How Locum Tenens Helps Facilities
We want to be part of your team. Regardless of the size or scope of your facility, Lexx Healthcare can help you. We’ve negotiated contracts with facilities and groups across the USA, and would love to get to know you and your needs. Our consultants are experienced and provide exceptional service that’s tailored for you. If you are having trouble staffing your urgent care center, hospital, or another healthcare facility, the solution to your trouble is just a phone call away. If you are unsure if locum tenens is right for your facility, read on for some important facts and figures to shed light on recent trends in the healthcare industry and how Lexx Healthcare can be of assistance.
Provider shortages are an ever-increasing
issue across the USA.
According to a study published in 2017 by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the United States could be in need of over 100,000 providers across numerous specialties by the year 2030.
The AAMC notes the following factors as contributing to their estimate:
- The population is growing, and the elderly are living longer
- The number of new physicians and specialists is not growing at the same rate
- Over a third of practicing physicians will reach retirement age within 10 years
- Quality providers are in high demand
A growing number of providers are experiencing a phenomenon known as burnout.
Burnout occurs when your providers are beyond their capacity. Experiencing stress continuously in work and even home situations reduces a provider’s ability to handle stress day-to-day. Unfortunately, the situation is likely to deteriorate if left alone.
When your facilities’ providers are experiencing burnout, you could begin to see any of the following:
- Decreased patient satisfaction
- Decreased quality of care
- Increased rates of medical error
- Increased malpractice risk
- Providers resorting to extremes to cope
Locum Tenens can help.
Whether you represent a single hospital, a private practice, or a large group, you’re likely to feel the effects of the projected shortages and/or burnout. Locum tenens providers help combat this deficit by filling in where they are needed, and with the shortages estimated these needs can only grow.
Locum Tenens providers are able to help in the following ways:
- Providing quality care and coverage at understaffed facilities.
- Offering flexible schedules to fill specific needs.
- Relieving providers burdened by symptoms of burnout.
“80% of physicians are overextended or are at capacity”– Survey of America’s Physicians: Practice Patterns and Perspectives by Merritt Hawkins, 2017.
Physicians choosing to work on a locum tenens basis have been increasing since 2014.
– Survey of America’s
Physicians: Practice Patterns and Perspectives by Merritt Hawkins, 2017.