What should you look for in a locum agency? Making matches is only the beginning. The best locum tenens agency should be a trusted partner at every stage of the process, for both providers and facilities.
Here’s what you should look for in a locums partner:
1. A Reputation for Reliability
The most important thing when choosing a locum tenens agency to partner with is making sure they have a reputation for reliability.
For a provider entering a new environment, they have to know that their locums agency has their best interests in mind. And for facilities, they have to know that they can trust their locum physician, because they’re putting the lives of their patients into that physician’s hands.
A good locums partner recognizes that responsibility on both sides, and takes it seriously by making sure they’re setting both the provider and the facility up for success, and being available at every stage to support both parties.
At Hayes Locums, our dedication to quality service is at the foundation of everything we do. Because we know that top-notch service attracts top-notch providers, and when you treat people well, they tend to keep coming back.
2. Top-Notch Credentialing and Licensing Support
When hospitals hire a locum physician, they are putting the lives of their patients into that physician’s hands. That’s why it’s so important for facilities to have absolute faith in the credentialing process of their locum tenens agencies.
At Hayes Locums, we take the credentialing process seriously, and it’s led by experts in the space. That’s why our clients trust our process: because if a provider makes it through Hayes credentialing process, 99% of the time they’re going to make it through the hospital’s credentialing process as well.
By putting so many resources into our credentialing process and doing our best to make sure that every provider is a good fit before we send them to the hospital, we ensure that we’re not wasting their time––or the provider’s––by trying to force a match that’s not the right fit for both.
Our attention to detail also alleviates a lot of the stress for providers. By having such a thorough upfront credentialing process, we can relieve them of the burden of paperwork by prefilling their hospital and licensing applications from the information we have on file. And because we’ve established great working relationships with medical boards in all 50 states, we can help providers navigate the nuances around the licensing process.
3. Transparent Communication
In locums, as in life, communication is everything. A good locums partner will always have a direct line of communication open with their providers and facilities, because good communication can smooth the process for both parties by ensuring that everyone is on the same page from the very first day.
Despite being the sixth largest locums agency in the country, at Hayes Locums, we still operate like a boutique firm. Our consultants don’t just hand their providers off to another team once they’re in the system. They stay in contact with their providers throughout the entire process, to ensure that providers always have a direct line of support, even in the middle of the night.
But good communication doesn’t just mean availability. It also means being transparent with both providers and facilities about what they can expect. We want to make sure that each provider knows what they’re walking into when they start a new assignment, and each facility knows what they’re getting, so there are no surprises on either side.
Our dedication to good communication goes beyond just the placement process. In fact, our clients are so comfortable with our team that they don’t just call us for placements: they also call us for advice.
And that goes for our providers too––they know their consultants are there not only to offer logistical and technical support, but emotional support as well. If they’re having issues with their travel over a holiday, for instance, they know their consultant will be there to help them rebook. If they just got a shift at midnight and had a rough day, they know their consultant will pick up the phone if they need to debrief.
4. Personalized Placement & Quality Matches
At the end of the day, most providers and facilities want the same thing: to find a great match. That’s what your locums agency is there to facilitate.
When Hayes Locums first started, we positioned ourselves as the special forces of locum tenens: when we started out, we intentionally sought out the positions that are hardest to fill, and we put our all into finding the right match for those facilities. Now, over a decade later, we put that same energy into creating every single match.
Our focus at every stage is on quality: high quality providers, high quality clients, and high quality relationships.
The focus on quality relationships is part of what’s made us successful at creating such good matches. When our consultants are first engaging with a potential provider, they start by learning what that provider is looking for: the kind of hospital environment they’re most comfortable working in, what procedures they are willing and are not willing to perform, what locations and shifts they’re interested in working, etc. When we take the time to understand all of those things on the front end, we can narrow our search to jobs that are uniquely suited to fit their skills, experiences, and preferences.
That attention to detail works both ways: we also take the time to truly listen to our hospital’s needs––even beyond the requirements for the role. For instance, if a hospital is looking for a neurohospitalist and we know they don’t have any neurocritical care physicians on their staff, we might look for a neurohospitalist that has experience in critical care, even if that’s not on their list of requirements.
This dedication to personalized service extends to everything we do, from making sure that we’re making the travel process as stress-free as possible by taking into account our provider’s preferences, to checking in regularly with both the client and the provider to make sure they’re having a good experience. Because for us, it’s not about the bottom line: it’s about building relationships that will last.
