The NALTO News Network 
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: Success in locum tenens staffing means staying nimble, according to two NALTO board members who recommend leaning into relationships, tracking shifting provider trends, and staying ready for the next curveball. See what else they had to say in a recent interview.
Light on Your Feet: NALTO Leaders Share Key Strategies for Success
March 5, 2025 | NALTO
Staying nimble is the key to thriving in the ever-changing locum tenens world. In a recent conversation, two NALTO leaders shared their ideas on how flourishing agencies are succeeding.
Jarin Dana, NALTO President and Chief Financial Officer of Fusion Healthcare Staffing, and Michelle Bousquet, NALTO Marketing Committee Chair and Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness at Floyd Lee Locums, offered three ideas to help you prepare for anything.
Maintain strong relationships. Bousquet said that word-of-mouth referrals remain a key driver, not despite the growing use of technology in staffing but because of it. While automation can be a great efficiency tool, only personal connections foster trust, support positive experiences, and ultimately lead to referrals. Practice active listening with your clients and providers, focus on what makes your brand unique, and seek peer recognition, all of which speak to human connection.
Pay attention to emerging audiences. Though locum tenens appeals to physicians and APPs at all career stages, as workforce expectations evolve and outside influences change, interest levels may vary. Bousquet and Dana are seeing increasing numbers of early-career physicians and those nearing retirement. New providers like that locum work allows them to explore options before they commit to a facility or geographic location. Late-career physicians appreciate the flexibility that locum tenens offers as they ease into retirement. You tap into that interest by promoting those elements and actively seeking those providers.
Prepare for the unexpected. COVID-19 amplified industry challenges and shifted perceptions of temporary staffing. Staying current with needs and trends, technology, and hiring best practices can help agencies have a strong presence no matter the next surprise.
La Vida Locum
Before Day 1: Preparing Locums to Thrive
February 13, 2025 | ProLocums
Set your new locum physicians and APPs up for success by taking the time to help them understand what it’s like to work locum, what they want out of this work, and how they can best prepare both to apply for an assignment and to hit the ground running once contracted. Key topics include:
Understand the locum lifestyle.
- Share how each job is unique, from distinct scheduling needs to different workgroups and EHRs.
- Discuss how the physician or APP can best leverage their knowledge, experience, and skills, and identify gaps.
- Offer to connect them with a current locum provider for firsthand knowledge sharing.
Define their ideal locum job. Discuss their needs around:
- Schedule
- Travel
- Type of facility
- Compensation
Develop resumes that speak to the types of assignments they seek. Highlight successes that demonstrate:
- Flexibility and adaptability
- Comfort with technology
Prepare for orientation and the first day in the new role.
- Create lists of knowns, questions, and to-do reminders.
Those already working locum can also benefit from a refresher on most matters, such as regularly reevaluating their goals, revising their resumes, and updating their first-day checklists.
Essential Considerations for Insurance Coverage and Supporting Locum Providers’ Documentation Practices
February 17, 2025 | KevinMD.com
When presenting your agency’s insurance options for your locum providers, share key considerations about types of coverage:
Which type of coverage does your agency offer?
- Occurrence coverage protects against claims related to events during the policy period, even if the claim is filed after the coverage period.
- Claims-made coverage applies only to incidents and claims within the policy period.
If you offer claims-made coverage, do you also provide tail and nose coverage?
- Tail extends the coverage to claims filed after the primary policy has ended.
- Nose protects against claims made before the policy began.
Additionally, support your locums in maintaining strong documentation and communication practices to help ensure patient safety, minimize potential risk, and defend in the case of a malpractice claim:
- Follow SOAP note standards.
- Be as detailed as possible in assessment and treatment documentation.
- Engage early and clearly with patients.
Locum Leaders
14 Agencies Top 2025 Best Staffing Firms to Work For
March 19, 2025 | Staffing Industry Analysts
Staffing Industry Analysts’ (SIA)Best Staffing Firms to Work For list celebrates staffing firms that deliver consistently high-quality service by empowering and investing in their employees, driving engagement and satisfaction in the workplace, and creating value for their employees. This year, 14 of the winners were locum agencies. SIA surveys employees on key engagement categories such as teamwork, trust in senior leaders, and compensation and benefits to determine which agencies make the list.
This year’s agency winners included:
10–20 Employees
- Austin Major Group
- Era Locums
21–50 Employees
- Alumni Healthcare Staffing
- Locums Choice
- MUVE Healthcare
51–200 Employees
- Cell Staff
- Floyd Lee Locums
- Fusion Healthcare Staffing
- Howard-Sloan Search
- Integrity Locums
- VeloSource
201–500 Employees
- Jackson and Coker Locum Tenens
- Medicus Healthcare Solutions
501+ Employees
- Epic Staffing Group
NALTO Co-creator to Retire
March 11, 2025 | VeloSource
John S. Daniel, who cofounded NALTO and has been a driving force in advancing healthcare staffing standards and ethics, is retiring. Most recently, he was executive vice president of VeloSource. Daniel began his career in physician recruiting in the late 1980s, cofounding Daniel & Yeager and then Team Health. Over multiple terms on NALTO’s board of directors, Daniel held several leadership roles, including president, and he spearheaded the Ethics Committee. He also served as president of the National Association of Physician Recruiters.
Agency CEO Honored with Lifetime Corporate Citizenship Award
February 21, 2025 | Jackson Healthcare
Rick Jackson, founder and CEO of Jackson Healthcare, was awarded the 2025 Leaders in Corporate Citizenship “Ann Cramer Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. This honor, the highest given out by the Chronicle’s corporate citizenship program, recognizes those who excel at integrating community care into their business strategies.
Founded 25 years ago, Georgia-based Jackson Healthcare aims to improve patient care delivery and serves more than 20 million people annually in the US and worldwide. Jackson’s goBeyondProfit initiative mentors thousands of other companies to be exceptional corporate citizens.
Jackson is a foster care and adoption advocate outside his corporate work. He founded Fostering Success Act, Inc., which supports young people aging out of the foster care system. In 2024, the organization granted $4 million in financial support to those pursuing postsecondary education. He also serves as cofounder and chair of FaithBridge Foster Care, Georgia’s largest private child-placing agency. Since 2009, the organization has facilitated over 1,000 family reunifications and over 350 adoptions. Jackson’s commitment to young people stems partly from his upbringing in the Georgia foster care system.
Physician Career Platform Acquired by Agency
February 27, 2025 | CHG Healthcare
CHG Healthcare has acquired CareerMD, a career management platform for physicians. CareerMD launched in 1996 and now hosts more than 100 in-person career fairs, virtual career fairs in more than 36 specialties, a job board, and other resources to help physicians in their career searches, including a blog and mentor network. CareerMD will continue to operate as a standalone company.
All Star EVP Anthony Szydlowski Joins NALTO Board, Strengthening Industry Ties
March 25, 2025 | All Star Healthcare Solutions
All Star Healthcare Solutions announced that Anthony Szydlowski, the company’s executive vice president of sales, has been elected to the NALTO board of directors. Szydlowski brings nearly two decades of staffing experience to the role, having helped grow All Star’s sales team and client base while championing its relationship-based service model.
In his new position, he’ll support NALTO’s mission to uphold ethical standards and best practices in the locum tenens industry. All Star leadership praised the appointment, noting that Szydlowski’s expertise and values align with NALTO’s goal of promoting excellence across the field.
His election reinforces All Star’s growing influence within the locum tenens space and reflects the company’s continued commitment to industry leadership and advocacy.
Hire Power
TalentTrack Free Virtual Conference for Healthcare Staffing Professionals
June 12, 2025, noon–4 p.m. ET | TalentTrack
This summer, industry leaders will share unfiltered insights, foster discussions, and provide valuable guidance at TalentTrack, TrackFive’s first virtual conference for healthcare staffing professionals. Fourteen agency experts will present on Q&A panels, including:
- What’s Now & What’s Next in Travel Healthcare
- Agency’s Survival Guide to a Changing Market
- Posts to Placements: Tips for Social Media Recruiting
- Job Board Confessional: What We Wish Clients Knew
- Content That Clicks, Influencers That Convert
These idea-sharing opportunities will help agency recruiters at any stage of their career excel in this shifting market. Registration is free, and space is limited.
Key Travel Manager Strategies for Success
February 21, 2025 | Christopherson
Travel is part of most locum assignments, and top-of-their-game travel managers can make a world of difference for providers. As you think about how your agency manages travel, the following are key characteristics of a strong manager and program.
Put Your Best Self Forward
- Thrive in a crisis, able to handle minor and major disruptions
- Lead with empathy, focused not just on policy but on individualized needs and experience
- Build partnerships, not just budgets, with colleagues across the travel industry
Build a Solid Travel Program Strategy
- Define clear goals.
- Consider all stakeholders and align priorities.
- Set clear, high-impact metrics (e.g., satisfaction, compliance, cost).
Engage Locums
- Communicate regularly and via multiple methods (e.g., email and something more real-time, like text or Slack).
- Collect and act upon feedback.
- Leverage your most frequent travelers to help you drive engagement and improvements.
Connect Facilities with Tech-Savvy Locums for a Smarter, More Efficient Healthcare Workforce
February 5, 2025 | Medix
Technology is an increasingly significant portion of a physician’s workday, yet not every physician has technological expertise. Help facilities clarify the skills they need in their physicians and APPs so that you can connect them to appropriately qualified locums. You can also help your locums gain this knowledge and experience, making them more marketable for new assignments.
Ask your client these key questions:
- What technologies do your physicians need to be proficient in?
- What blend of medical expertise, technological familiarity, and cultural alignment do you need from your physicians?
Help your locums update their resume to highlight experience, skills, and successes with different systems, platforms, and regulations. Brainstorm ways to boost their capabilities in different tech-related matters, particularly those most common among your facilities.
Benchmarking Excellence: Key Practices for Agency Growth and Success
February 6, 2025 | Access Capital
Benchmarking excellence helps agencies grow and succeed. Best practices include the following:
- Define, prioritize, collect, and analyze real-time key performance indicators.
- Integrate data sources, centralizing everything from customer relationship management to payroll systems.
- Monitor financial, operational, and satisfaction metrics through user-friendly dashboards—with views by region, department, and recruiter—and benchmark performance against industry averages, historical data, and strategic goals.
Data analytics can guide your agency toward smarter decisions, sustainable growth, and success in the competitive staffing market.
Making the Rounds
Telemedicine: Revolutionizing Healthcare Access, Cost, and Efficiency
February 9, 2025 | Forbes
No longer an outlier in the healthcare toolbox, telemedicine has fundamentally and permanently shifted how care is delivered, especially to underserved rural populations.
Improved access
Millions in rural, geographically remote, and other underserved areas cannot easily and quickly access a medical facility. With telemedicine, healthcare comes to them.
Reduced cost
With telemedicine, patient expenses decrease in incremental ways—no more need for gas to get to an appointment or childcare during it, as well as those with more significant price tags and more profound ramifications. For example, they may not have to take as much or any time off work; they may seek more preventative care and stay on top of chronic disease management. Telemedicine also lowers facility and industry costs by reducing the effects of no-shows and streamlining workloads.
Increased efficiency
Digital platforms automate many administrative tasks. This allows providers to focus on patient care.
This optimism creates opportunities for locum agencies to expand rural connections, encouraging a wider selection of locum providers to consider telemedicine rural assignments and make a significant difference for patients who may otherwise have limited access to physicians of their specialties.
Physician Perspectives on AI: Growing Adoption and Key Factors for Successful Integration
February 13, 2025 | Healthcare IT News
According to AMA surveys, physicians’ opinions on AI changed and deepened between August 2023 and November 2024.
Researchers point to two sets of findings that indicate physicians are at a crossroads with their acceptance of and trust in AI: In 2023, 65% said they believed it was advantageous to use AI; in 2024, that number had increased marginally to 68%. At the same time, in 2023, 38% said they used AI tools in their practice; in 2024, that number had increased significantly to 66%.
Physicians overwhelmingly agreed on what’s needed for successful AI adoption, with nearly 90% affirming each of the following:
- Designated feedback channel
- Data privacy assurances
- EHR integration
- Physicians should not be liable for AI model errors
- Medical liability coverage
Physicians are balancing optimism and caution as AI evolves in healthcare. The increased adoption of AI tools demonstrates growing confidence in their potential, at least by healthcare leadership. At the same time, the emphasis on key conditions for success highlights the need for careful integration that involves physician input.
States Simplify Licensing for International Physicians
March 3, 2025 | NPR
To address physician shortages, a growing number of states have changed licensure training requirements for doctors who studied in other countries. Previously, every state required physicians who completed a residency abroad to repeat that training to obtain a US medical license. Now, nine states—Florida, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin—have removed that requirement for qualifying internationally trained physicians. Twelve additional states are considering this change.
Common requirements for physicians interested in this new path include working as a physician for several years after graduating from a medical school and a residency program comparable to those in the US. Those allowed to opt out of a US residency program must still do things like pass the exam that all physicians take to become licensed in the US and hold malpractice insurance; depending on the state, they may also have to find a supervising physician.
More than a quarter of physicians practicing in the US were born outside the country. Many state bills to ease residency requirements have been based on findings from the Cicero Institute, a conservative think tank.
Physicians on Technology: Key Insights from Sermo’s Global Barometer Study
March 7, 2025 | Medical Economics
Sermo’s Barometer Study tracks responses from nearly 95,000 physicians around the world. Key findings on physicians and technology from its most recent study include:
- More than 80% say technical proficiency is as important as clinical expertise.
- They report spending around 30 work and 20 monthly personal hours learning job-related technology.
- Nearly two-thirds think they’re not compensated enough for this work.
- There’s a jump in responses around where they see AI playing a significant role soon: More than 60% recognize AI’s power in diagnostics; genomics in personalized medicine came in at around 40%.
- No technology challenge earned a majority of responses, though just under half identified redundant compliance documentation tools and complex EHR systems as pain points. Nearly as many who said they were frustrated by EHR technology said they wished their medical school had better prepared them for using that tool.
Sponsored Content
Specialized Oncology Staffing: How Locum Tenens Fills Niche Gaps
March 7, 2025 | Cancer CarePoint
As cancer rates rise and treatment technologies become more complex, oncology departments are struggling to staff up, especially with specialists like radiation therapists, dosimetrists, and medical physicists. That’s where locum tenens steps in. Facilities are using locum providers not just to plug scheduling holes but also to bring in niche expertise that’s difficult to source permanently.
One staffing exec noted a 30% increase in oncology-related locum placements between 2021 and 2023, with demand surging particularly in rural and community-based cancer centers. These placements help maintain treatment continuity when key personnel are out, prevent long patient backlogs, and offer overburdened staff a breather, which is critical in high-burnout environments.
Locum assignments in oncology can also act as a trial run for full-time hires. While costs can be higher, hospitals say the investment pays off when it helps them avoid treatment delays and maintain quality metrics.
