DATA FROM A NEW survey show that U.S. health care organizations are increasing their use of locum tenens physicians, but not always to replace physicians who have left.
Conducted by locum tenens staffing company CHG Healthcare, this annual survey found that locum tenens clinicians were used in 16.4% of physician employment searches and 8.1% of advanced practice provider (APP) searches. According to CHG, those are the highest rates of locums employment searches that the company has ever seen in its survey.
CHG’s 2020 survey, by comparison, found that respondents used locum physicians in 6.3% of physician searches.
CHG also found that of organizations using locums in 2024, 67% hired them to fill a scheduling hole while they looked for a permanent replacement. That number was down significantly from 82% in 2023.
That percentage is likely falling because health care organizations are using locums for other purposes. The CHG survey, for example, found that U.S. health care organizations that hire locums do so for the following reasons:
• Maternity/paternity coverage (42%)
• Vacation coverage (42%)
• Rising patient demand (35%)
• Supplement staff during peak periods (28%)
• Mitigate burnout/reduce staff workload (25%)
This year, four in five (80%) of facilities expect to continue or to expand their use of locums.
Physician attitudes about locum tenens
The CHG report also asked physicians about why they choose to work locums. According to the survey, 47% of respondents said supplementing their core income was their No. 1 reason.
Thirty percent of physicians in the survey said they work locum because the money is good, while 29% said they work locums to control their schedule. Another 26% do it to work while searching for a full-time position.
More than half of responding physicians in the CHG survey—58%—said they work locally, with 53% finding slots in neighboring cities or states and 23% working in neighboring regions of the country.
The data also indicate that the number of physicians working locums has grown steadily since 2020. About one-third of eligible U.S.-based physicians have had locums experience, while 8% of physicians in the U.S. are currently working locums.
Search projections rise in some specialties
Projections about future locums demand expect searches to rise significantly for anesthesiology, with demand estimated to increase 55%. Searches are also expected to rise for gastroenterology (31%) and psychiatry (21%).
However, the number of searches in other specialties are projected to fall. Those include hospital medicine, with demand projected to be reduced by 4%. Demand is projected to fall even more for emergency medicine, with searches estimated to decrease by 8%. Even with lower projected demand, hospital medicine remains the third most requested specialty in physician locums searches.
You can find more information in CHG Healthcare’s report.
