It’s no secret that the healthcare industry is in the midst of a critical shortage of medical professionals. More and more facilities are struggling to cover specialty care—especially in rural areas, where medical specialists can be hard to attract and retain. Here’s how locum tenens can help facilities bridge staffing gaps and expand patient care in underserved communities.
The Current Specialty Coverage Landscape
While the physician shortage is impacting every specialty, including primary care and emergency medicine, the shortage of surgeons and non-primary care specialists is exponential. By 2034, the Association of American Medical Colleges projects that the shortage range among non-primary care specialties could exceed 75K physicians.
| SPECIALTY AREA | SHORTAGE RANGE |
| Primary Care e.g. family medicine, general pediatrics, geriatric medicine | Between 17,800 and 48,000 Physicians |
| Non-primary Care Specialties | Between 21,100 and 77,100 Physicians |
| Surgical Specialties e.g. general surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedic surgery | Between 15,800 and 30,200 Physicians |
| Medical Specialties e.g. cardiology, oncology, infectious diseases, pulmonology) | Between 3,800 and 13,400 physicians |
| Other Specialties e.g. anesthesiology, neurology, emergency medicine, addiction medicine | Between 10,300 and 35,600 physicians |
The shortage is compounded by the fact that there is an even higher demand for specialty care as the patient population ages.
The physician shortage, combined with the increased need for specialty care, creates major challenges for facilities trying to maintain consistent quality coverage for their patients. That’s especially true in rural areas, where specialty care can already be harder to find.
The Impact on Patient Care
As providers become less available, patients—especially those in underserved communities—face greater barriers to accessing the healthcare that they need.
Gaps in specialist coverage can create ripple effects across the healthcare continuum. Patients in areas that already suffer from lack of access to care can be even further compounded by the physician shortage, due to factors like:
- Travel and travel-related costs: As specialty physicians become scarcer, patients are forced to travel farther to seek out specialty care. Some may opt not to seek care at all due to the inconvenience and financial burden of travel.
- Increased wait times for critical specialty appointments. Longer wait times for specialty care can mean that patients have to wait for critical services like cancer screenings, which can then negatively impact their health outcomes.
- Lack of preventative care: Limited access to specialty care may cause patients to delay screenings and routine check-ups for chronic conditions.
Connecting Specialists to Communities
In rural communities, attracting and retaining permanent specialists can be especially challenging. More often, facilities are adapting forward-thinking strategies to tackle appropriate coverage for staffing gaps in certain medical specialties.
One way facilities are bridging staffing gaps is through locum tenens. Locums can provide quality coverage to facilities and access to specialized care in underserved communities. They can also help prevent physician burnout and bring some relief to your permanent staff.
While locums can be a solution for your hard-to-fill positions, it’s important to note that successful locum placements start with building strong relationships with both providers and staffing agencies. When covering critical staffing gaps, you want confidence that your patients are in good hands. That’s why it’s so important to partner with companies that focus on truly understanding your unique needs to provide quality care.
Quality care is built on trust–not just matching skill sets and schedules. We believe in building lasting relationships with our facility partners and our physicians. We want to get to know your hospital’s culture so we can find a provider who is a good fit for your community. We know taking the time to develop a deep understanding of each facility’s needs allows us to find the right match– not just someone to fill a gap. With a trusted locums partner, you can navigate staffing gaps while ensuring that your patients can still access quality specialty care.
Overcoming the challenges presented by the specialty coverage shortage requires working together across the healthcare spectrum.
