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Why are Primary Care Physicians in High Demand for Locum Tenens Jobs?

Author Healthcare Career Blogger | 03.06.2009

Findings cite that poor doctor morale and staffing practice issues have caused many physicians to reconsider their career options.

  • Doctor morale is low and physicians are seeking ways to curtail the amount of time they spend working, according to a survey of 12,000 doctors from the Physicians’ Foundation, Boston.
  • 41% of primary care respondents - about 9,000 doctors - said if they could choose their career again, they would go into a surgical or diagnostic specialty.
  • 50% of respondents say they plan to take steps that would limit patient access in the next three years—either retire, work part time, close their practices, eliminate certain payers or work locum tenens.

At the same time, industry sources state the highest demand for medical doctor jobs exist in these top 10 areas for physicians seeking permanent or locum tenens jobs:

  • Primary Care
  • Internal Medicine
  • Hospitalist
  • OB/GYN
  • Orthopedic Surgery
  • Radiology
  • Psychiatry
  • Emergency Medicine
  • Neurology
  • General Surgery

Where are the jobs? All across the country, experts have determined. Nationwide openings exist for qualified physicians in a multitude of medical settings including:

  • Urban hospitals
  • Rural clinics
  • Medical schools
  • Managed care
  • Doctor’s groups
  • Private practice

With top salary and benefits, new patient care settings, and the opportunity to pursue quality of life activities, medical doctors are finding locum tenens employment provides fresh perspectives and boosts morale in the process.

Who accepts locum tenens medical doctor jobs?

Almost half of all physicians who engage locum tenens jobs do it for the flexible schedule. Other reasons include travel opportunities, extra income and to expand clinical horizons.

  • Mid-career physicians use locum tenens jobs to bridge the income gap while searching for a permanent physician staffing position.
  • Seasoned physicians use locum tenens medical doctor jobs as a means of scaling back on work load without fully retiring. This enables excellent earnings while practicing medicine in a variety of healthcare markets and environments.
  • All physicians in search of diversifying their medical experience, pursuing research and working with various cultures and socioeconomic classes

Talk to an experienced locum tenens agency today for more information and find out if locum tenens employment is right for you.

Sources

Merritt Hawkins & Associates: Summary Report Review of Physician & CRNA Recruiting Incentives

Hospitals & News Network: SURVEY: DOCTORS TO CURTAIL PRACTICES

Reader's Comments

  1. Mid career observations from the wings | April 7th, 2009 at 2:57 pm

    Primary Care Doctors have to contend with:

    Primary Problems: Primary care docs must see twice as many patients as specialists to make the same amount of money or less (Result: Too many hours + too little pay = burnout)

    Secondary Problems: Dealing with insurance companies that reimburse below costs and dictate what medications will be covered for patient treatments (result: doctors become administrators that must first deal with treatment restraints and second on treatment outcomes)

    Tertiary Problems: Medical students learn to choose specialties over primary care because of the insurmountable problems associated with this type of practice (result: Severe shortage of primary care doctors mean patients can’t get into their practices for care, and end up increasing the cost of healthcare by going directly to Emergency Rooms or Specialists when a primary care doctor could have treated the patient at a fraction of the cost)

    Rx: Some docs decide to retire, some work locum tenens, and some just continue to work for more and more hours with less and less pay. Not a solution but a byproduct of the last few decades of regulatory legislation, public corporation shareholder profitability expectations, and litigation.

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