetal Medicine
- Reproductive Endocrinology
- Gynecologic Oncology
- Neurology
- Dermatology
- Allergy and Immunology
- Otolaryngology
- Ophthalmology
Behavioral health & rehabilitation
- Adult Psychiatry
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Geriatric Psychiatry
- Addiction Medicine
- Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
- Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
- Pain Management
- Sleep Medicine
Our Process
How Our Physician Recruitment Process Works
Search strategy session
We map the role against the local and national market before sourcing begins: comparable compensation for the specialty and region, realistic candidate pool size, competing employers, and the specific factors that will make a physician choose this position. If the search needs adjustment to succeed, you hear it before the clock starts.
Direct, named outreach
We build a target list of physicians who fit the profile and reach them directly. Job boards are a supplement, not the strategy. The physicians most worth hiring are rarely on them.
Screening for practice fit, not just credentials
Board status, licensure, DEA, malpractice history, and visa status are verified early. Beyond that, we screen for the things that determine whether the placement lasts: call tolerance, procedural volume expectations, EMR experience, academic interest, geographic commitment, and family considerations that drive most physician relocations.
Coordinated interviews and site visits
We manage scheduling, site visit logistics, spouse and family considerations, and interview debriefs on both sides. Momentum is the single most controllable variable in a physician search.
Offer, negotiation, and close
We advise on structure, including base and productivity mix, sign-on, relocation, loan repayment, CME, call compensation, and partnership or leadership track, then manage the negotiation to a signed agreement.
The VHP Difference
What Makes VHP Different From Other Physician Recruiting Companies
Senior-level attention on every search
Larger physician recruitment companies assign volume to junior recruiters and route escalations to an account manager. We will tell you when a search is not viable as scoped. We would rather have an uncomfortable conversation in week two than bill you for a year of activity.
Behavioral health depth
Psychiatry and addiction medicine searches, which many general firms struggle with, are run by a recruiter who understands the setting.
Mission-driven and safety-net experience
FQHCs, community health, and nonprofit providers compete for physicians against systems that can pay more. That is a different search, and it requires a recruiter who can articulate a non-monetary value proposition credibly.
Diverse slates by design
Patient outcomes improve when care teams reflect the communities they serve. Our sourcing is built to produce that, not to backfill it at the end.
Client Story
A Physician Search Partner Clients Come Back To
FAQ
Physician Recruiting FAQs
What do physician recruiting companies charge?
Contingency and engaged physician searches are generally billed as a percentage of the physician’s first-year base compensation, with the percentage varying by specialty and search difficulty. Retained searches are typically milestone-based. Locum tenens is billed at an hourly or daily rate that includes the provider’s pay, malpractice coverage, and travel.
VHP quotes each engagement before work begins.
How long does it take to recruit a physician?
Physician searches typically run longer than other clinical searches because of the smaller candidate pool and the credentialing timeline that follows an accepted offer. Primary care in a desirable metro moves faster than a subspecialist in a rural market.
VHP provides a realistic, specialty-specific timeline at intake rather than a generic average.
Do you recruit locum tenens physicians as well as permanent?
Yes. VHP supports permanent placement, locum tenens coverage, and locum-to-permanent arrangements, and will advise on which fits a given coverage gap.
Can you help with J-1 waiver and H-1B physicians?
Yes. VHP works with international medical graduates including J-1 waiver candidates and H-1B sponsorship situations, and will flag immigration timelines early since they materially affect start dates.
What specialties are hardest to fill right now?
Psychiatry, primary care in rural and underserved areas, and several surgical subspecialties consistently run long nationally, though difficulty varies significantly by market.
VHP assesses the specific market for your role rather than relying on national averages.
Do you work with rural hospitals and critical access facilities?
Yes. Rural physician recruiting requires a different approach, one centered on scope of practice, autonomy, community fit, and loan repayment programs rather than compensation alone.
What happens if the physician leaves shortly after starting?
VHP offers a 90-day replacement guarantee on direct-hire physician placements.
Talk to a Physician Recruiter About Your Open Role
Tell us the specialty, the market, and what has made the search difficult so far.