A temporary mindset
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: In a recent story, Medscape discusses the psychiatrist shortage and notes that burnout among psychiatrists of all ages remains a challenge. At the best of times, psychiatry is demanding. Locum psychiatrists, at any stage of their careers, can make a big difference by filling coverage gaps, especially in rural and other underserved areas, and helping to reduce the workload of those in permanent positions.
Locum Psychiatrists Key to Addressing Mental Health Crisis Amid Physician Shortage
February 3, 2025 | Medscape
Locum tenens psychiatrists have a significant opportunity to fill mental health needs nationwide as patient demand rises while physician supply dwindles. Before the pandemic, one in five Americans met the criteria for a mental health condition; now, as many as one in three may.
Yet the number of psychiatrists treating adults is expected to decrease another 20% over the next five years. With the flexibility that locum assignments offer, psychiatrists can continue to meet their personal and professional goals while helping facilities provide quality patient care.
Psychiatric residency programs have grown from fewer than 200 in 2003 to over 2,000 in 2023, and more medical students are matching into psychiatry. However, the average age of the psychiatrist pool is 55. Many will retire even as some begin their careers. Psychiatrists considering retirement may be open to locum work, giving them control over their schedule and practice location. As locum providers, they can:
- Work fewer hours than they do in a permanent role while having a substantial impact on patient access to care
- Relocate to their planned retirement spot and accept assignments there and via telehealth
Burnout among psychiatrists of all ages also remains a challenge. At the best of times, psychiatry is demanding. Locum psychiatrists, at any stage of their careers, can make a big difference by filling coverage gaps, especially in rural and other underserved areas, and helping to reduce the workload of those in permanent positions.
La Vida Locum
Locum APPs and Therapists Vital in Addressing School Healthcare Shortage
January 3, 2025 | MDSpots.com
The provider shortage in school healthcare and growing student need means that more locum APPs and therapists (SLP, OT, and PT primarily) may find opportunities with on-campus assignments, particularly in rural and underserved areas.
Today’s schools are facing several challenges related to on-site healthcare access:
- Rising diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, and mental health challenges
- Healthcare workforce attrition due to burnout and other factors
- Limited talent pipeline, as the full-time compensation for school-based healthcare providers, may not match the education and training those roles require
- Other school-based challenges that exacerbate overall well-being
Locum APPs and therapists can address some of those needs through in-person and virtual assignments.
Rural Hospitals in Crisis: 200 Closed, 700 More at Risk—Locums Help Cut Costs
January 2025 | Center for Healthcare Quality & Payment Reform
Since the early 2000s, almost 200 rural hospitals have closed. Another 700, one-third of rural healthcare services, are at risk of shutting their doors, with 300 in immediate danger. Nowhere in the country is immune—in most states, a quarter of the rural hospitals are on that list; in 11 states, more than half are.
Since many locums are willing to work in remote locations for at least a short term, agencies can discuss meaningful locum opportunities with their clients. For example, many rural hospitals have a fluctuating patient volume based on seasonal labor, such as harvest and tourism. With permanent staff only, the cost of running an emergency room remains the same even during slow times. Rural hospitals can lower their yearly staffing expenses by filling some roles with locum physicians and APPs who work during peak patient load times.
Locum Leaders
Locum Agencies Rated Among Staffing’s Best
February 4, 2025 | GlobeNewswire
ClearlyRated’s 2025 Best of Staffing Award is only the client- and employee-driven staffing award in the US and Canada, and several locum agencies have once again earned high marks. The following obtained at least a 50% Net Promoter Score for service, and none are newcomers to the list, demonstrating lasting attention to quality:
- Accountable Healthcare
- All Star Healthcare Solutions
- Aya Healthcare
- Caliber Healthcare Solutions
- Consilium Staffing
- Cross Country Locums
- Curative
- Interim Physicians
- Jackson and Coker
- LocumTenens.com
- Medicus Healthcare Solutions
- Medstaff National Medical Staffing
- MPLT Healthcare
- VISTA Staffing Solutions
- Wilderness Medical Staffing
According to ClearlyRated, clients of these winning agencies are 50% more likely to report complete satisfaction than the industry average, and locums placed by these agencies experience 60% more satisfaction.
Agency Celebrates 30 Years in Locum Staffing
January 30, 2025 | LocumTenens.com
In honor of its milestone 30th anniversary, LocumTenens.com shares 30 interesting facts about the company. Here are six (because a more standard five just wouldn’t be enough!):
- They place locums in more than 60 specialties, drawing from a pool of nearly 700,000 physicians and APPs, covering approximately 1 million shifts annually.
- They encourage their associates to give back to the community through their At Your Service program and back up those individual efforts with company-level donations. In 2024, they will focus on organizations that improve healthcare access and work with at-risk youth and families.
- The Jackson Healthcare campus, where LocumTenens.com is headquartered, was modeled after the Colosseum in Rome.
- Their locums fill some of the most pressing medical gaps, such as in maternal care “deserts.” LocumTenens.com OB/GYNs and APPs deliver approximately 5,000 babies per year.
- They’ve built more than 2,000 telehealth programs in partnership with their clients.
- More than 150 of their 800 associates have been with the company for at least 10 years, with a dozen working there for more than 20 years.
Hire Power
Encouraging Continued Education for Anesthesiologists in Pain Management
January 28, 2025 | News Medical
Data indicates substantial declines in pain medicine training applicants, suggesting that today’s anesthesiology trainees prefer general work over sub-specialization. Agencies working with anesthesiologists and CRNAs may want to encourage these locums to seek continued education and certification in topics such as:
- Nerve agents
- Anti-inflammatory agents
- Muscle relaxants
- Accurate dosages to suppress pain without risk of dependency
Because positions that require specialized pain medicine training are likely more difficult to fill, facilities may turn to locums. By fostering expertise in these areas, agencies can help locums maintain a competitive edge and ensure they are well-equipped to provide comprehensive care while navigating the evolving landscape of pain medicine.
Tech-Savvy Locums in High Demand: How Agencies Can Prepare Locums
January 31, 2025 | MASC Medical
Rapid technology integration in healthcare means locum physicians and APPs with expertise will be more employable. Agencies can encourage their locum providers to:
- Pursue continuing education and certification in AI, robotics, and data security
- Enhance their resumes with what they’ve learned on assignment about different EHR systems
- Strengthen their communication skills for remote consultations
- Improve their proficiency with virtual care platforms
They can also encourage telehealth options. Before the pandemic, telehealth visits accounted for less than half a percent of all medical appointments. After, they’re around 25%. Locum tenens providers can become licensed in multiple states and, with telemedicine, “travel” even more efficiently.
Maximizing the Locum Tenens Experience: Key Considerations for Success and Balance
January/February 2025 | Emergency Medicine News
Agencies are practiced in dazzling prospective locums with the many benefits of this career: making a big difference in patient lives, competitive compensation, and exploration and adventure, to name a few. It’s just as important to guide them in the nuances surrounding those benefits so they can make the most of those opportunities:
- Home life must be paramount. If the locums provider has a partner, children, pets, or a close community, they should thoughtfully and carefully assess being away from them and regularly reassess. Locum work allows for substantial breaks, but a lot of life happens during the 24/7 time spent away on assignments. Agencies can help locum providers make plans with concrete actions to keep them connected to home even when they’re away.
- Encourage them to seek financial assistance. The locum lifestyle can mean irregularly spaced paychecks of different amounts, and it can help to have help with budgeting. Finding a tax professional who understands the nuances of working locums is also a good idea.
- Help them understand the facility’s work culture before the assignment is accepted. Preparation and reasonable expectations can help providers succeed from day one. Agency support to ensure a good fit between a provider and each assignment means the experiences are more likely to be positive.
By helping providers carefully consider these aspects, agencies continue to delight their clients and help their locums make the most of their assignments while maintaining a healthy personal life.
Making the Rounds
APPs Top Best Jobs in Healthcare
January 14, 2025 | Advisory Board
U.S. News & World Report has released its top jobs lists for 2025. NP, PA, and CRNA are all in the top five of the best healthcare jobs and the best jobs that pay at least $100,000 annually. Of extra note, NP ranked number one in U.S. News’ 100 Best Jobs out of all industries, and PA ranked number three.
U.S. News used data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to compile these lists, identifying jobs with the most actual and projected openings between 2023 and 2033. Then, it ranked those in terms of best pay, job safety and stability, work-life balance, and meeting industry-specific requirements.
Locum PAs Fill New Gaps Over the Coming Years
January 22, 2025 | Caliber Healthcare Solutions
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected employment for PAs will grow by nearly 30% over the decade ending 2032, significantly faster than the average for all occupations. There are several reasons for this:
- The ongoing physician shortage pushes facilities to reevaluate the experience and skills needed for each job opening.
- Changes in policy and state legislation allow PAs to practice more autonomously.
- PAs are relatively cost-effective compared to physicians.
- There is growth in specialization as PAs expand from mostly primary care to orthopedics, emergency medicine, general surgery, cardiology, and others.
With the growing work scope and patient needs, many hospitals, outpatient clinics, and patient-centered medical homes, especially those in rural and other underserved areas, can benefit from working with locum PAs. Telehealth also allows locum PAs to have a lasting impact on even more patients.
Physicians and AI: A Division of Labor
February 2, 2025 | New York Times
Though the expansion of technology in healthcare has been rapid and pervasive across departments and roles, AI remains a medical tool, not a physician replacement. Study results support this: In one case, when AI replaced the physician in direct communication with the patient, AI’s diagnostic accuracy sunk from over 80% to just over 60%. However, physicians who are too cautious about AI’s limitations and undervaluing AI’s capabilities may inadvertently cause inefficiencies and even errors. For example, in another study of human-AI collaboration, AI analyzing data on its own achieved more than 90% diagnostic accuracy; when physicians inserted their judgment too early in the analysis process, there was 76% accuracy. This leads researchers to suggest a clear division of labor is best when assigning responsibilities to humans and tech.
Instead of physicians and AI working on the same tasks in the same cases, each could be assigned independent work most aligned with their unique abilities or expertise. For example:
- A physician opens a case with a patient interview and physical examination.
- AI applies pattern recognition to analyze the gathered information and present possible diagnoses.
- The physician then uses their clinical judgment and knowledge of the patient to prepare a treatment plan.
In another situation, AI handles routine or preventative actions such as regular chest X-rays and low-risk mammograms. Physicians have more space to work on complex or atypical conditions. This might be of extra use in underserved areas where AI could perform screenings and triage while limited human resources focus on more serious matters.
