I don't want to dispute that there are recruiters out there who actually find jobs for their clients. But you have to be aware that the recruiters advertising to the J1's are not part of the usual physician recruiters circle. A regular recruiter gets paid by the PRACTICE, not by the candidate. The practice hires the recruiter to screen candidates, handle CV's and phonecalls, things that would detract the prinicpals from running their business.
In the 'Self help J1 waiver' thread I listed the online resources for the quest for a waiver such as the HPSA database, geographic databases by the US Census bureau and some of the contacts for state departments of health (and some of the peculiarities of their J1 policies). All this is in flux since the bill of Senator Kent Conrad went through congress, but the general process should be the same.
The tip to 'cold call' physician offices in an area you are interested in is good. Some practices would have a need for another associate but shy away from the expense and time required to recruit someone. In a physician practice, an associate typically brings in more revenue than he costs in salary+benefits. Many of the practices located in underserved areas have more than enough work to do, sometimes they are willing to open a branch office in a HPSA if it suits their general plan.
Calling hospitals in rural areas is actually not such a bad idea. I have made the experience that many community hospitals in the south and midwest actually DO have a recruitment office. More physicians mean more revenue for the hospital, so they are usually interested to bring someone in. They either hook you up with one of the local groups, and for people who don't need a H1b employment they will often sponsor the opening of a new practice by guaranteeing an income for the first 2 years (yes, at times hospitals WILL employ physicians. Typically through a small for-profit corp that they maintain for that purpose. This is more common in hospital based specialties such as ICU, path or radiology)
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