Attracting The Right Locum Tenen Providers

Healthcare organizations prioritize physician quality as the single most important factor when vetting applicants for locum tenens coverage, outranking cost considerations by more than 13% as reported by industry surveys.

While provider quality is the key characteristic considered by healthcare recruiting professionals, most providers are looking for a quality experience when choosing their next locum tenens assignment.

How to Attract Quality Locums Physicians

When determining how to attract the right providers to your team, ask yourself: “What are some processes that we have in place to entice potential candidates to join our team?”

Reducing Obstacles For Clinicians

It’s vital to be aware of any hurdles providers might encounter in your existing recruiting process. Consider the friction applicants might experience, and try and find ways to reduce it as much as possible. This will prevent you from having to do additional work to problem solve along the way.

Transparency with the job profile is crucial to finding the right candidate.

For example, if you’re filling an emergency department slot, be candid about patient volumes and trauma levels. This ensures that the candidates you’re presented are aware and capable of handling the assignment before they start. And providers highly value transparency and communication, so this approach will reflect better on your facility. 

You’ll also need to ensure that your credentialing process is streamlined and efficient. Many facilities attribute this as the primary hurdle in their recruitment process. No process is perfect, but identifying and fixing as many hurdles as possible will prevent future headaches and give you more time to respond to any unplanned issues.

Optimizing Your Onboarding Process

Onboarding a locum physician is no less important than onboarding any other new hire. When examining and analyzing your onboarding and credentialing process, you’ll want to answer the following questions:

1. What are all of the steps of our onboarding process?
2. Is our orientation schedule flexible to accommodate varying shifts?
3. Are locum candidates assigned a point of contact to ensure locum-specific matters are processed in a timely manner?
4. Do we provide advanced scheduling to secure shifts for seamless provision of care?
5. Does our practice setting provide a sense of security without concern for unnecessary malpractice issues?

Answering these questions can help you be on your way to creating a streamlined and efficient onboarding and credentialing process for permanent and locum team members alike.

Defining a Quality Locum Physician For Your Organization

Partnering with a locums staffing agency gives you access to high-quality locum tenens recruiters, who will work on your behalf to identify the candidates best suited to your opening.

Some of the factors taken into consideration in the candidate review process are:

1. Experience in practice settings similar to yours
2. A stable work history with no significant gaps between jobs
3. Malpractice issues, both past and ongoing
4. Current references from both peers and supervisors

In addition to being clinically sound, candidates who are up-to-date on Continued Medical Education (CME) and certifications and possess a solid track record of timely completion of medical charts and records are strong indicators you are looking at a valuable addition to your team.

An overall quality experience fosters an all-around positive outcome for all parties involved. Your organization benefits from the high level of service a quality physician can offer and a physician satisfied with your practice setting is more likely to perform better and provide ongoing support as needed.