Adam Ghosh has over twenty years experience as a researcher in the medical field. In that time, he has worked with allergists and vascular surgeons, and everyone in between. Now he supplements his early retirement by contributing to Weatherby Healthcare.

Staffing an appropriate physician is becoming more and more of a time-intensive task than it used to be.  With an increasing number of healthcare fields immerging, finding a physician for a specific niche can sometimes be a monumental task. While filling some physician spots can be less rigorous than others, filling an orthopedic physician opening or even specialized radiologist can take several months up to a year.

A valuable strategy that emerged in the 70s, but has been gaining increased attention in the last decade, is the use of a locum tenens. The phrase itself seems a bit esoteric, but is essentially Latin for “placeholder.” Locum tenens serve a variety of purposes. From filling in a physician’s spot while on leave, covering your bases during times when an increase of patients is seen, to temporarily filling a position while looking for a permanent resident.

Much like traveling nurses, locum tenens are licensed and qualified individuals who accept contracts and assignments in a variety of different locales throughout the United States and sometimes, even to other areas across the globe. Staffing a locum tenens can have a host of other benefits aside from the more obvious choices above.

An integral part of a well-qualified healthcare provider is their repertoire of experience. Supplying care for a variety of patients across a spectrum of different walks of life can give your practice or hospital a more robust patient experience.

In fact, a recent study conducted by the Journal of Healthcare Management found some surprising information. In its findings, they noted that some 85% of locum tenens physicians are board certified. This number came in sharp contrast to the 65% of physicians who responded by saying they were actively employed either through private means or within a hospital setting.

To aid in this endeavor a variety of staffing agencies have sprung up, giving hospitals, clinics and practices a great resource to use when faced with the issue of needing temporary staffing. While finding such a physician through their own means is certainly a probability, large staffing agencies have the resources and tools to better expedite this process and get spot filled faster, and often times, with the best qualified individual for the job.

Hospitals and practices in rural settings have some inherent challenges when faced with the need to staff their agencies. Often times, it can be difficult to entice a full time doctor or physician into a remote setting.  To better combat this, more and more rural healthcare settings are taking advantage of using a locum tenens and hospitalist locums. Often times, contracts and assignments located in rural areas will come with a three day on, four day off work schedule. Together with shortened workweek and the “outdoorsy” locales of most of these rural atmospheres, getting a locum tenens to fill a spot usually just makes more sense.

With sizable revenue, the locum tenens industry shows no signs of slowing down. Last year alone, it was projected that the industry brought in a little over 2 billion dollars and is projected to grow even further as healthcare continues to expand.