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How to Improve Your Physician Onboarding Process
A new physician’s first day at a healthcare facility marks the next step in their career. They deserve a warm welcome and comprehensive introduction to their new environment. But all too often, the physician onboarding process is incomplete, confusing, or chaotic.
When healthcare organizations rely on a single “survival guide” email, everyone suffers. Patients face longer wait times. Instead of a smooth onboarding experience, frustrated physicians struggle to find their footing, and the risks of turnover and burnout increase.
By mapping out every step—from drug and occupational health testing to healthcare facility orientation and peer mentoring—you can turn confusion into confidence. This approach helps new physicians integrate smoothly, collaborate effectively, and excel from day one.
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6 Common Physician Onboarding Challenges
Physicians already face numerous challenges in getting acquainted with a new facility. According to the Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment (AAPPR), 63% of physicians struggle with mastering facility technology, while 48% cite difficulty adapting to site-specific clinical protocols and procedures. Add in a poorly structured physician onboarding process, and clinicians are playing catch-up instead of focusing on patient care.
A rocky beginning can have long-term effects, both on performance in the role and the physician's career trajectory. “If you start behind your peers, you're not going to be able to achieve your goals as quickly, and you may never catch up to them,” says Sea Chen, MD, PhD, physician director of practice sustainability at the American Medical Association (AMA). “You may even start to feel burned out before your career gets off the ground.”
By pinpointing core pain points—technology gaps, verification delays, unclear protocols, and manual credentialing processes—you can target onboarding interventions that streamline integration, build confidence, and drive long-term retention.
Here are some of the most common pitfalls to avoid.
Onboarding Delays and Resulting Costs
Nothing stalls a new hire’s momentum like waiting for credentialing paperwork, badge activation, or a criminal records check. Missing immunization tracking paperwork or the absence of automated employment verifications can delay starts by days or weeks.
Beyond the frustration, every idle week represents lost revenue for both your practice and the provider. And when doctors feel their time isn’t respected, morale takes a hit before they’ve even settled in.
Rushing Through Onboarding
On the other end of the spectrum, cramming orientation into a single week can overwhelm physicians with information. The risk of errors increases when new hires aren’t properly trained. Consider the surgeon who’s expected to perform before they’ve worked with the hospital’s charting templates. Or the general practitioner thrown into a busy clinic day without training on the practice’s appointment system and referral process.
Rushed onboarding contributes to mistakes, increases stress, and hurts physician confidence, setting new hires up for burnout rather than success.
Lack of Role Clarity and Expectation-Setting
Physicians need to know what’s expected of them from day one, including who they report to, which performance metrics they’ll be measured by, and how on-call schedules are designed. Without these details, doctors can end up scrambling to achieve routine tasks, falling short on patient safety, or missing productivity targets—all without understanding why.
Providing detailed job descriptions and holding early conversations about goals and responsibilities gives physicians the necessary context to deliver consistent, high-quality care and align their work with the organization's values and goals.
Lack of Preboarding
First impressions begin before day one. Sending new physicians essential details—like system login credentials, facility maps, and an agenda for their first week—helps them get started with meaningful work right away.
Without preboarding, physicians spend their first hours tracking down basic information and setting up simple workflows instead of focusing on patient care. That delay slows their clinical ramp-up and increases the burden on colleagues who have to field routine questions.
Not Creating Feedback Loops
Orientation week is just the start of onboarding, not the finish line. Regular check-ins at 30, 60, and 90 days give physicians a chance to ask questions, share concerns, and get feedback. They can raise issues with onboarding processes and see that their input leads to meaningful improvements.
Without these touchpoints, minor issues can grow into major retention risks as physicians feel unheard. Practices that fail to gather and act on feedback miss opportunities to refine their process.
Poor Culture Fit and Gaps in Connection
Onboarding is much more than filling out forms and checking off compliance. It’s about inviting physicians into your company culture. New hires should meet clinical leaders face to face, get invited to informal team lunches, and receive a peer buddy.
Without those critical interactions, they’ll likely feel isolated and disengaged. That isolation can undermine trust with nurses, practice managers, and other staff, increase uncertainty about day-to-day norms, and push physicians to seek a more inclusive environment elsewhere.
These connection points don’t have to be complicated. Examples include a video call with department leadership, a welcome breakfast, or a “meet your mentor” session. A thoughtful and personal approach to onboarding cements a new physician’s sense of belonging as a true team member.
Costs of a Disorganized Onboarding Process
When onboarding is inconsistent or disorganized, the negative effects are emotional and financial. Every delayed badge activation, every missing system login, and every hurried orientation session chips away at revenue and morale.
The AMA estimates that replacing a burned-out physician can cost healthcare organizations at least $500,000 per hire when including recruitment fees, sign-on bonuses, lost billings during the vacancy, and onboarding costs for the replacement.
The positive effects of a good onboarding are equally clear. The AAPPR reports that 56% of healthcare professionals who receive a structured, positive onboarding process also feel “highly satisfied” in their roles. This is compared with just 19% of clinicians who report a negative experience.
Lower morale and higher turnover are just two of the risks. When employers rush credentialing or perform these steps manually, they increase the risk of rejected licensure applications, delayed reimbursements, and state-imposed penalties. For example, inadequate electronic health record (EHR) training raises the odds of HIPAA breaches, with civil fines alone reaching up to $1.5 million per year.
Read our must-have guide to healthcare background check compliance to find out why detailed screening is non-negotiable in healthcare.
A fragmented onboarding program exposes your organization to:
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Fines and penalties for HIPAA or licensure violations
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Lost clinical revenue while physicians await credentialing
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Elevated recruitment and replacement expenses when physicians leave
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Increased legal and audit fees stemming from noncompliance
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Potential exclusion from federal healthcare programs
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8 Tips to Improve Your Physician Onboarding Process
An effective onboarding process can reduce average time to hire in healthcare and improve retention and performance.
Use these healthcare onboarding tips to help new physicians succeed from day one.
Create a Detailed Onboarding Timeline
Craft a timeline that spans from preboarding activities (six weeks before the start date) to the 90-day check-in. Outline every major milestone, from initial credential submissions through first solo clinic sessions.
A comprehensive onboarding timeline helps physicians feel supported but not overwhelmed, while a structured schedule prevents administrative delays from hindering clinical ramp-up. For example, when a group clinic sends calendar invites for every onboarding activity, new doctors know exactly when to complete each task.
Conduct Surveys and Gather Feedback
Solving pain points starts with listening. Sending pulse surveys on the first day, with follow-ups at 30 and 90 days, can reveal where physicians struggle, whether it’s unfamiliar technology, confusing protocols, or credentialing bottlenecks.
Collecting and acting on this feedback creates an ongoing process of refinement. For example, a department could review early feedback and then add a hands-on session for EHR features that physicians find useful and easy to complete.
When in Doubt, Extend Your Onboarding Timeline
Treat onboarding as a monthslong journey, not a one-week event. The initial onboarding is supplemented by checkpoints, often at milestones, to help physicians acclimate gradually and avoid information overload.
Institutions should schedule training modules and clinical ramp-up over a period of three to six months, allowing learning and reinforcement to occur at a comfortable pace. For example, an organization might spread out mentorship sessions while gradually increasing patient assignments to build physician confidence.
Launch Preboarding Activities
Start engagement early by providing facility maps, IT access details, and EHR tutorials well before the first day on-site. Early orientation materials help physicians familiarize themselves with systems and workflows at their own pace.
A streamlined preboarding process reduces first-day jitters and frees up staff to focus on patient care. For example, a digital welcome kit sent weeks in advance allows new physicians to access systems before their first day.
Use Technology to Track Onboarding Progress
Automate reminders and dashboards to monitor each physician’s onboarding tasks. Cloud-based platforms can flag incomplete forms, pending training modules, and upcoming compliance deadlines in real time.
This transparency prevents last-minute rushes and accountability gaps. For example, a health system might deploy a digital dashboard to replace paper checklists and automatically remind physicians of pending tasks.
Plan Benchmarks, Check-Ins, and Feedback Sessions
Define success metrics, such as the first independent procedure or initial patient satisfaction rating, and schedule formal reviews at 30, 60, and 90 days.
Regular goal-setting meetings help physicians know where they stand and what’s expected next. For example, a department could log each physician's first solo clinic appointment as a milestone, which reinforces their new autonomy and allows for corrective action as needed.
Pilot and Refine Program Elements
When making big changes to your preboarding and onboarding, test the changes before implementing them across your practice. Whether it’s a new EHR training session or a revamped orientation agenda, run trials and compare feedback and performance metrics.
Data-driven experimentation allows you to discard ineffective tactics and focus on high-impact practices. For example, a pilot might test two orientation models and show that physicians favor shorter, hands-on workshop formats.
Integrate Early Background Screening
Gaps in student background checks or healthcare license monitoring can quickly derail the screening process. Instead of conducting background checks and credential verifications at the last minute, move these activities to the offer stage. Early screening reveals discrepancies, including in the scope of practice, before they become critical delays.
Partnering with a specialist like PreCheck can streamline verifications and accelerate compliance. For example, institutions can automate healthcare license monitoring and healthcare exclusion sanction screening early in the process. This helps detect credential issues early so organizations hire only physicians who meet regulatory requirements.
How Physician Background Check Services Support Onboarding
Background screening services like PreCheck are crucial for removing administrative roadblocks and ensuring a seamless start for new physicians. By handling automated employment verifications, license validation, and criminal background checks, these services free up human resources and clinical teams to focus on orientation, training, and direct support.
Investing in an automated screening solution means fewer manual errors, faster credentialing, and clear visibility into each candidate’s progress. Not only is compliance strengthened, but these solutions align with your detailed onboarding timeline, preventing last-minute surprises and keeping physicians on track from the outset.
Choose PreCheck to Help With Your Physician Onboarding Process
Ready to transform your physician onboarding process and eliminate credentialing delays? Schedule a demo with PreCheck to see how our automated background screening and compliance platform integrates seamlessly into your hiring workflow.
