An analysis of Navy direct appointment physician recruitment.

Abstract

The Navy recruits a portion of its physician manpower directly from the civilian work force and from medical residency programs. The Navy has had difficulty recruiting these doctors, called direct appointment physicians, for the past 13 years. This study analyzes some of the pecuniary and nonpecuniary aspects of physician recruitment in an effort to improve the recruitment process. A regression model was estimated to establish a baseline projecting model for physician supply. The results support the hypothesis that, if the pay gap between military and civilian physicians narrows or if the number of recruiters increases, the number of direct appointment physicians accessed will increase, all else constant. However, the changes necessary to increase the number of physicians recruited are substantial. A survey was conducted to ascertain what nonpecuniary factors were important to direct appointment physicians. Only one factor, patriotism, was indicated by a majority of survey respondents as a reason for joining the Navy, and that was mentioned by only 51 .9 percent of the respondents. The thesis recommends that additional data be collected to estimate a more robust regression model and that the survey of all Navy direct appointment physicians be redesigned.