IRVING, TX – Primary care physicians are in greater demand than any other type of doctor, according to a recent report by national physician search firm Merritt Hawkins & Associates, an AMN Healthcare company.

The "2009 Review of Physician Recruiting Incentives" tracks more than 3,200 physician-recruiting assignments that Merritt Hawkins conducted from April 1, 2008, to March 31, 2009. During that period, the company fielded more requests for family physicians than for any other type of doctor, followed by general internists, who also provide primary care. These requests represented a 23 percent increase over the previous 12-month period examined in the survey.

"Virtually every hospital or large medical group in the United States would be happy to add a family physician or general internist," said Merritt Hawkins' president, Mark Smith. "There simply are not enough primary care doctors to go around."

The shortage is the result of a burgeoning demand for primary care services combined with a shrinking supply of generalist physicians, according to Smith. Fewer medical students are choosing primary care specialties at a time when the population is both growing and aging.

It will  be exacerbated, Smith warned, if access to medical services is expanded through healthcare reform.

General surgeons follow internists on Merritt Hawkins' list of most in-demand physicians. General surgery is also  favored less by medical students, Smith observed, and many general surgeons are retiring with no doctors to replace them.

Signing bonuses were offered to physicians in 85 percent of the searches Merritt Hawkins represented in 2008/09, up from 74 percent the previous year and 58 percent three years ago. The report shows that the average signing bonus offered to physicians is $24,850, in addition to salaries ranging from $171,000 for pediatricians to $481,000 for orthopedic surgeons.

The widespread use of signing bonuses underlines the increasingly competitive nature of physician recruiting, according to Smith.

Though physicians have traditionally operated as independent practitioners, the report suggests that more hospitals are hiring physicians as employees and paying them directly through salaries. In 2005/06, 23 percent of the physician search assignments Merritt Hawkins represented featured physician employment by a hospital. In the 2008/09, that number increased to 45 percent.

"Many physicians today are throwing in the towel when it comes to private practice," Smith said. "They are exchanging independence for the relative simplicity and security of employment."