Radiology Partners, the self-proclaimed largest imaging practice in the U.S., has added more than 500 physicians to its roster amid shortages in the specialty, leaders announced Tuesday.
The El Segundo, California-based firm said this marks its largest intake of new physician hires during a two-year timeframe since the practice’s founding in 2012. Rad Partners recruited these new team members “specifically to support practice growth” at a time when it also added 100 new contracts covering 115 locations.
Leaders attributed RP’s recruiting success to the practice’s focus on providing physicians with career guidance, strengthening professional skills, and encouraging career development to foster well-being while countering burnout.
“We must provide our physicians with the support and resources needed at all stages in their career in order to thrive. I hope that other practices, in radiology and beyond, embrace these ideals,” Arthy Saravanan, MD, associate chief medical officer for recruitment, said Oct. 12.
Rad Partners has grown rapidly via acquisitions during the two-year timespan, including an $885 million purchase of Mednax Radiology Solutions last year, adding 800 physicians to its roster. A spokesman said Tuesday that the 500 figure is only recruited radiologists and does not include those assumed through practice partnerships; he could not provide retention numbers by late Tuesday. All told, the company employs 2,500-plus physicians working across 2,900 sites in 35 states, according to its website.
RP — 62% owned by private equity firms, with docs holding the balance — cited an internal survey, which found 78% of younger radiologists would recommend working there, while 21% remain neutral.
About 86% of early career imaging physicians believe that corporate entities harm radiology as a specialty, according to a different survey published last year in JACR. Another 83% of the 600 rads polled said they’d prefer to work at an independent practice. The study’s author, Daniel Ortiz, MD, cautioned that RP’s survey was performed internally and not peer reviewed, urging observers to take such figures “with a grant of salt.”
“They (Rad Partners) are heavily investing in flashy recruiting and retention activities, like their ‘Nights Out’ and leadership summit,” Ortiz, a private practice physician in Northern Georgia and critic of corporatization in the specialty, told Radiology Business. “For those that go straight into this practice model from training, they may not fully understand the mechanics of an investor-owned practice and implications for themselves and the specialty, making them vulnerable to these marketing tactics.”
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.