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How To Become a Locum Tenens Physician and Enjoy Flexibility in Your Career Advancement

by | Aug 6, 2024 | Uncategorized

what is a locum tenens physician
Are you craving a bit more novelty in your career as a doctor? Does expanding your skill set while experiencing a new setting sound appealing? 

If so, becoming a locum tenens physician may be just the change you are looking for. Locum tenens physicians are, in essence, travel doctors. As a locum tenens physician, you’ll get to know new places and healthcare facilities regularly, adding excitement to your career. More than that, you’ll grow as a person, being trained in resilience and the ability to perform professional skills in vastly different environments.

Learn more about the benefits of working as a locum tenens and the steps you can take to become one.

Table of Contents

What Is a Locum Tenens Physician?

Locum tenens physicians “hold the place” in hospitals and clinics in need of substitutes or just extra professional help. They hold these positions for weeks to years at a time, allowing them the chance to get to know new places and people while earning an income.

Trusted Locum Staffing dedicates itself to understanding you and the available facilities to ensure you are most suitably placed and happy with your assignment.

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Do Locum Tenens Need To Be Credentialed?

Credentialing ensures that medical professionals meet high-quality standards of care.

To be a locum tenens physician, you must be credentialed, but the requirements vary by state and assignment. At Trusted Locum Staffing, we make this credentialing process as simple as possible for the physicians we serve.

It’s more than just filling out paperwork. We ensure that none of your records are incomplete or out of date. We also verify your professional references, your work history, and education/training.

Benefits of Working as a Locum Tenens and How To Decide if It’s the Right Choice for You

Working as a locum tenens physician beats staying stationary as a doctor in many ways:

    • Choose your own placement and schedule. You can take months off for vacation or allow your family to travel with you to experience life in a new place.
  • Achieve goals that might not be feasible otherwise, such as:
    • Carving out more time for volunteer work
    • Supplementing your income
    • Experiencing what it’s like to practice in a different environment. 
    • Continuing to work, but less frequently, when you are not quite ready for retirement
  • Earn better pay. You can get paid more and work less. A normal locum tenens physician’s schedule is typically 15 shifts per month. Precise salary depends on many factors — specialty, location, caseload, skill level, etc. — but most locum tenens physicians can expect to earn, on average, between $208,500 and $374,800 per year.
  • Make your life more adventurous. Explore new places and meet new people. This can enliven your experience as a physician like nothing else.

If you have questions about working as a locum tenens physician, reach out to the professionals at Trusted Locum Staffing to learn how this career switch could be a good change for you.

How To Become a Locum Tenens Physician

Option 1: DIY

Some physicians choose to pursue locum tenens positions on their own, but it is time-consuming and may require more responsibility than you want. For instance, it is up to you to contact the facility of your choice and negotiate your contract, and this must be done for each placement. Working with an experienced agency simplifies the process.

Note several important differences for DIY locums:

  • They must set aside taxes themselves.
  • They must purchase their own health and malpractice insurance.
  • They must handle all logistics on their own, including housing and transportation.

Option 2: Work With a Locum Tenens Agency

Make your job easier by enlisting the help of a locum tenens agency. Trusted Locum Staffing offers white glove service that handles everything regarding your assignment for you, including:

  • Finding assignments for you that match your preferences and skill set
  • Contacting the desired facility and negotiating your contract
  • Providing you with malpractice insurance
  • Helping you stay current with licensing and credential requirements
  • Covering travel and housing costs during your assignments
  • Advocating on your behalf if problems arise in the facility where you work

Step 1: Reach Out to a Recruiter

First, it’s important that the agency gets to know you. You’ll talk on the phone with a recruiter and describe in general and specific terms what you are looking for in an assignment.

Next, your recruiter will present you with some assignments that match your preferences before discussing which of these suggestions are right for you.

Step 2: Apply

You will apply not to the medical facility but to the agency. Our recruiter will guide you through the application process, including how to gather the required documentation.

Step 3: Credentials and Licensing

Your locum tenens agency will simplify the process of certifications and licensing, ensuring that you meet all standards required by the facility hosting your assignment.

Getting a state license typically involves keeping:

  • Certified copies of your diplomas, transcripts, and training certificates
  • A precise record of all employment and career-related activities

Once you have all of your materials, you can apply for an expedited interstate medical licensure. Holding multiple state licenses broadens the scope of possible job placements.

Your recruiting agency can advise you about meeting other eligibility requirements, such as those involving the specific patient care services you are qualified to deliver. This is called privileging. 

Credentialing and privileging are ongoing needs. It is helpful to be notified of deadlines and unexpected expectations of a new facility. Your recruiting agency is accustomed to simple facts like these, the knowledge of which could make or break your occupational pursuits.

Step 4: Get Settled

Your agency does more than help you land an assignment. It will assist you in settling into your new location by arranging your housing accommodations and transportation and making recommendations specific to your location.

Once you have begun your placement, your recruiter will always be available to help you when a need arises. 

You will also have comprehensive malpractice insurance through your agency, ensuring the protection of your professional reputation and finances in the event of damages to the patient caused by medical services received.

become a locum tenens physician

The Trusted Locum Staffing Difference

Trusted Locum Staffing offers a complete “white glove service.” With 15 years of experience helping locum tenens find success in their travel assignments, we attend meticulously to every detail of your placements.

Our goal is to free you from the burden of too many responsibilities so that you can focus on your career. We strive to help you form long-term relationships that will benefit you and the healthcare community as a whole. 

Our service to you, in turn, helps healthcare facilities across the country find the high-quality providers that they urgently need.

Dedicated Travel Team

When you embark on a new placement, you’ll need to prepare mentally for the changes your routine is about to undergo. In addition, you’re packing and making your farewells to friends and family before the big move. 

Imagine trying to nail down travel plans and find accommodations on top of all that. Having this many responsibilities on your plate at once can be overwhelming, to say the least. 

But you can lay aside any anxiety on that front. Our dedicated travel team secures housing accommodations and transportation for the locum tenens physician while on assignment.

What’s more, the travel team arranges interviews, ensures you have everything you need once you settle in, and is just a phone call away during your assignment in case you need anything.

Dedicated Compliance Team

You’ve dealt with certifications and licensing in your home state, so you feel your familiarity with the processes will prepare you for getting the same credentials in another state. But this might not be the case. Other states have different protocols and processes, and the facility you are entering has specific standards that might not be identical to those in your previous experience. It may not be as straightforward as you expect. 

Trusted Locum Staffing’s compliance team will iron out all these details for you. You will know exactly what is expected of you in order to meet the necessary standards and be fully prepared for work in the new facility.

Dedicated Payroll Team

Working as a locum tenens means you’ll file taxes as an independent contractor, which also means that dealing with your finances will likely be a bit more complicated than it would be if you were filing as a regular employee.

First, you’ll have to set aside money for taxes since your employer will not be withholding it from your paycheck and you’ll need to know how much and when to do this. Second, it can be tricky to figure out what items qualify as deductions.

Our payroll team can clearly advise you on all of these questions so that tax preparation won’t be such a headache for you. Most importantly, Trusted Locum Staffing ensures you are paid accurately and punctually.

do locum tenens need to be credentialed

Get Started On Your Journey as a Locum Tenens Today With Trusted Locum Staffing

If flexibility, an impressive income, and continuous adventure in a career appeal to you, you will likely thrive as a locum tenens physician. Give yourself a greater chance of making the endeavor a success by partnering with Trusted Locum Staffing, a locum’s recruiting agency that deals with all the logistics for you. 

We promise to provide personalized assistance, both for you and for the facilities where you’ll be placed. By getting to know you, we come to understand what you are seeking in a job placement and how you might best serve a given facility. By getting to know the facility, we learn whether it’s the right fit for you and what physicians would be most appropriately placed there.

We organize placements for other medical professionals as well, including:

  • CRNAs
  • Nurse practitioners
  • Physician assistants
  • Therapists
  • Medical technicians

Whatever your medical specialty, we guarantee your satisfaction with our excellent, careful, and knowledgeable service. Visit Trusted Locum Staffing’s website today and share your contact information with us. A recruiter will contact you to help you begin your transition to the life of a locum tenens physician.

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