Eyeworld

July 2016 • Ophthalmology Business 23 While the onboarding process might take awhile, Dr. Zaffos said he was at least surprised by how quickly the hiring process progressed after an initial conversation. "Often times they would offer to fly me out to visit on site with the practice and their partners," he said. "Up until the job search process, in- terviews were always structured: uni- versal applications, set deadlines, and match. The job search process had no deadlines or rules. You pick the loca- tions, you pick the practice type, and you decide whether or not you want to pursue the opportunity further. It was a nice change of pace from med- ical school residency and fellowship applications and interviews." Ms. Simon also reminded those scouting new jobs to look beyond the base salary at the broader earning po- tential and consider expanding their market search. "If you look within an hour [of a primary market], you could still have that lifestyle but just a better career, especially the first year out. Some of these physicians don't get enough volume out of residency, and that takes a toll on their surgical skills," Ms. Simon said. Dr. Zaffos recommended talking with as many people as possible about a practice you might be consid- ering. "Drug reps are a great resource, as are other ophthalmologists—it's a small world and everyone seems to know everyone," he said. "The more informed you are, the more informed of a decision you can make." OB Contact information Simon: lauren@theeyegroup.com Zaffos: jzaffos21@gmail.com Navigating today's hiring market Dr. Zaffos said he knew he wanted to find a practice that would allow him to perform cornea transplants, complex cataract surgery, anterior segment reconstructions, and refrac- tive surgery. Not only did this limit the pool of choices, but he was afraid to an extent. "I was afraid of joining a small, private practice where I would poten- tially be unhappy because the other partners may not hold themselves to the same high standards of patient care I hold. I heard horror stories of people uprooting their families and moving to a new state to join what sounded like a promising career, only to leave begrudgingly after a year due to promises not being kept by the employer. I was looking for a group of like-minded, professional provid- ers that took care of their staff and patients with the utmost integrity and professionalism," he said. As such, he's glad he worked with The Eye Group, which identified his wants and needs to help him find the right fit. He's also glad he started looking early. Ms. Simon said resi- dents should start looking for jobs up to a year-and-a-half before they finish training. This is a shift from about 4 years ago, she said, when residents would look for just a few months in their last year. "The credentialing and licensing process has gotten so that it takes 6 months to 9 months. In order for [physicians] to get fully credentialed, which helps the first year in terms of gross collections, they would have to start their licensing and credentialing at least 9 months before," she said. programs or what the partners are making. "Someone who is guaranteed $200,000 a year could potentially make $800,000 a year. Someone who is guaranteed $350,000 might only be able to make $350,000," she said. Troubled succession plans On the flip side of the coin, there are physicians who hope to sell their practices, and these people might be having a hard time in today's market as well, according to Ms. Simon. "A lot of practices are closing and giving their patient base to a lo- cal doctor or selling for no good will and just hard assets," she said. She described 3 types of buyers: the solo ophthalmologist, the group who buys it as a satellite office, and the independent practice organiza- tion. The solo ophthalmologist is increasingly hard to come by. "There are very few doctors who are, No. 1, willing to go in and take the risk of owning their own prac- tice and, No. 2, they definitely don't want to be the owners like the previ- ous owners, the weekend workers," Ms. Simon said. Being in the ophthalmic recruit- ing field for 3 decades, Ms. Simon said that she's seen disinterest in the solo practice go back and forth. "Over the past 30 years we've seen the pendulum swing a few times in terms of companies coming in and buying up practices and then they end up selling back to doctors. This isn't the first time, and I'm sure it won't be the last."

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