La Pine: More temp physicians may be on the way. Is this good patient care?

Locum Tenens – The “temp” physician
Carole  La Pine, MSA, CPMSM, CPCS

An article is The Ann Arbor News the other day caught my eye:  Doctors find temp work plentiful and rewarding,  Two physicians were quoted as saying they liked the temporary work.  It gave them an opportunity to set a limit on the number of hours worked and escape some of the downsides of a medical practice.  It also gave them a chance to try out working in different types of practices and different geographic areas.  Sounds good?  Not if you are responsible for the credentialing and privileging of these types of practitioners!

At times there is a need to seek immediate physician coverage because of some unexpected event and the use of a locum tenens practitioner can certainly fill that need.  The problems occur when the application hits your desk and you see the long list of hospitals where this physician has worked, often through a temporary staffing organization.  Not only does it take a great deal of time to verify all the hospital affiliations, often the dates do not match, there is no one who can attest to clinical competency, and there is no proof of how many procedures the physician has actually done at each facility.

There is no short cut to credentialing and privileging a locum tenens practitioner if your organization maintains a mission to provide safe patient care.  The temp physician should be processed as completely and thoroughly as any other applicant applying for medical staff membership and privileges.

The sad message in this article was that as we face the continued shortage of primary care physicians we could expect to see more temp physicians.  Many doctors will be moving into semi-retirement and may enjoy setting their own schedules.  Other may be younger physician who want to try other various geographic locations before settling down.

BIG QUESTION:  Is this good patient care?