News & Blog 

Join us over the next several weeks as guest blogger, Arlene Macellaro, goes on a deep-dive exploration of tips and techniques to make the use of locum tenens providers a planned and effective solution for you and your organization. 

Spring cleaning projects have likely distracted most of us from the focus of New Year’s Resolutions that have long since fallen by the wayside. This is yet another opportunity (aka excuse,) to clean out your closet, start that home landscaping endeavor, or even reevaluate and examine your career options. 

While recruitment firms have been around for a long time, those in the healthcare specific industry have exploded in recent years and continue to become more competitive every day. That’s not necessarily because there are more hospitals, or even more practicing physicians (in fact, studies are pointing to the reverse,) but the urgent need to find skilled practitioners to staff all these medical facilities is constant. In our current state of society where instant gratification is expected, it’s even more crucial medical facilities have qualified people in place who can provide critical care to patients in need. 

March may be a “lucky” month for some, but for a healthcare facility, when does it pay to try your luck with a medical staffing agency versus keeping your recruitment efforts in-house? With two decades as a healthcare executive, guest blogger Joe Winings has experience on both sides of the (gold) coin and shares his noteworthy perspective below. 

Ahhh, February. The month when love is in the air as they say. (Or bitterness and animosity depending on who you ask, but let’s stick with a positive outlook.) As a self-proclaimed match maker when it comes to introducing my friends in hopes of creating love connections, it had me contemplating, “How do you know when a match is right?” Sure, with the advances in technology the “match-making industry” now has all these complicated algorithms (I wish I had thought of first,) but on the professional side, is there a specific formula or “prescription” if-you-will, that works best when it comes to the business of pairing healthcare providers with their appropriate destinations?

In honor of February, here’s our top ten list of common dating questions and their healthcare recruiting analogies. Like any new “getting to know you relationship,” they run the gamut from first date small-talk, to it just got real. They won’t all be “softballs” (like #1,) but asking the tough questions (like #8,) will ideally help expedite communication with your Providers so surprises are less likely to pop up down the road!

Home for the holidays? Eh, if you work Locum Tenens, not so much. Don’t make assumptions though, as this is usually by choice!

A facility or practice would use a locum tenens practitioner similar to how school systems use substitute teachers. As many go on vacation during the holidays, seasonality fluctuation is one such influence on an increased locum tenens demand. Those stepping up to take their place are generously compensated as they (temporarily) fix understaffing issues and are able to see patients who may not have been seen otherwise.

If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, will chopping down the entire orchard magically bringus more physicians? Ah, if only it were that simple. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against apples– including the juice, pie, or martini, but where will our clients find qualified doctors to fill their open positions?