Healthcare organizations face a difficult staffing environment. Physician shortages, rising patient demand, clinician burnout, and extended hiring timelines can make it challenging to maintain adequate coverage. For many hospitals, medical groups, clinics, and healthcare facilities, locum tenens physicians have become an important part of the workforce strategy.
However, simply hiring locum tenens providers is not enough. Healthcare administrators and HR professionals need a structured approach to get the most value from temporary staffing. An effective program can protect patient access, support permanent staff, improve operational flexibility, and help organizations respond to changing workforce needs.
The following locum tenens best practices can help healthcare leaders build a more efficient and sustainable staffing program.
1. Start With a Clear Staffing Needs Assessment
The first step in optimizing locum tenens is understanding exactly where coverage is needed.
Rather than waiting until a physician leaves or a schedule becomes unmanageable, healthcare administrators should evaluate staffing needs throughout the year. Review current vacancies, anticipated retirements, leaves of absence, seasonal demand, patient volume, call coverage, and the status of permanent recruitment efforts.
The assessment should also consider specialty-specific needs. For example, a hospital may require temporary coverage in emergency medicine while a medical group may need additional support in primary care, psychiatry, anesthesiology, or another specialty.
The American Medical Association recommends using staffing benchmarks while considering the broader needs of the clinical and administrative team.
A proactive assessment allows administrators to determine when locum tenens coverage makes sense. It also prevents temporary staffing from becoming an emergency response every time a vacancy occurs.
2. Treat Locum Tenens as Part of Workforce Planning
Locum tenens should not operate in a separate lane from permanent recruitment.
Instead, healthcare staffing strategies should connect temporary coverage with the organization’s larger workforce plan. A locum physician may provide coverage while a permanent candidate is being recruited, support a department during an extended leave, or help an organization evaluate future staffing requirements.
This approach is increasingly relevant because locum tenens has become a more established part of physician recruitment. According to 2026 reporting on Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment data, organizations used locum tenens in 16.4% of physician searches in 2024.
Therefore, administrators should ask not only, “How do we fill this vacancy?” but also, “What role should temporary staffing play in our long-term workforce strategy?”
3. Define Success Before the Assignment Begins
A successful locum tenens program needs measurable goals.
Cost is important, but it should not be the only metric. A lower hourly rate does not necessarily mean a better staffing outcome if the provider does not meet the organization’s clinical requirements or if the assignment creates operational problems.
Consider tracking metrics such as:
- Time from staffing request to provider placement
- Credentialing and privileging turnaround time
- Assignment fill rate
- Schedule coverage
- Provider retention or extension rates
- Permanent recruitment conversion
- Patient access and appointment availability
- Department productivity
- Overtime and vacancy costs
- Satisfaction among physicians, staff, and administrators
These measures give HR and operations leaders a clearer picture of program performance. They also make it easier to identify bottlenecks.
For example, if providers are identified quickly but credentialing consistently delays their start dates, the problem is not recruitment. It is the onboarding process.
4. Make Credentialing a Strategic Priority
Credentialing can become one of the biggest obstacles to efficient locum tenens staffing.
Physicians themselves identify credentialing as a major challenge. In the 2024 survey cited by the AMA, 81% of surveyed locum tenens clinicians identified the credentialing process as either a moderate or significant challenge.
Healthcare organizations should therefore establish a standardized credentialing workflow before a staffing need becomes urgent.
Maintain an up-to-date list of required documents, licenses, certifications, references, background checks, and privileging requirements. Assign clear ownership for each step. Whenever possible, begin credentialing as soon as a qualified provider is identified.
The goal is simple: eliminate avoidable delays between selecting a physician and getting that physician into the clinical schedule.
5. Build a Strong Onboarding Process
Temporary does not mean unimportant.
Locum tenens physicians need the same basic support required for safe and effective clinical practice. They should understand the facility’s workflows, clinical expectations, documentation requirements, scheduling procedures, escalation protocols, and key contacts.
A standardized onboarding checklist can make this process more consistent.
Research supports this emphasis. A systematic review of locum physician recruitment and retention found that improved onboarding practices may help address some of the challenges associated with temporary assignments. The review also identified clinical support and mentorship as factors that can contribute to successful locum recruitment and retention.
In addition, make sure locum physicians know where to go with questions. A temporary provider who feels disconnected from the permanent team may have a harder time adapting to the organization.
6. Integrate Locum Physicians Into the Care Team
A locum physician should be viewed as a member of the care team, not simply as a temporary replacement.
This distinction matters. Research into temporary physician staffing has identified familiarity with an organization’s patients, staff, and processes as an important factor in safe care. It has also found that exclusion and poor integration can negatively affect morale and retention.
Healthcare administrators can improve integration by introducing locum physicians to department leaders and key staff. Include them in appropriate team communications and provide access to the resources they need to perform their jobs.
Small steps can make a meaningful difference. A welcoming clinical environment can help a locum physician become productive faster while strengthening communication across the department.
7. Use Locum Tenens to Protect Permanent Staff
One of the most valuable healthcare staffing strategies is using temporary providers to support permanent clinicians before workloads become unsustainable.
Unfilled positions can place additional pressure on the physicians who remain. That pressure can contribute to burnout, reduced morale, and turnover.
Recent research involving U.S. physicians found that 47.9% of respondents worked with an incompletely staffed team more than 25% of the time. The study also found substantial levels of burnout among respondents.
Locum tenens coverage can give permanent physicians additional support during recruitment gaps, vacations, leaves, seasonal surges, or periods of unusually high demand.
The goal is not to replace permanent staff. Instead, temporary staffing can help create a more resilient workforce while long-term staffing solutions are developed.
8. Create a Consistent Feedback Loop
After an assignment ends, gather feedback.
Ask department leaders whether the physician met clinical expectations. Ask permanent staff whether communication and teamwork were effective. Review scheduling, attendance, documentation, and other relevant performance measures.
It is equally important to ask the locum physician about the experience.
A systematic review found that professional isolation was one of the leading deterrents associated with locum work.
Feedback can reveal problems that are easy to overlook. For instance, an assignment may look successful from a scheduling perspective while physicians report inadequate orientation or unclear expectations.
Use that information to improve the next assignment.
9. Measure Total Value, Not Just Staffing Cost
Healthcare administrators must manage budgets carefully. However, evaluating locum tenens solely by hourly or daily cost can produce an incomplete picture.
Consider the potential cost of an unfilled position. Lost patient appointments, reduced clinical capacity, physician overtime, delayed procedures, staff burnout, and revenue disruption can all affect the organization.
The better question is: What is the total operational value of maintaining appropriate coverage?
This perspective helps administrators make more informed decisions about when temporary staffing is financially and operationally appropriate.
10. Work With a Staffing Partner That Understands Your Organization
Finally, the success of a locum tenens program often depends on the staffing partner behind it.
Healthcare organizations should look for a partner that takes time to understand their specialty requirements, credentialing standards, scheduling needs, geographic challenges, and organizational culture.
The right partner should also provide clear communication throughout the process. That includes identifying qualified candidates, coordinating credentialing, supporting onboarding, and responding when unexpected staffing needs arise.
For HR professionals and healthcare administrators, this can reduce administrative workload while creating a more consistent staffing experience.
Make Locum Tenens Part of a Smarter Workforce Strategy
The most effective approach to optimizing locum tenens is to move from reactive staffing to proactive workforce management. Start with a detailed needs assessment. Establish measurable goals. Streamline credentialing. Strengthen onboarding. Integrate temporary physicians into clinical teams. Then use performance data and feedback to continuously improve the program.
These locum tenens best practices can help healthcare organizations respond to workforce shortages while maintaining access to care and supporting permanent clinicians. Just as importantly, they can turn temporary staffing from a last-minute solution into a strategic component of healthcare workforce planning.
For healthcare administrators and HR leaders, Annashae can help connect organizations with qualified healthcare professionals and customized staffing solutions nationwide. Annashae has provided medical staffing solutions to healthcare, government, and education facilities nationwide since 1980.
Whether your organization needs locum tenens coverage for an immediate staffing gap or you are planning a longer-term workforce strategy, contact Annashae to discuss your staffing needs. Physicians and other healthcare professionals who are exploring flexible locum tenens career opportunities across the United States can also connect with Annashae to learn about available opportunities.