Physician Retirement and Practice Succession
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This is what we do all day: recruit healthcare professionals.
A retiring physician can leave patient relationships, referral patterns, and clinic decisions without a clear owner.
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
What does an open seat cost you every week?
An open role costs you more than the recruiting fee. Someone covers the work, waits for care, or stops a service. We ask what is falling behind and who is carrying it. Use your own figures to compare the cost of waiting with the cost of hiring.
The seat is costing you every week.
Overtime, diverted patients, a stretched team and a schedule held together by favors.
The posting brought the wrong people.
Applicants arrive, but the person who has done this exact work is employed and not looking.
You are the one chasing.
Screening calls, no-shows and follow-ups land on the desk of someone with a facility to run.
What does this hire really come down to?
Succession is more than filling an open physician seat. You need a physician who can assume the panel, work with existing staff, and make decisions within the practice’s financial and operational model. The departing physician’s clinical habits matter, but copying them is not the goal.
Ask what patients expect at follow-up visits, who handles refill questions, and how the physician responds when the schedule runs behind. A successor needs sound judgment and a workable way of explaining change to long-term patients.
First decide whether an overlap is useful. An overlap can support introductions, chart review, and referral handoffs. It can also create confusion if staff receive conflicting scheduling or clinical direction.
What do we check before you see anyone?
Confirm an active state medical license for the practice location. Verify board certification through the American Board of Family Medicine or the American Board of Internal Medicine when that matches your role. We ask about board status, license history, and any pending renewal dates.
- Review state medical board disciplinary records. We ask candidates to explain disclosed investigations, sanctions, or practice restrictions and compare the answer with public records. Your credentialing team and malpractice partners make the final determinations.
- Confirm active DEA registration for the practice state when prescribing is part of the role. We ask whether a transfer, address update, or new registration is needed. This helps you plan the handoff rather than discover a prescribing delay after the start date.
- Ask about hospital credentialing history if the physician will round, admit, or refer through an affiliated hospital. We review prior application timing, current privileges, and documents that may need retrieval. Your facility controls its own credentialing decision.
- Test chart-review habits rather than asking whether the candidate has used an EHR. Ask how they review an inherited problem list, reconcile outside records, and document a changed care plan. A successor may inherit years of incomplete or differently organized notes.
- Discuss the daily business choices in your practice. Ask how the physician handles late arrivals, refill volume, referral follow-up, inbox coverage, and staff questions between visits. These answers show whether the physician can work within your established division of labor.
Where do we find them, and why would they move?
Physicians in multispecialty groups or hospital-owned practices may consider a move when they want more say in scheduling, staffing, referral relationships, or patient-panel decisions. Some may want a smaller practice where the physician sees the operational effect of those choices.
We also speak with physicians finishing residency or fellowship, and with clinicians seeking mentorship before a future ownership discussion. They may value an established panel and staff team. You should still test whether they can make independent administrative and clinical decisions when the retiring physician is no longer available.
Which mistakes stall the search?
A common mistake is treating a similar specialty background as proof the physician can manage inherited patient expectations, refill patterns, and staff questions. Another is leaving front-desk staff without a script for appointment questions, new-patient requests, or patients asking for the retired physician.
Assuming a physician from a large system wants, or knows how to handle, private-practice decisions such as schedule changes and referral follow-up.
How would we run the search for this opening?
Choose the target start date, patient announcement timing, and any overlap period. Review patient age mix, recurring visit types, chronic-condition follow-up, referral relationships, and records access. We present your schedule, staff structure, and transition plan. A direct handoff gives the incoming physician clear ownership sooner, but demands earlier patient communication and ready access to records.
Set the handoff dates
Identify who answers staff questions when the departing physician is unavailable.
Map the panel work
Use this review to define the physician’s first-month work.
Interview around real decisions
Then we ask candidates how they would handle inherited charts, patient concerns, and competing demands.
Specialties involved
How do we assess long-term fit without promising retention?
Discuss compensation, schedule, administrative duties, partnership or ownership discussions, and decision authority before an offer. Ask what the physician wants to be responsible for after the transition. Clear terms give both sides a sound basis for a decision, but no search can promise tenure.
How long should an overlap period last?
There is no universal length. Set it around specific work, such as patient introductions, chart review, referral transfer, and staff training. If those tasks are limited, a shorter overlap may be more useful than an open-ended arrangement.
How should we assess a counteroffer during a physician succession search?
Ask what prompted the search before discussing an offer. If greater control over scheduling, ownership discussions, or practice decisions drove the move, confirm your role truly offers those terms. A counteroffer may change compensation without changing the daily work.
Does the fee structure require an upfront cost?
No upfront fee applies to permanent contingency placement. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
Is relocation assistance expected?
Relocation assistance is a negotiable offer item, not a universal expectation. Ask early whether location is a barrier and what timing affects the move. If you offer support, document the amount, timing, and any conditions in the offer materials.
What should you send us about this role?
Send us the role, where the person will work and what needs to change with this hire. We will ask about the work, not just the title. Share any license or schedule limits that could rule someone out before we begin the search.
Tell us how the retirement date, patient panel, staff structure, and ownership plans affect this search. We will screen physicians around the actual handoff work and present candidates for your review.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
What do you get at each step of the search?
Our process for every search: calibrate the seat with you, map the market, research the real people, reach out to each one personally, qualify them in live conversation, then hand you a short list with a written brief on each person and support through the offer.
Search Calibration
You get an agreed brief: the work, reporting line, credentials, schedule, and offer you can make.
Market Mapping
You get a search aimed at relevant backgrounds, including people working now who have not applied.
Professional Contact Intelligence
We check appropriate ways to reach the people identified for your search. You do not have to chase them yourself.
Persistent Personalized Outreach
We explain your actual job and follow up with people who may consider a conversation.
Live Candidate Qualification
You see people we have spoken with about the work, interest, and practical fit, not an unread resume pile.
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You get a written brief and support through interviews and offer discussions. You make the hiring decision.
What are the replacement terms?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement. Ask us to walk through those terms before you sign, so you know how a replacement would work for your opening and who would start it.
What do we not do in a standard permanent search?
We do not bill standard contingency search by the hour or simply repost your job. Temporary coverage is a separate arrangement. Any retainer or different engagement must be agreed, not assumed. Tell us early if you need coverage while the permanent search runs.