Doctor wanted: Small town offers big perks to attract a physician

MedPage today story.

HAVANA, Fla. — For a rural community, this town of 1,750 people is luckier than most. The family doctor has been practicing here for the last 30 years.

But that all ended in December when Mark Newberry, MD, retired. To attract a new doctor, Havana leaders placed wanted ads in local newspapers. posted advertisements on social networksand sweetened the pot with a free medical office equipped with an X-ray machine, ultrasound machine and bone density scanner – all owned by the city.

Local leaders hope the recruiting drive will help attract candidates amid a nationwide physician shortage.

“This is important to our community,” said Kendra Wilkerson, Havana city manager, “just as parks and good planning for the future are important.”

According to a Florida Department of Health report, there is a shortage of doctors. affect all or part nearly every county, but less populous counties like Gadsden, where Havana is located, have the fewest doctors per 10,000 residents.

Florida's physician shortage is expected to grow over the next decade. one study The state's need is projected to be 18,000 physicians by 2035, including 6,000 primary care physicians.

“This is a huge, huge problem,” said Matthew Smeltzer, managing partner of Capstone Recruiting Advisors, a company that helps hospitals, physician practices and other employers find and recruit doctors. “It will probably hit small towns the hardest, simply because most people would prefer to live in a medium- or large-sized community.”

In this difficult situation, Havana leaders are hoping that advertising wishes and free benefits will highlight their small town and convince doctors to practice here.

Wilkerson describes the community, located just south of the Georgia border, as an ideal place to raise a family. Its country roads are lined with farms, pastures and churches. Downtown's Main Street is lined with antique shops, gift shops, a general store and restaurants.

“Everything you would imagine in a Hallmark movie is where we live,” Wilkerson said. “These are people who still care and look out for each other, and neighbors are actually friends.”

Offering generous incentives, city officials convinced Newberry to train in Havana in 1993. The city gave Newberry an initial deal similar to the one it is offering now, and later began giving him about $15,000 a year in financial support.

Newberry, who served about 2,000 patients, declined to be interviewed. “I’m just retiring!” he said in an email, adding that “the city has chosen unconventional means” to recruit a doctor.

By subsidizing office space and the use of medical equipment to attract doctors, Havana is taking care of the needs of its residents, Wilkerson said.

Without a city doctor, some former Newberry patients now have to travel to Tallahassee, about 30 minutes southeast of Havana. Others see doctors in Quincy, about 20 minutes west.

“We hope they will come back when we find us a new doctor,” said Havana Mayor Eddie Bass.

Susan Freiden, a former city manager who retired in 2006, said having a local doctor is also important to meeting the needs of the city's low-income residents, many of whom are elderly. “Not everyone can come to Tallahassee to see a doctor,” she said. “Not everyone has transportation.”

But it remains to be seen whether the free office space and equipment is enough to attract a doctor to Havana. The city's recruiting campaign generated a lot of interest from nurse practitioners, but few primary care physicians applied for the position.

City leaders say they hope to find a family doctor who can practice and prescribe medications independently.

“We would really, you know, prefer to have a real doctor who could handle all of this for us,” Bass said.

Smeltzer, the physician recruiter, said primary care physicians are especially in short supply. And while in his experience, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas are among the places where doctors want to live and work, it often takes something extra to convince them to work in a small town, he says.

“If someone wants to practice in a small town, they are more likely to go where they have connections, whether it be themselves, their spouse or a loved one,” he said.

The problem for a community the size of Havana, Smeltzer said, is that “there is literally no one in this city who went to medical school. And if there is, then maybe she is alone. But were they primary care doctors?”

However, there is a silver lining. Smeltzer said younger doctors place a high value on work-life balance and meaningful relationships with their patients, qualities that can give an independent practice an edge in a small town.

“We've been hearing about quality of life and work-life balance a lot more in the last three to five years than ever before,” he said, “and it's almost on par with compensation in terms of what they're focusing on.”

Freiden, the former Havana city manager, said Newberry had the same values ​​when he began coaching here. She even became one of his patients.

“He was just perfect,” she said, “because all he cared about was money, if you can imagine that. He was a completely different type of doctor.”

Luckily for Havana, the city has recently become interested in a family medicine doctor who grew up here, went to medical school and plans to complete a three-year residency at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare in June.

Camron Browning, MD, PhD The 2003 graduate of Havana's Northside High School said in a December interview with the seven-member City Council that he practices family medicine and that during his residency he saw thousands of patients, delivered babies and gained hospital experience.

“My goal,” he said, “was to be able to come home and serve my hometown.”

Smeltzer said Havana's incentives could be attractive to new doctors like Browning, who would face the enormous costs of opening an independent practice.

Following the December interview, the Board voted unanimously to begin contract negotiations with Browning, who said he plans to be ready to see patients as soon as possible after completing his residency.

“I’m here to stay,” Browning told the council. “This has always been my dream.”

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