2024 Survey of Locum Tenens Physicians and Advanced Practitioners
Schedules a Key Attraction for Locum Tenens Providers The survey asked physicians and APPs to rate various factors that influenced their decision to work locum tenens. The survey found that their primary motivation is to improve working conditions that may be impediments to job satisfaction in permanent practice settings. In particular, physicians and APPs are choosing locum tenens to obtain more favorable schedules. The majority of those surveyed (86%) indicated that “achieving a better schedule” was a most important or moderately important factor influencing their decision to work locum tenens. Today, many physicians are seeking a favorable work/life balance that allows them the flexibility to pursue outside interests, attend family events and maintain emotional equilibrium. This can be difficult in high volume practices in which physicians may be on tight schedules and required to see many patients in a limited timeframe. When recruiting physicians to permanent practice locations, AMN Healthcare Physicians Solutions has found that schedules often are a more contentious negotiating point than compensation. By working locum tenens, physicians and APPs can choose where and when to practice, working as little as a few weekends per year to working full-time schedules with overtime. Their work schedules are set at their own discretion, and this is a significant draw for those physicians and APPs seeking a better work/life balance than they may have found in permanent practice settings. Addressing Feelings of Burnout Eighty percent of physicians and APPs surveyed said that “addressing feelings of burnout” was a most important or moderately important factor influencing their decision to work locum tenens. Burnout among physicians and APPs may be driven by inflexible schedules but also by the high volume of non-clinical bureaucratic functions they are obliged to perform. In a national survey of physicians conducted by AMN Healthcare Physicians Solutions (then known as Merritt Hawkins) for The Physicians Foundation, physicians indicated they spend 23% of their time on non-clinical paperwork. They identified inefficient electronic health records (EHR) systems and regulatory/insurance paperwork requirements as primary job frustrations. Physicians and APPs who work locum tenens also must perform “paperwork” duties such tracking patient conditions and notating the services they provide. However, the level of bureaucratic work required of them generally is less than that required of providers in permanent positions, who also may have to engage in practice administration, departmental meetings, compliance programs and other duties that take them from the bedside. Locum tenens physicians, by contrast, are relatively free to focus on patient care, which is what most physicians describe as their greatest source of professional satisfaction. Earning “Cleaner” Compensation Three quarters of physicians and APPs surveyed (75%) said that “declining compensation” was a most important or moderately important factor influencing their decision to work locum tenens. While physician compensation has not
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