Midwest

Regarding positions in the Midwest, I asked my good friend, Jenifer Stevenson, MD, FACEP, in Michigan to weigh in on the topic. “Compared to years past, there are jobs in the Midwest,” she said. “There’s greater opportunity in rural and mid-tier settings; however, jobs exist in urban and suburban communities. As expected, compensation is more competitive in rural communities and less lucrative in urban/suburban. Indiana and Ohio present the most opportunity. Despite the prediction that we’d see a shortage of jobs in the specialty, burnout, corporate consolidation, and APP staffing have resulted in more [jobs] than expected.”

These 12 states represent 19 percent of U.S. jobs, with Ohio way out in front. The major cities including Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, and Omaha, Nebraska, are predominantly quiet.

Northeast

One of my favorite emergency medicine recruitment specialists, Shawn Teed of Teedco, is the pro in this region, although his crew works positions all over the country. I asked him what he is seeing in the market now. He said, “We will continue to see emergency physician shortages for years, mostly due to the pandemic and the medical schools pushing students into specialties less affected. Many of the residency slots remain unfilled even though residency matching has become very competitive. Many physicians are leaving the specialty or eager to do [that] so much earlier than pre-pandemic years. Physicians setting up their own corporations for working locums is a rising trend in many parts of the country.”

New York leads the way with five times more openings than other states in the region.  Don’t look for much of anything in Rhode Island or Vermont, but Massachusetts has a decent amount with a few near Boston.

Middle Atlantic

It’s all about Pennsylvania with 66 percent of the region’s openings, but very little in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia. Maryland has a good amount with D.C. metro areas, but the District itself is slow as usual. Opportunity is low in New Jersey, but there were 22 ads for travel physicians for big groups.

Pacific Northwest

Finally, these six states are extremely quiet in all but the more rural and suburban areas.  None of the big cities are on the radar for opportunity right now. Washington has quite a few suburban and rural slots, as do Oregon and Montana. Alaska and Wyoming are off the grid.

Barbara Katz, a graduate of West Virginia University, has been working exclusively with emergency medicine physicians since 1991 in the recruitment, consulting, and education arenas.