Thank you to everyone who made our first-ever National Locum Tenens Week a success last year. According to our survey, over 80% of healthcare staffing companies recognized the inaugural promotion. The feedback we received told us to keep it simple for companies to get involved again in 2018, offer the marketing toolkit earlier and with minimal changes to its assets.

With that in mind, here’s a quick update on what to expect from NALTO^® for this year’s promotion, restate our purpose and communicate the valuable opportunity that lies in promoting our industry together.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2017

National Association of Locum Tenens Organizations^® (NALTO^®) Announces Stacey Stanley as President, New Members to Board of Directors

The use of locum tenens physicians and advanced practitioners has risen to become the predominant staffing solution for our nation’s ongoing shortage of providers and increased demand for care.

I’ve blogged in the past about the doctor shortage. It’s a familiar issue we’ve been facing for decades now. However, there are some additional challenges that have surfaced in recent years that are also driving the need for locum tenens.

The key to avoiding practice turnover and retaining today's medical providers is to focus on their overall job satisfaction from day one. Keeping a pulse on the health and well-being of your staff to look for early signs of burnout, and paying close attention to the concerns of their loved ones outside your practice are vital.

Top Reasons for Turnover

Physician burnout is a real and growing problem. As healthcare providers begin 2018, instead of just focusing on physical health resolutions like eating healthier or working out more, many of their colleagues suggest focusing on improving mental health, specifically reducing stress in the workplace.

LocumTenens.com recently surveyed physicians and advanced practitioners for their opinions on mental health in their work environment. Out of 2,438 clinicians who responded to the question “how much stress do you face in the workplace,” the majority of physicians answered “a lot of stress” while almost all advanced practitioners were split between “a lot” or “a little” stress.

Last August, the National Association of Locum Tenens Organizations (NALTO) celebrated the first-ever National Locum Tenens Week. The healthcare staffing industry is doing so again this week, and it’s an opportunity to thank locum tenens providers for their dedication to serving millions of patients at medical facilities every day in this country.

As many as 50,000 doctors, more than 5 percent of the physician workforce, practice medicine as a locum tenens doctor in more than 90 percent of our healthcare facilities to provide care for an estimated 7.5 million Americans every year, according to a recent report.

Last year, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) offered new research on the physician shortage, which is now projected to reach as high as 120,000 doctors by the year 2030. This ongoing disparity between supply and demand continues to drive the cycle of physician turnover.

Those who live in remote regions of the country are statistically more disadvantaged than those in metropolitan areas, both socioeconomically and with respect to access to healthcare services. Rural communities are challenged by lower incomes, less access to technology, and higher levels of poverty. It’s an older population, and they’re more reliant on social services than those living in urban centers. It’s also the segment of the population that needs us most yet receives the least amount of medical resources.

The number of physicians per 10,000 people is 13 to 31, rural versus urban, according to the National Rural Health Association. They continue to lack coverage and, even for those who have coverage, they often live hours from the appropriate care they require. What’s astounding is the shortage of specialists when comparing rural to urban communities. The discrepancy is a shocking 30 specialists in remote areas to 263 available to metropolitan areas per 100,000 people.

Today we recognize recruiters across the healthcare industry for the vital role they play in providing medical professionals to our communities.

As proclaimed by Congress in 1991, the first Tuesday in June each year is National Healthcare Recruiter Recognition Day!

Dallas, Texas – May 1, 2018– The National Association of Locum Tenens Organizations^® (NALTO^®) recently exhibited at the Association of Staff Physician Recruiters (ASPR) Annual Conference in Chicago, IL.

ASPR is the leading organization for in-house physician recruiting professionals, over 600 of which were in attendance at last week’s event to discuss current issues being faced throughout the industry.

Shaping the Customer Experience

In recent years healthcare staffing made a concerted effort to be held accountable to the customer experience it provides to physicians and medical facilities. I was fortunate to help a firm implement the same system now used as the benchmark for service quality across our industry. From that experience I learned some valuable lessons worth sharing with practices concerned with improving their reputation.

Dallas, Texas – March 16, 2018 – The National Association of Locum Tenens Organizations^® (NALTO^®) held its annual convention last week in Orlando, Florida, where it announced five new members to its Board of Directors:

Cristina Muise, MBA, PhD, President, Medicus Healthcare Solutions
James Heil, Regional Vice President, The Delta Companies
Gregory Prine, Vice President, Weatherby Healthcare
Jeff Schaal, Managing Partner, VeloSource
Matt Young, Chief Operating Officer, All Star Recruiting
Anne Anderson, Executive Vice President, Medical Doctor Associates (re-elected)

Dallas, Texas – March 7, 2018 – The National Association of Locum Tenens Organizations^® (NALTO^®) announced today that a number of its members recently won Inavero’s Best of Staffing® awards. Presented in partnership with CareerBuilder, Inavero’s Best of Staffing recognizes those companies who’ve proven to be the industry leaders in service quality based entirely on ratings provided by clients and temporary employees they’ve helped find jobs.

“We’re proud to see so many of our member companies recognized for providing the highest level of customer service in the industry,” says Stacey Stanley, President of NALTO. “Their dedication to Best of Staffing aligns with our organization’s mission to be the ‘gold standard’ of temporary physician staffing, committed to the highest level of ethics and accountability in the locum tenens industry.”

Each day, the number of Americans joining the ranks of our aging population is increasing more than ever before. According to the US Census Bureau, the population of seniors (65+) in the U.S. has passed 50 million for the first time in history and is projected to pass 70 million in the next 25 years. We simply have more people getting older and living longer than any previous generation.

In health care staffing, the issue of our aging population has long been a major factor in what drives the ongoing physician shortage, which some studies project may reach 100,000 doctors by the year 2030 (AAMC 11/17).

Why Locum Tenens is Family Friendly

One of the fastest-growing career paths for physicians today is practicing locum tenens. More doctors than ever are choosing to work locums full-time, finding a better family friendly work/life balance than what’s offered through permanent positions.

Staffing Industry Analysts Staffing Stream: Top Reasons for Growth of Locum Tenens Staffing
August 16, 2017

More than 90% of the U.S. healthcare industry now uses locum tenens physicians in their medical facilities. As we honor those doctors during the first-ever National Locum Tenens Week, here are the top three reasons for the growth of locum tenens staffing.

The healthcare field is growing rapidly. The demands on all facets of the industry have increased with this marked growth. Full-time physicians and advanced practitioners, as well as Locum Tenens professionals, are providing great benefits to patients and healthcare facilities across the United States. Arranging these unions between providers and facilities, however, is left in the expert hands of healthcare recruiters. While this position can be exciting, fulfilling, and lucrative, it also has the potential for burnout. Fortunately, healthcare recruiters have the ability to manage their stressors, using a few simple techniques.

The Stressors of Healthcare Recruiting

Every recruiter knows the term “KPI.” Recruiters know that they must meet or exceed these standards in order to become successful in their field. While this challenge can be exciting and can incite healthy competition, it can also be quite stressful. Often, this means making countless phone calls, managing client needs, and creating harmonious provider/facility matches, among other necessary duties.