Locums CME is a bi-weekly roundup of recent news that matters to locum tenens providers. Stay in the loop on what’s new in the locums industry, and make the most of the locum tenens lifestyle with our fresh finds.
2023 Physician Compensation Trends: Specialties in Demand, PCPs See Modest Gains
9/12/2023
Recent trends in physician compensation are creating waves in the healthcare industry. According to a report from Modern Healthcare, last year, Santa Barbara County’s Department of Behavioral Health and Wellness in California set a precedent for physician compensation offering upwards of $90,000 in signing bonuses to attract psychiatrists.
Psychiatry has proven to be one of the specialties where facilities have seen the most significant gaps in coverage nationwide. The pandemic exacerbated mental health issues in America, which led to a greater demand for full-time and locums providers.
Officials in Santa Barbara’s willingness to pay such high bonuses highlights the growing need for specialized practitioners. According to Modern Healthcare’s recent Physician Compensation Survey, some employers have offered as much as $300,000 in signing bonuses for medical director jobs outside of Santa Barbara. In contrast, others in tight real estate markets provide stipends to physicians so they can relocate families.
Across the board, signing bonuses for physicians have surged, with an average increase of 21% to $37,473. Three key trends emerged from the 2023 Physician Compensation Data:
1. Specialists Still in High Demand: The aging population is fueling the demand for specialty care, resulting in substantial compensation increases for specialists like radiologists, anesthesiologists, and psychiatrists. However, facilities still need help to recruit in certain specialties, including behavioral health practitioners and dermatologists.
2. Primary Care Physicians (PCPs) See Wage Growth: Although demand for PCPs remains high in some areas, their compensation increased by only 4.4% in 2022. While an improvement from previous years, this modest gain still lags behind the inflation rate, contributing to intense competition among traditional employers and market disruptors like Amazon, CVS, and Walmart for PCP talent.
3. Quality Matters When it Comes to Compensation: Metrics such as patient experience and care timeliness continue to influence physician compensation. However, these factors typically account for only about 8% to 10% of the total for staff-level physicians across specialties. Some employers are countering this by offering higher base salaries to support physicians in focusing on delivering quality care.
The more competitive the healthcare labor market grows, the more likely we are to see these trends impact how healthcare facilities and staffing agencies adapt to meet the demand.
For more in-depth insights from the Physician Compensation Report, read the full article from the American Hospital Association.
Your Locums Prescription
3 of The Top Specialties For Locums Providers
9/5/2023
If you’re a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician’s assistant seeking a change from the daily routine of a typical hospital job, exciting opportunities are available in the locum tenens field. Pursuing locum tenens lets providers travel nationwide and work in various specialties.
MPLT Healthcare highlighted a few of the specialties that are currently experiencing a surge in locum tenens job openings:
- Surgery: Surgeons are in high demand, offering experienced, licensed, and board-certified professionals ample opportunities to perform operations in diverse healthcare settings. This field boasts some of the most competitive pay rates.
- Gastroenterology: Locum tenens positions in gastroenterology offer professionals the chance to work fewer hours while increasing their income. Flexibility in scheduling allows for a better work-life balance, appealing to those focused on in-depth procedures and surgeries.
- Oncology: The rising cancer rates have increased the demand for medical oncologists. This trend is particularly evident in rural areas facing physician shortages. Locum tenens roles in oncology prioritize patient care over administrative tasks, benefiting physicians and patients.
These are just a few specialties representative of the numerous locum tenens options available. The locum tenens industry has grown to include opportunities in almost every medical specialty, so if a provider is eyeing this as their next career path, read the full article from MPLT to learn more about the next steps.
Taking A DIY Approach to Locum Tenens? 6 Benefits of Booking Assignments With A Staffing Agency
8/3/2023
Physicians contemplating locum tenens work may wonder about the necessity of involving a staffing agency in securing their assignments. While the option to independently negotiate higher rates is available, not all healthcare facilities favor engaging directly with freelance locum tenens providers. Moreover, managing the intricacies of locum tenens work can be both time-consuming and expensive for a healthcare provider, potentially counterbalancing the advantages of a higher pay rate.
Weatherby Healthcare broke out six steps agencies take to ensure a successful locum tenens assignment:
Finding And Securing Work for Providers
An agency can streamline finding assignments and matching pay rates, schedules, and location preferences. Agency consultants’ job is to dedicate themselves to identifying suitable opportunities for providers, which saves physicians valuable time and effort.
Negotiating Competitive Rates
Locum tenens agencies have a deep understanding of factors influencing compensation rates. Agencies can skillfully negotiate on behalf of physicians to secure a competitive compensation package.
Getting Licensed and Credentialed
The licensing and credentialing process can be time-consuming for providers, but agencies can often expedite this process, providing valuable assistance with paperwork and meeting deadlines.
Paying for and Arranging Travel and Housing
Agencies cover travel and housing costs for their providers and have dedicated teams to manage these arrangements to ensure physicians have a seamless transition into a locums assignment.
Handling All of The Logistics
Locum tenens staffing agencies take care of a provider’s logistics scheduling, travel itineraries, and job preparations. All a physician or advanced practice provider has to do is focus on caring for their patients.
Securing Future Assignments
Staffing agencies work to ensure a continuous flow of assignments, minimizing employment gaps for locum physicians. They can also provide opportunities well in advance, which gives providers more job security.
Providers have technology at their disposal to take the DIY approach to locums if they want. While it offers independence, it won’t be without a few headaches that a staffing agency can help avoid. By partnering with a staffing agency, providers can streamline the locums process and alleviate the burden of managing their assignments independently.
Read the full article for more from Weatherby Healthcare on booking locums assignments.
Balancing Work and Personal Life: Tips for Staying Connected During Locum Tenens Assignments
9/7/2023
Locum tenens assignments give providers bit by the travel bug the chance to explore new cities and experience life in communities they may have never seen otherwise. However, one of the potential downsides of locum tenens assignments is the time they spend away from friends and family for weeks or months.
Staying in contact with friends, significant others, and family keeps a provider grounded and helps them stay connected while away on assignment.
Here are a few of the methods All Star Healthcare Solutions highlights to help keep up with personal relationships while away on assignment:
- Arrange Short Visits Home, If Possible: Plan short trips back home during long-term assignments or invite family and friends to your temporary location.
- Request Locum Opportunities Near Your Loved Ones: Before taking an assignment speak to the recruiter about booking assignments near family and friends, making it easier to plan get-togethers.
- Celebrate Events Virtually: These days, we are all connected with digital devices, which allows providers on assignment to attend special events like school performances through livestreams, or arrange for special deliveries on special occasions.
- Write Letters Home: Handwritten letters offer a personal touch and a break from digital communication. Spend some time crafting a letter or postcard from your current location.
- Welcome Remote Workers to Join You: Leverage the flexibility of remote work opportunities to have loved ones travel with you during locum tenens assignments.
These methods enable locum tenens providers to balance their professional commitments with personal connections. Read the full article from All Star Healthcare Solutions here.
Physician Wellness Retreat
AI Holds Promise of Improving Patient Safety and Physician Burnout
9/3/2023
Broad applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare could help improve patient safety and physician burnout. A recent review published in The New England Journal of Medicine discussed the challenges and potential benefits of adopting AI in the healthcare industry.
AI promises to improve patient safety, help reduce physician burnout, and enhance overall efficiency, but the adoption of AI in healthcare lags behind other industries. One reason is the significant challenge in the nature of healthcare data, which often includes qualitative information like clinical notes and multifactorial outcomes, making algorithm training more complex than in other sectors with structured data.
Financial incentives, or the lack thereof, also play a role in the slow adoption of AI in healthcare organizations. Many prioritize short-term financial results over long-term investments in innovative technologies like AI. The study highlights that successful AI adoption should consider financial and non-financial factors like quality improvement, patient safety, and clinician satisfaction to realize its full potential.
Despite these challenges, the report highlights how certain specialties like radiology, pathology, dermatology, and cardiology already use AI for image analysis. In particular, AI can process reimbursements, reducing claim denials and administrative spending. Additionally, AI applications for improving clinical operations remain in the pilot phase.
The review highlights a need to expand the decision-making process for AI adoption in healthcare, including nonfinancial factors like patient safety and quality improvement. While the potential benefits are significant, addressing the technical challenges and aligning financial incentives with patient outcomes are crucial steps in accelerating the adoption of AI in healthcare.
See the full article on the American Journal of Managed Care website, or refer to the “Artificial Intelligence in US Health Care Delivery” study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
6 KPIs to Guage Your Organization’s Burnout Temp
9/5/2023
The latest data from the American Medical Association (AMA) reveals physician burnout in the United States remains a significant concern, with an overall reported burnout rate of 53% last year. This distressing trend is primarily driven by practice inefficiencies and organizational culture issues, making it crucial for healthcare organizations to identify their standing and take proactive steps to reduce physician burnout and enhance well-being.
The AMA offers a tool called the Organizational Biopsy, designed to assess key performance indicators in healthcare organizations. It covers four main domains:
- Organizational culture
- Practice efficiency
- Self-care
- Retention
Following the assessment, organizations receive an executive summary of their findings and access to their data through an online reporting platform, which provides exclusive national comparison data. The aggregated data serves as a national overview of organizational well-being, aiding comparisons among healthcare organizations. However, the results depend on the participation of health systems.
The AMA listed the six key performance indicators measured through the Organizational Biopsy, which are:
- Job satisfaction
- Job stress
- Physician burnout
- Time spent
- Intent to leave
- Feeling valued
The article also links to different case studies from organizations that are using the tool to make an impact in their facility. Read the complete article from the AMA for the full details on Organizational Biopsy, how to access it, and to review the case studies that help paint the picture of the tool’s efficacy.
Doctor’s Notes
AI in Healthcare: How Generative Tools Are Set to Reshape Clinician Roles
9/4/2023
A recent report from Citi delves into the impact of AI on clinicians in the next five to 10 years. Generative AI tools could significantly streamline various aspects of clinicians’ daily routines, including the automation of diagnoses and responses to patient inquiries. While these tools may enhance the diagnostic process, they are still anticipated to complement a physician’s work rather than replace their clinical decision-making.
The report talks about how AI tools, with features like automatic speech recognition, could accurately transcribe patient-clinician interactions. Full diagnostic generative AI tools have yet to hit the market, but there are companies actively developing healthcare-focused large language models. Google’s Med-PaLM 2, currently used at institutions like the Mayo Clinic, aims to answer medical queries, summarize medical texts, and organize health data.
The Citi report predicts that AI tools will extend beyond physicians, assisting various healthcare professionals, including nurses, dieticians, and pharmacists. These tools could perform tasks such as checking in on patients, monitoring post-surgery progress, and conducting welfare checks on older patients. The report suggests that consumers will benefit from AI advancements, accessing chatbot-style tools that provide medical guidance.
While the future holds promise for AI in healthcare, the report cautions that developing accurate tools will likely take longer than enthusiasts hope. For a more comprehensive understanding of the report, check out the article from MedCity News.
Practical Changes To Treat Burnout of Emergency Medicine Physicians
8/31/2023
Emergency physician Dr. Vanessa Calderón, a champion of physician well-being, shared her insights on addressing burnout in the healthcare field in a recent AMA article. Dr. Calderón emphasized the need to recognize vulnerability, and the importance of asking for help, which she says is often overlooked in medical training.
In an episode of the “AMA STEPS Forward® Podcast,” Dr. Calderón discusses measuring physician well-being in emergency departments (EDs) and breaking the traditional “we’ve always done it this way” mentality.
Dr. Calderón recommends practical changes that EDs can implement to combat burnout without any significant resources or committees needed.
These practical changes include:
- Giving physicians the necessary equipment and support staff to do their jobs.
- Actively listening to physicians’ needs during department meetings and trying to fix broken or inefficient tools and processes promptly.
- Considering whether specific tasks require a physician’s expertise or if creative solutions like using scribes can help physicians assist with patient care.
Dr. Calderón’s approach also involves introducing changes as pilots, allowing for experimentation and adaptation, if needed. She says healthcare organizations can create a more supportive and less burnout-prone environment by prioritizing physician well-being and making these adjustments.
For more details, you can listen to the episode on the AMA STEPS Forward Podcast or read the article from AMA.
Innovative Health Tech Startup Glass Health Launches AI Diagnostic Tool
9/8/2023
Glass Health, a health tech startup founded by Dereck Paul and Graham Ramsey, launched an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool that suggests medical diagnoses and treatment options based on patient summaries entered by clinicians.
The company initially focused on providing physicians with a notebook for storing and sharing their diagnostic and treatment approaches. However, it has shifted its focus to generative AI, offering an AI tool powered by a large language model (LLM). This deep learning algorithm can perform natural language processing tasks to generate diagnoses and evidence-based patient treatment options.
This tool analyzes patient summaries and recommends potential diagnoses and clinical plans. It can also draft case assessment paragraphs for clinical notes and records. While the concept of AI-powered medical assistance is promising, the effectiveness of such systems has come under scrutiny in the past. Some AI startups have faced criticism for making claims about the superiority of their technology over human doctors. Glass Health aims to address this concern by connecting LLMs with clinical guidelines created and reviewed by its academic physician team.
Despite challenges, Glass Health has gained traction with early social media interest from healthcare professionals, signing up over 59,000 users. With $6.5 million in funding, Glass Health plans to enhance physician involvement in creating and updating clinical guidelines, fine-tuning the AI, and conducting research and development. The startup also intends to pilot an electronic health record-integrated enterprise offering with HIPAA compliance this year; 15 health systems and companies are on the waitlist.
For more details on Glass Health’s innovative approach and its impact on the healthcare sector, you can read the full article from TechCrunch.
