Locum Tenens Abroad

http://locumtenensabroad.com/ — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 15:27:54 -0700

Staffing Industry: Company Profile: Global Medical Staffing, Ltd.

While domestic healthcare staffing companies battle for national turf, a little company in Salt Lake City is making inroads into the rural areas of Australia and New Zealand.

Global Medical Staffing Ltd. recruits physicians on a temporary basis from parts of the world to place them in others. What differentiates it from other healthcare staffing firms is that though it is based in the United States, it doesn't operate in the American market at all. In fact, the management of Global Medical Staffing does not plan to compete for domestic business anytime in the near future. And if the word from their customers is anything to go by, they could maintain this business model for years, and do just fine.

"There is a worldwide shortage of mental health professionals, including psychiatrists. Ultimately I would prefer to take on permanent staff, but until these are available it is necessary to keep our services staffed," said Anne Manley, recruitment coordinator for the Waitemata Health Board in Auckland, New Zealand. "Global [has] the qualified and experienced staff that we desperately seek. I have had a long and positive relationship with Global [and] know that they will provide us with appropriate people when requested."

ROOTS. It all started when the president of the Rural Doctors Association of Queensland in Australia came looking for some assistance in recruiting doctors to work in his part of the world. He got in touch with some people involved in the staffing industry in the United States who liked the idea and went on to establish a company in 1994 to fill physician shortages in under served parts of the world.

Global Medical primarily serves the Australian and New Zealand markets and dabbles in the United Kingdom, the South Pacific and the Caribbean. It appears there are enough doctors wanting to go to those places. Global Medical has placed more than 1,500 doctors overseas.

"Doctors like to go with us [down under] as a sabbatical," said Robert Stringham, Global Medical Staffing's CEO. "Some doctors just want a change in their practice. Other doctors want to give their families a cultural experience in a safe and exciting location outside the United States."

INCENTIVES. Global Medical recruits about one-third of its doctors from the United States. "It was great. It was the only international experience I've had," said Ruth Wold, an emergency medicine physician at the Feagher River Hospital in Paradise CA, who worked through Global Medical in Traralgon in Australia. There was enough to motivate her to take the plunge.

"[The motivation was] to experience healthcare industry in a different environment -- to compare, contrast, learn new things and beyond the medical aspects, to experience a different culture and travel. When you immerse yourself in a situation for a longer period, [you] get to know the people," she said.

Wold took the job soon after completing her residency. Many of Global Medical's recruits are people at either end of the professional spectrum, either just starting out or about to retire. But all looking for one thing -- adventure.

"U.S. doctors can make much more money in the United States," Stringham said. "The doctors are paid on the local (overseas) scale and receive enough money to live on and what little they save they usually spend as travel money before returning home. They go overseas for the adventure, the experience and the excitement. Doctors are typically a very curious group."

And the management of Global Medical enjoys that curiosity. "We live vicariously through our doctors," said Alan Lakomski, the company's COO. "A bit of their adventure rubs off on us."

CHALLENGES. Despite the thrill and adventure, working in countries on the other side of the globe has its own challenges.

"One of the biggest barriers to entry is being able to work across different time zones," Stringham said. "The other major barrier is dealing with the different tax regulations overseas."

The company, despite its small size, likes to hold the hands of its physicians as it sends them to far-away lands, a practice that makes their physicians trust them. The physicians can call the company 24 hours a day at a toll-free number, and if they don't call, the company will call them.

"What we really liked was they were all very personable. They were real people when you spoke to them on the phone -- genuinely interested in making sure we had a good experience. They called us every week in Australia till we told them to stop calling," said Dr. Pamela Smith, an emergency medicine physician, who spent six months with her husband working in Alice Springs in Australia through Global Medical.

GOING FORWARD. Global Medical isn't a big company right now. It has a staff of about 20 people on board and has revenue of about $6 million a year. But it has plans to expand into newer territories, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland and other European countries. It hopes to double in size in the next three to five years. And looking at the shortages in the rural parts of the world, it easily could fulfill its plans.