Locum tenens involves a lot of paperwork, especially when it comes to obtaining state licenses and hospital privileges. But we’re here to help lighten the load.

Once your internal credentialing process is complete, you will be eligible to practice through Hayes Locums for up to two years. But the paperwork doesn’t end there––every facility has their own credentialing requirements, in addition to the paperwork involved in obtaining your state medical  license, if needed.

Here’s how Hayes makes the locum tenens licensing and privileging process easier:


Prefilling your Information on Hospital and State License Applications

Our Licensing and External Credentialing teams will reach out to both the applicable facility and the state medical board for the necessary applications. Once we have those in hand, we will prefill as much information we can, using the information you provided during your internal credentialing process.

To make things easier on you, we highlight any areas where we need you to provide additional information and signatures. Then, we send you all the necessary forms so you can review them, fill in any missing information, and sign and date them. 

Once we receive the forms from you, we will review them one last time before sending them on to their respective facility and state medical board.

The amount of paperwork involved in obtaining locus privileges and medical licenses can be daunting. But we take on as much of the work as we can, to make the process easier on you.

Gathering Necessary Documentation

Both medical boards and hospital facilities require a lot of backup documentation. But in many cases, we can obtain these documents directly from the source––e.g. reaching out to state licensing offices and hospitals for license and training verifications, and/or registrar offices for your medical school transcripts––which helps cut down the amount of paperwork you need to provide to us.

There are, of course, some records that our team cannot gather for you, e.g. medical information like immunization records, or legal records and court documents. To help expedite the process, we recommend keeping your documents up to date as much as possible, e.g. updating your CV after each assignment, ensuring you have up-to-date immunization records and life support cards, as well as copies of insurance certificates.

We will gather as much documentation on your behalf as we can; for everything else, we’ll let you know exactly what is needed and when.

Interfacing with State Medical Boards

The state licensing process timeframe can vary depending on the state; however, through established relationships with many of the medical boards across the country, the Hayes Locums licensing team exhausts all efforts to keep things moving as quickly as possible. 

We’ve built strong relationships with state medical boards over decades, which gives them the expertise to expedite the process, so we can get you where you need to go as soon as possible. 

We know exactly what is needed for each stage of the process, what to do to get things to move faster if need be, and how to navigate any obstacles that come up. In short: we deal with all the red tape, so you don’t have to.

In some cases, we can also help you apply for licensing through the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact (IMLC), which can significantly expedite the process. Through the IMLC, locums providers can complete the physician licensing process for any of the 34 currently participating states in a matter of days or weeks instead of months.

Whether it’s with the IMLC or the medical board, our team acts as your liaison, following the entire process on your behalf to ensure your locum tenens medical license gets issued as soon as possible.

Acting as a Liaison Between You and the Facility

It’s not just state medical boards that we interface with on your behalf; we also act as a liaison between you and the facility. Our team has built strong relationships with our client facilities, MSOs, and additional parties like registrar offices, which helps smooth the process of obtaining your locum privileges, and take some of the administrative burden off your hands.

In addition to prefilling your application, here are some of the things that we are equipped to handle on your behalf:

  • Work with Medical Staff Office (MSO) to gather any additional items or information they need, e.g. immunization records or life support cards;
  • Request case logs and procedure logs;
  • Call registrar offices and hospital affiliations to ensure we have the most accurate contact info for verifications;
  • Set up lab appointments if the hospital requires additional immunizations;
  • Reach out to peer references.

The length of time this process takes depends on the facility’s process, and the kind of privileges you’re applying for: emergency, temporary, or full privileges. Emergency and temporary privileges take less time, and can be completed in about two weeks, while full privileges can take anywhere from 90-120 days, depending on the facility. In some cases, a hospital may grant you emergency privileges, and then continue the full privileging process once you’ve already started work at the facility.

As with every side of Hayes Locums, the success of our process comes down to relationship building. 

We handle the communication between you and the facility, filtering out all the nitty gritty so we can minimize your stress and get you to work quicker.

Obtaining your locum tenens medical license and hospital privileges requires a lot of logistical work. Luckily, our Licensing and Credentialing Teams have the expertise and relationships to handle those logistics on your behalf, so you can focus on what you do best: helping patients. 

Introducing the Hayes Handbook: Your Locum Tenens Guide

See how our team supports you through every stage of the locum tenens process. Start reading.