One thing that continually surfaces in today's health care headlines is the growing need for physicians and advanced practice clinicians (APC's), particularly in primary care.

As our clinic teams and patients can attest, PeaceHealth could definitely use more.

This week, PeaceHealth launched a new program to pay caregivers a $5,000 incentive bonus for referring physicians and APCs hired to help us carry on the PeaceHealth mission. Read more here.

Recruitment is important. So is retention. Members of the medical group leadership team--local and system--are working together to ensure that the concerns and dissatisfiers of our providers continue to be heard and addressed, when possible.

Of the many areas we want to balance, provider compensation is high on the list. I want to be sure providers are aware that PHMG's provider compensation team is beginning to take a look at the design and mechanics of our plan. Our hope is that we can fix some of the shortcomings of the current plan while building in some flexibility for anticipated changes in reimbursement methods.

Providers can expect to hear more about this work and the opportunities to give input through their local leadership in the near future.