Primary Care & Hospital-Based Physicians
Healthcare Headhunters recruits healthcare professionals for employers. No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
This is what we do all day: recruit healthcare professionals.
Hire physicians whose daily decisions match your clinic schedule, inpatient census, call structure, and documentation expectations.
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?
Primary care and hospital-based physician searches need different questions. A family physician may manage chronic panels, preventive visits, refill decisions, and same-day complaints. A hospitalist may assess new admissions, coordinate discharges, respond to clinical changes, and hand off an active census.
We help you define the work before we approach candidates.
Training alone does not show how a physician works through a full day. We ask what happens when a schedule runs late, a diagnostic result changes the plan, or a patient needs more time than booked. For hospital-based roles, we ask how the physician handles admissions arriving near shift change and incomplete handoffs.
A move can have practical reasons. A physician may want fewer call nights, a clearer inpatient schedule, less administrative layering, or a patient mix closer to their training. We ask what they want to change and whether your role actually offers it.
What do we check before you see anyone?
Confirm the active state medical license needed for your role and location. We ask whether the physician has pending licensure work, a planned move, or limits that could affect your start planning. Review ABFM or ABIM board certification when it applies to your primary care or hospital medicine opening.
- We also ask about board status, maintenance activity, and any relevant hospital privileges.
- Compare the candidate’s recent outpatient schedule or inpatient census with yours. We ask how many visits, admissions, discharges, messages, and chart tasks they handled during a typical shift.
- Examine documentation habits in the EHR you use or a comparable system. We ask when notes are completed, who handles inbox coverage, and what work regularly follows the physician home.
- For hospitalist or emergency medicine candidates, review the procedures and clinical situations your team expects. If ICU management, trauma stabilization, or a specific procedure is part of the role, we ask for recent hands-on experience and available backup.
- Screen work history and credentialing history for questions your medical staff office will need to review. We ask about employment gaps, disciplinary history, references, and prior privilege changes rather than assuming a clean file.
Where do we find them, and why would they move?
Our source pool includes physicians from large hospital systems, teaching services, community health groups, private practices, and hospital-based physician groups. Teaching-service physicians may be used to resident supervision and extensive consult access. Community physicians may have more direct responsibility for schedule flow and follow-up.
We also speak with physicians considering a change in call burden, autonomy, geography, patient mix, or family timing. We do not treat compensation as the only reason to move. A clear description of your panel, census, support staff, and decision rights gives candidates a basis for comparison.
Which mistakes stall the search?
A common mistake is hiring from a prestigious training program without asking how the physician handles your actual visit pace, census, and available support. Another is describing a hospitalist opening as general inpatient work while leaving out admissions, discharge timing, ICU involvement, or overnight coverage.
Waiting until the interview to explain call rotations, inbox expectations, supervision duties, or the authority of advanced practice staff.
How would we run the search for this opening?
Tell us the patient mix, scheduled volume, census range, call rotation, procedures, and EHR tasks. We review credentials, work history, board status, license status, and stated reasons for a move. Use interviews to compare shortlisted physicians’ examples of delayed visits, discharge barriers, and shift handoffs with your team's expectations.
Describe the workday
We ask physicians to compare their recent panel responsibilities or admission load with the work you describe.
Review screened physicians
You select whom to interview and assess clinically.
Move from interview to hire
Check references and complete credentialing and medical staff review before selecting a physician. 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.
Every title in Primary Care & Hospital-Based Physicians
- Family Medicine Physician
- Internal Medicine Physician
- Pediatrician
- Geriatrician
- Concierge / Direct Primary Care Physician
- Hospitalist (incl. Nocturnist)
- Emergency Medicine Physician
- Urgent Care Physician
- Occupational Medicine Physician
- Anesthesiologist
- Diagnostic Radiologist
- Interventional Radiologist
- Neuroradiologist
- Breast Imaging Radiologist
- Pathologist
- Intensivist (Critical Care Medicine)
- Neonatologist
- Chief Hospitalist
- Lead Family Medicine Physician
- Nocturnist (Night Hospitalist)
- Pediatric Hospitalist
- Bilingual Family Medicine Physician
What are the commercial terms for a permanent search?
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. A written agreement before the search states the fee and replacement terms for standard searches. Locum, travel, contract coverage, and placement into your own per diem pool are available on request; licensing, credentialing, and malpractice arrangements are confirmed before a start.
How do you separate primary care from hospital-based physician searches?
Primary care screening centers on panel management, preventive care, chronic disease follow-up, same-day access, inbox work, and referral habits. Hospital-based screening centers on admissions, rounds, discharges, cross-coverage, handoffs, and the clinical support available during a shift.
Do candidates need ABFM or ABIM certification?
Board certification may be important for your opening, payer participation, medical staff standards, or group policy. We verify ABFM or ABIM status where relevant, but you decide what credentials your position calls for.
How do you assess EHR fit without limiting the search to one system?
We ask candidates to describe their note completion, order entry, inbox, discharge, and message workflows. Experience with your exact system can help, but work habits often matter more than a product name.
What happens if a physician is considering a counteroffer?
We ask early why the physician is open to a move and what would make them stay. If a counteroffer appears, you can compare it with the schedule, clinical scope, call burden, and management structure you discussed.
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 where patient flow breaks down, what the physician owns on shift, and which credentials matter. We will screen for the facts your hiring team needs to 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.
How long will it take to see a short list?
That depends on the job, schedule, available people, and what your employer can offer. We discuss those constraints before outreach and update you as candidates respond. We do not promise a fixed shortlist date. We check the job brief before arranging interviews. Tell us which parts of the role you can change.
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.