Will locums growth slow in '25?
Welcome to Locums Digest, Locumpedia’s free bi-weekly roundup of industry news and trends that helps locum tenens agencies and healthcare facilities make informed business decisions.
In this edition of Locums Digest: After explosive double-digit growth in the post-pandemic period, locum tenens revenue will slow to mid-single digits in 2025, according to the latest Locum Tenens Market Growth Assessment published by Staffing Industry Analysts. The report also shows that locum APP revenue surged by nearly 25% in early 2024, driven by regulatory shifts allowing NPs, PAs, and CRNAs to handle more cases, especially in areas facing severe physician shortages.
Locum Tenens Growth Eases into 2025
January 14, 2025 | Staffing Industry Analysts
After a period of explosive double-digit growth, locum tenens revenue is projected to slow to around 5% this year, according to Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA). With the healthcare staffing industry continuing to see softer-than-anticipated demand, the locum growth is noteworthy.
Within locums, the demand for APPs is anything but timid. Staffing revenue of locum APPs grew nearly 25% year over year in the first half of 2024. Changes in regulations, policies, and perspectives have all enabled APPs to handle more cases historically managed by physicians, providing greater access to care, especially in communities most impacted by the physician shortage.
SIA’s most recent Locum Tenens Market Growth Assessment outlines three key drivers of the ongoing demand for locums.
- Addressing aging and chronic conditions: Nearly a fifth of the American population is older than 65, and with aging comes more complex health problems, care plans, and treatment. Across the population, long-term, multifaceted conditions such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease are increasingly common. The increased demand for care, often in more complex cases, is resulting in more unfilled staff positions for both physicians and APPs.
- Workforce planning: The physician population is also aging. For example, more than 92% of pulmonary disease specialists are 55 or older, as are more than 70% of those in preventative medicine and pathology. Nearly two-thirds of cardiovascular doctors and thoracic surgeons are also among the older demographic. Healthcare leaders who are proactively looking to staff these departments with younger providers may turn to locums to address gaps while hiring.
- Improving physician well-being: Facilities also understand the risk of losing physicians younger than 45, who are experiencing higher rates of burnout and have lower well-being scores than older physicians. In addition to directly mitigating burnout with support such as reduced administrative duties and increased therapy options, healthcare leaders are including locums in their staffing strategy to help ease the workload of permanent staff.
SIA’s latest Locum Tenens Market Growth Assessment is available to SIA corporate members.
La Vida Locum
Healthcare Opportunities Affecting Staffing Drive Locum Growth
January 6, 2025 | VISTA Staffing
As we look to a new year, understanding the trends driving the growth projections for locum tenens is key to advising locum physicians and APPs and helping position them for career success.
Opportunity 1: High-tech for Patient-Centered Healthcare, Enhanced Diagnostics, and More Efficient Administration
- Telehealth visits may increase by a third and improve access for 26 million Americans.
- AI diagnostics in certain areas are nearly 100% accurate. Algorithms are becoming increasingly able to predict health risks and suggest treatment plans.
- AI appointment scheduling could save providers up to 20 hours of administrative work a week.
Opportunity 2: Regulatory and Policy Shifts
- Regulatory changes in scope of practice for NPs, PAs, and CRNAs will continue to expand, providing more ways increase access to care.
- Medicare and Medicaid will come to a crossroads as older Americans become more than a fifth of the population.
- As digital use increases, cybersecurity risk will continue to grow, as more than a third of providers report breaches each year.
- Insurance companies will improve their preventative care models with the aim of lowering long-term healthcare costs.
Opportunity 3: Changing Workforce Dynamics
- Hybrid staffing models, which rely heavily on locum providers, are becoming the norm as healthcare facilities address burnout, the ongoing provider shortage, and an aging population.
- Locum physicians and APPs in all specialties are needed to fill open roles in not only traditional healthcare settings but emerging ones such as retail clinics, urgent care centers, and insurance companies.
- New telehealth options can help physicians reach populations previously unable to access their specialties.
- Healthcare providers can expand their resumes with continuing education in telehealth, AI integration, and data analytics.
Locum APPs Improve Emergency Room Efficiency
December 17, 2024 | Wapiti Medical Staffing
Locum APPs, including nurse practitioners and physician assistants have the ability to diagnose and treat various conditions, prescribe medications, order tests, and perform procedures. The use of APPs, particularly in rural emergency rooms without resources to hire more full-time physicians, enables facilities to:
- Reduce patient wait times
- Enhance care
- Alleviate the workload of permanent staff
- Improve operational efficiency
- Meets their staffing budget
Locum Leaders
Funding Injection Supports Agency’s Growth and Technology
January 15, 2025 | Harvest Ascend
Harvest Ascend, part of a private equity investment firm, has invested in New Jersey–based Alumni Staffing. The agency, entering its 10th year of business, will use the funds to accelerate advancements in talent development and technology, enhance expertise in different specialties, and expand geographically.
Alumni’s management team, including founder and CEO John Pannucci, will continue in their roles and as significant shareholders. Three members of Harvest Ascend will join Alumni’s board of directors.
“We’ve been extremely impressed with Harvest Ascend’s knowledge of our industry and shared commitment to culture, client service, and growth,” said Pannucci. “We have identified several areas of opportunity within the industry where we believe this partnership will help us gain a competitive edge. We are confident that our partnership will accelerate our momentum, enabling us to further expand our market presence and outpace our competitors.”
“Locum tenens is a critical part of the U.S. healthcare market – hospitals have an urgent need to fill physician and advanced practice provider gaps to ensure they can continue to deliver high-quality patient care,” said Bobby Kelly, Partner and Co-Head of Harvest Ascend. “We believe Alumni’s commitment to operational excellence across candidate recruiting, client service, and credentialing is top-notch and are thrilled to partner with John and the Alumni team to further expand its attractive foundation.”
“John Pannucci and his team found an excellent growth partner in the team at Harvest Ascend Partners. We couldn’t be happier for both parties,” said Brett Pantazi of Nolan Investment Banking, who advised Alumni in this transaction. “The M&A market remains receptive to high-quality locums companies. Private equity firms continue to gravitate to the locums industry, and strategic buyers aim to add management talent, specialties, and scale. We expect buyer and investor appetite to increase as awareness of the locums grows.”
Locum Leaders Honored on Staffing 100 List
January 16, 2025 | Staffing Industry Analysts
SIA’s 14th annual Staffing 100 North America list has been released. Sponsored by Indeed, this list honors leaders’ vision, resilience, and adaptability. Recognized leaders in locum tenens staffing include:
- Melissa Byington, CEO, Syncz; Quest Locum Tenens
- Diego Alexander Davis, CFO, Access Healthcare
- Lina Gallotto, President, Barton Healthcare Staffing and Executive VP, Barton Associates
- Cary Grace, President and CEO, AMN Healthcare
- Liz Hale, CEO, MPLT Healthcare
- April Hansen, Group President, Workforce Solutions, Aya Healthcare
- Shane Jackson, President, Jackson Healthcare
- Natasha Lee, Cofounder and CEO, Floyd Lee Locums
- John A. Martins, President and CEO, Cross Country
- Erik Schumann, COO, Health Carousel
- Leslie Snavely, President and CEO, CHG Healthcare
Aya Healthcare Expands Relationship with AAPPR
January 6, 2025 | Aya Healthcare
Aya Healthcare is now a Strategic Partner with the Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment (AAPPR). Aya is the country’s largest healthcare talent software and staffing firm. AAPPR is an authority on physician recruitment and retention. Its Partner program aims to strengthen relationships between physician and provider recruitment professionals, healthcare facilities, and recruitment and retention technology companies. AAPPR will focus its support efforts on Aya’s key offerings, including its physician talent platform and vendor management system.
Epic Staffing Group Named to Los Angeles Fastest-Growing Company List
December 20, 2025 | Epic Staffing Group
For the fourth consecutive year, Epic Staffing Group has placed on the Los Angeles Business Journal’s list of Fastest-Growing Private Companies headquartered in the Los Angeles area. Joining the list at 94th place in 2021, Epic was at number 68 in 2024. That placement recognizes Epic’s 43% revenue growth between 2021 and 2023.
Hire Power
Free Webinar: Key Pivots for Your Hospital Services Strategy
February 13, 2025, 10–11 a.m. Pacific Time | Advisory Board
Members of the Advisory Board and Optum Advisory leadership teams will present the key trends, pressures, and paths forward in the healthcare industry. They will teach actionable steps, including how to tailor your management approach and strategies for sustainable growth.
Speakers are, from Advisory Board, Jocelyn Herrington, vice president and national spokesperson, and Vidal Seegobin, vice president of Provider Growth and Operations, and from Optum Advisory, Sasha Preble, vice president and partner. Register at the link.
Making the Rounds
The Primary Care Shortage Is Dire and Systemic, Requiring a Multipronged Solution
January 9, 2025 | CBS News
Primary care is facing a supply-and-demand crisis, which some say can be traced to a high-cost, low-respect crisis.
In 2024, nearly 10% of pediatric residency slots went unfulfilled, and more than 12% of family medicine residencies were vacant. The Association of American Medical Colleges predicts a shortage of 20,000–40,000 primary care doctors over the next decade.
Primary care is among the lowest-paying medical fields, offering at best half what physicians in other specialties can expect to make. Primary care practices also tend to have more patients and less money to hire help than do facilities focused on specialty work.
Change can start with medical schools, where there may be a negative stigma perpetuated by professors and students. U.S. News & World Report ranked 168 medical schools by the percentage of graduates practicing primary care six to eight years after graduation. Those that focused on recruiting and accepting first-generation college students and those from remote areas are seeing long-term success. For example, nearly 37% of graduates from both the University of Washington and the University of California-Davis remain in primary medicine years after graduation, thanks at least partly to those schools’ efforts to meet that need.
Locum providers are also part of the solution. Locum primary care physicians and APPs are crucial to filling the existing openings, often while receiving higher pay and more flexibility than in a permanent position.
Healthcare M&A Activity Remains Strong with Indicators for More Transactions
January 6, 2025 | Fierce Healthcare
According to a new report from PwC, health services merger-and-acquisitions deal volume continues to be 70% higher than before the pandemic, despite a 9% decline from 2023 to 2024. There were 1,373 health services deals in 2024 compared to 1,506 the year before, which is significantly higher than the 814 deals completed in 2020. Recent interest rate cuts and the pro-big-business stance of the new US administration means financial experts are expecting a rebound in 2025.
Additionally, it’s anticipated that we’re coming to the end of a historically long private equity hold period. Healthcare investors’ average hold period in 2024 was 5.5 years. The explosive growth in PE investment in healthcare—from shy of $42 billion in 2010 to nearly $120 billion just 10 years later—leaves many deals ripe for sale. Despite regulators scrutinizing private equity deals, the volume of deals is expected to grow.
While these trends look at healthcare investment broadly, we continue to see locum companies receiving investment and M&A interest.
Sponsored Content
Help Your Providers Earn the Job by Nailing the Interview
OnCall Solutions’ interviewing guide is helpful to physicians and APPs alike, and recruiters may want to share its tips with locum providers. It breaks down the different stages of interview and helpfully focuses on practical tips that apply to any situation.
Before the interview:
- Prepare key documents
- Research the employer
- Summarize your expertise, highlighting achievements
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During the interview:
- Showcase your flexibility and adaptability
- Clarify the scope of work and facility protocols
- Communicate clearly and concisely, demonstrating professionalism, confidence, and humility
After the interview:
- Send a thank-you email that expresses appreciation and reiterates your qualifications and interest
A job applicant is not the lead in every aspect of an interview, but with their recruiter’s support, they can ace the parts within their control.
4 Reasons to Choose an Oncology-Focused Agency
December 20, 2024 | Cancer CarePoint
Hospitals’ contract labor expenditure increased by more than 250% between 2019 and 2022. With so much at stake—in terms of both patient care and facility finances—it makes sense to work with an oncology-focused agency such as Cancer CarePoint to identify the best locum providers for your cancer departments.
- Just as your patients need a specialist, you can benefit from specialized staffing expertise. Your partners at Cancer CarePoint will help you find the exact oncology expert you need: nurse practitioner or physician, someone with a certificate in a particular subspecialty or one with research expertise.
- Cancer CarePoint maintains close, years-long relationships with talent. This helps you connect, fast, with the best provider.
- Cancer CarePoint offers personalized service. Each facility receives a dedicated point of contact, ensuring their unique culture, goals, and challenges are understood.
- Specialized staffing reduces hiring stress. Cancer CarePoint manages the whole recruitment process, from sourcing and screening to credentialing and onboarding.
Cancer CarePoint has been placing locum oncology physicians and APPs for 30 years, offering thoughtful solutions for the facility and the patient alike.
