When to Hire a Locum Tenens Provider

You know locum tenens providers can be a valuable resource - covering openings, saving money, and improving patient quality of care. But how do you know when it's time to hire a provider? There are warning signs you can use that will trigger staffing concerns. Don't wait and be caught unprepared. Consider the points below as you review if your current staff is enough to meet the demand, or if the locum tenens will provide support when you need it most.

• More patients than open appointments. As the need for complex care and patient populations dramatically increase, there will always be a constant battle for supply versus demand. Don't sacrifice patient outcomes and lose valuable revenue. Invest in improved community goodwill by having enough staff to address your current and future patient volumes.

• Your busy season is taking a toll on staff. Flu, back-to-school physicals, and healthy resolutions drive an influx of patient appointments. Constant high-speed scheduling will reduce staff's ability to adequately care for and diagnose patients.

• Your waiting rooms become backup bottlenecks. Trying to accommodate patient volume can lead to long wait times. Not only will patient satisfaction decrease, but you may lose them to competitors.

• Staff is burned out. An overworked staff leads to medical errors, frustration, and emotionally exhausted physicians that may not be able to provide the personal side of patient care.

• No one to cover absences. Tightly controlled staff numbers may look good on the bottom line, but they can lead to coverage lapses. Vacations, maternity, or leaves of absence help keep a good work-life balance for current staff. Don't impede patient care or be backed into a coverage corner and forced to deny current staff time off.

• Unable to expand services. New treatments, specialties, and locations demand a higher staff volume to successfully launch. Pulling from existing resources will upset current employees and patients and decrease the value you deliver patients.

• Locum tenens isn't just physicians. Yes, a quality locum tenens partner company has a large roster of board certified physicians. They also offer a higher standard of care at every level. You can choose from advanced practitioners (NP, CRNA and PA) to help staff your coverage needs as well.

• Permanent replacements for retiring physicians. The current shortage of qualified physicians is a nationwide concern. The American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the American Medical Association (AMA) predict a deficit of up to 120,000 physicians by 2030. Retirement can cause coverage lapses and patient dissatisfaction.

Locum tenens providers give you and your staff options for the highest level of care. They allow you to provide a consistent, valuable community resource. Locum tenens account managers will help find the right person to fulfill your full or part-time needs or offer on-call coverage.

Learn more about the options and see how locum tenens coverage improves patient safety and quality of care. Visit Health Carousel Locum Tenens to get started.