Joe Sturdivant, MD, a practicing locum physician and CMO of IMN Enterprises, a locum tenens staffing agency, joined Becker's to discuss how working locum tenens has changed the way he works.
Question: What attracted you to working as a locum tenens provider? How has it changed your relationship to work?
Dr. Joe Sturdivant: Like many physicians, when I first decided to take an assignment as a locums tenens provider, it was during a transition period in my life. I looked at locums as a way to trial or test drive certain locations or settings prior to signing on as a permanent hire, but I quickly fell in love with the freedom and travel aspects of it as a career. I love the freedom of scheduling and choice of location that locums provides — and the added benefits of travel to keep the job fresh and exciting. Lastly, I've come to appreciate the challenge of coming into a new setting where I may not know the system and providing high quality, evidence-based care to patient populations that might otherwise go under- or unserved.
Q: What are the benefits of using locums for facilities? What are the downsides?
JS: Hopefully, after the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the benefits of using locums are becoming more obvious and include such things as bridging healthcare staffing gaps, creating more flexibility in provider scheduling, matching workforce capacity to changing or variable demand such as seasonal fluctuations or expansion projects, and importantly improving permanent hire retention by decreasing provider burnout and overwork.
In regard to potential downsides, I really don't see any. There is a common misconception that locums tenens are less capable or provide lower quality care, but numerous recent academic studies have shown this to be untrue, with locum providers providing equal or better care judged by such factors as patient care outcomes, standard quality metric, or third party/Medicare costs. Also, the proposed financial arguments against using locums largely evaporate when you consider the cost of providing care as a whole and factor in decreased efficiency related to permanent staff overwork. Plus the cost of recruitment and frequent onboarding of new providers related to poor retention stemming from provider dissatisfaction and burnout.