You’ve decided locum tenens work is right for you, right now. But have you really thought about how to find the right partner? What would make a company a good fit for you and your needs? It’s all about finding the right opportunity that fits you, after all. 

There are three qualities to consider when seeking a locum tenens partner:

1) Knowledge is power

Your ideal locum tenens partner is going to make finding the best match for you their top goal. There must be full transparency and open communication so both you and the healthcare facility can make the right choice.

Make it a priority to:

  • Work with someone with personal, multi-level relationships within a hospital or healthcare system and who has solid knowledge of each hospital and healthcare system.
  • Align with a locum tenens partner with specialty-specific industry knowledge and an understanding of the culture at each facility.
  • Find a true locum tenens partner who helps providers understand an insider’s take on the ins and outs and idiosyncrasies of where you’re about to work.

Without an intimate understanding of the institution, it will not be as seamless to potentially find the right job for the right provider. A strong locums partner has frontline consultants. Their job is to get to know you as well as the hospitals and health systems where you will be practicing medicine. Some consultants might know there’s a job opening at a certain hospital. But if their involvement and interaction with that facility is limited, where does that leave you? That’s why it’s imperative to work with consultants who have built a true, frontline relationship with the hospital or healthcare system where you will potentially be working. We have teams dedicated to help you get credentialed with Hayes Locums and with each hospital or health system. In addition, we can help you obtain state licenses, if necessary.

“A strong locums partner has frontline consultants. Their job is to get to know you as well as the hospitals and health systems where you will be practicing medicine.”

2) One-stop shop

You want to be placed somewhere that allows you to perform to your full potential. 

Finding a locums partner with an internal/external credentialing team and a licensing team is key to a positive experience. The National Association of Locum Tenens Organizations (NALTO) suggests you ask the following: Does the company offer services to ensure that all details are taken care of when you arrive to work (i.e., licensure, credentialing, hospital privileges, proper travel and housing arrangements)? It’s advantageous to have a locums team working on your behalf at the consultant level and beyond. Your locum tenens partner should also have frontline recruiting and credentialing teams with established relationships with hospital credentialing and with state licensing boards.

Rigorous credentialing is a process:

  • You want to trust that your locums partner understands you, your skills and exactly where your strengths lie.
  • You want the entire process from the very start to be managed with care and consideration by one team under one roof.
  • When a locums company outsources their credentialing, the ownership of the process is not in house.

Click here for more details on how once your information is fully vetted, our in-house credentialing department will assist you with hospital privileging paperwork.

The goal of your locums partner is that you’re going to have a positive locums experience throughout the process.

3) Quality coverage

Finally, when looking for a reliable locums partner, you will want to work with a consultant who understands that locums is helping to solve a growing problem in healthcare: quality coverage. The physician shortage is growing. As the demand for physicians increases across several specialties, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) conducted a 2019 study on physician supply and demand. There will be a shortage of between 21,100 and 55,200 primary care physicians by 2032. The projected shortage for specialists is between 24,800 and 65,800, the study reports. All types of facilities, including major academic institutions, urban medical centers and rural hospitals work with locum tenens organizations to ensure that quality care/quality coverage is a viable option for their patients.

Locums work helps providers to:

  • Find the right work opportunity, at the right time, and at the right facility.
  • Try a different working environment.
  • Experience travel to other parts of the country.
  • Have more flexibility.
  • Take back control of your family-work-life balance.
  • Gain deep gratification in helping patients and communities have access to specialized care they otherwise couldn’t experience or have been waiting for.

No matter your reason for choosing the locums path, now could be the time to pursue a locums journey. And when you choose to start that journey — whether early in your career, as a stopgap, mid-career, or as you near the last phase of your career — be certain you work with a locums partner that can check off all these boxes for you.