Small business creates jobs, keeps physicians in the workforce
Salt Lake City, Utah, March 5, 2010 - VISTA Staffing Solutions, a Salt Lake City-based physician staffing firm, turns 20 today. VISTA opened its doors on March 5, 1990, as a locum tenens or temporary physician staffing company. "Locum tenens" is Latin for, "one holding a place." In two decades of growth VISTA has expanded its services to include international placements for physicians in Australia, New Zealand, and Bermuda; year-long US placements; and permanent physician recruitment and consulting.
The high-energy, growth-oriented company had seven corporate employees at the end of 1991, 100 employees by January 2004, and 198 in January 2010.
VISTA has lived by an unusual motto, according to President Mark S. Brouse. "I always say the customer comes second," he says. "Because if you take care of the employees, the employees will take care of the customers, and the customers will take care of the business."
Brouse and co-founders Katie Abby and Clarke W. Shaw believed so strongly in that concept that they established an Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) at VISTA as soon as the company was eligible to offer one. "We recognized from the beginning that employees, and the relationships they were able to build with physicians and healthcare organizations, are the 'intellectual property' of a staffing company," says Executive Vice President Katie Abby. "Those employees walked out the door every night and we wanted to make darn sure they walked back in the next morning."
The ESOP was created in 1991, according to Mark Brouse. "At that time, the stock was valued at $0.62 per share," he says. "By 1996, as our revenue broke the $10 million mark, the stock was valued at $33.58."
In 2007, VISTA was acquired by On Assignment, Inc., one of the largest healthcare, scientific, IT, and engineering staffing companies in the US. The proceeds from the sale of the company totaled $230 per share or 370 times the 1991 value. Thanks to the ESOP, employees shared in the proceeds. "That was always the goal," says Brouse, "to give employees a real reason to think and act like owners.?
VISTA's parent company shares the same dedication to their corporate employees, offering excellent benefits and opportunities for growth and advancement in offices across the US and Europe.
The industry grows up too
"I'd have to say that the locum tenens industry as a whole has grown as dramatically as we have," says Katie Abby. What began as respite coverage for primary care physicians in rural America has grown into an industry that will generate $1.8 billion in 2010, according to Staffing Industry Analysts. "By our estimates more than 20,000 physicians choose to work as locum tenens each year," she says. "And there are more than 50 members in our industry watchdog association, the National Association of Locum Tenens Organizations."
There are two sides to this growth story. On the physician side, locum tenens gives doctors flexibility and control over how they practice and often keeps them practicing longer. "Working part-time, trying out different geographic locations before settling down, taking an international adventure...these options were not available for physicians on the traditional career path with the burden of owning and managing a full-time practice," explains Abby. "Through locum tenens work they can earn a great income, pay off their student loans, practice when and where they choose, and have time for a personal life."
In a 2006 survey commissioned by VISTA, almost 70% of physician respondents said having the option of locum tenens work would extend their careers in medicine; 53% said that it would help them avoid burnout.
The other side of the growth story involves healthcare organizations that rely on locum tenens physicians when they are short-staffed, recruiting, covering for doctors on medical or military leave, or launching a new service line. "Getting the right physician to the right place at the right time to fill these needs is complex," says Senior Vice President Clarke Shaw. "Physicians are so specialized—they are not interchangeable. Healthcare organizations rely on agencies like VISTA to recruit a broad pool of talent that can be matched to their needs." Healthcare reform, the aging population, increased demand for advanced care, and international brain drain have converged to drive up the need for physicians dramatically in developed and developing countries.
"As we enter the economic recovery and retirement portfolios rebound, we want to challenge physicians to stay involved in patient care at least part time," says Mark Brouse. "The world needs every hour a qualified physician is willing to work. Locum tenens is a mechanism to facilitate that."
For more information about VISTA Staffing Solutions visit http://www.vistastaff.com/.
About VISTA Staffing Solutions and On Assignment
VISTA Staffing Solutions (http://www.vistastaff.com), a division of On Assignment, Inc., is a leading provider of locum tenens physician staffing and permanent physician search services. Founded in 1990, the company helps hospitals, medical practices, and government agencies solve their physician staffing challenges. VISTA is the only agency that offers short- and long-term domestic jobs, international work opportunities, and permanent placement for physicians. The company is a founding member of the National Association of Locum Tenens Organizations (NALTO). Physicians can visit VISTA's website for more information about locum tenens, extended placements, and permanent physician jobs.
Healthcare facilities can visit VISTA's website for more information about locum tenens staffing, extended placements, and physician search and consulting services.
On Assignment, Inc. (http://www.onassignment.com) is a diversified professional staffing firm providing flexible and permanent staffing solutions in specialty areas, including Laboratory/Scientific, Healthcare (including nurses and physicians), Medical, Financial, and Health Information Services, and Information Technology and Engineering. The corporate headquarters is located in Calabasas, California. On Assignment, Inc. was founded in 1985 and went public in 1992. The Company's branch network encompasses approximately 80 branch offices across the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Belgium. On Assignment, Inc.'s common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol ASGN.
