Locum tenens is the Latin name commonly given to temporary physicians. The term means "placeholder" or "one who stands in for another." KRON Medical Corporation in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, pioneered the practice and contracted locum tenens jobs to more than 475 physicians in 1986. Dr. Alan Kronhaus, president and chief executive officer of the company is generally credited with its origin, having first offered the service in 1980. Today, the field is composed of approximately a half-dozen similar services. Kronhaus explains that he conceived the service for the rural physician (as Kronhaus was) who had difficulty arranging coverage for vacations, personal time, and in-service education. The idea took shape and grew. Now, in addition to rural practices, principal users include hospitals, clinics, medical groups, teaching hospitals, and private practitioners. "Other uses just grew out of the service. The broad applications became apparent as we went along," says Kronhaus.
"Medicine is a traditionally conservative area, but acceptance of this idea is getting better... We've just scratched the surface," says Kronhaus. This small area of temporary personnel is already a $50-million industry. John Smith, executive vice-president at Locum Tenens, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia, reports that "any medical setting may be a user of locum tenens coverage." User needs may include replacement for an ill physician, personnel coverage during the breakup or startup of a practice, hospitals in places with seasonal differences in population, interim coverage while a physician seeks a partner (the search usually takes four to twelve months), and institutions in the process of recruiting staff.
Doctors who pursue locum tenens work generally fall into five categories.
- The young doctor just out of residency. An individual who isn't sure what he/she wants to practice or where. He or she may have been dissatisfied during residency and now wants their next experience to be a trial period before commitment.
- The 50-year-old who is entering a period of life when he or she wants to slow down and phase out his or her practice (this person may be both a chent and a locum tenens). Someone who wants to travel and pursue other pleasures yet wants to keep a hand in medicine.
- The in-between doctor someone who is between jobs or in the period between residency and fellowship.
- The freedom seeker: This group includes doctors who may want to work thirty-six weeks out of the year and spend the rest of the time traveling or making a hobby more of a reality. This is the doctor who prefers freedom and its rewards to a big paycheck.
- The part-timer Individuals who have more than one main career interest, for example, the doctor who teaches at a university, yet wants to continue to practice.
To become a locum tenens, a physician will need to complete an application packet available from all the services in the field. Questions will include training, references, state licenses, and documentation of malpractice experience.
Before signing up with a service, a doctor should find out how its malpractice insurance is written, for how much, by whom, and whether or not it includes coverage to protect the doctor should his or her association with the locum tenens firm end. The services pay for a doctor’s transportation, temporary housing, malpractice insurance, and licensing fees for each new state. A doctor may register with as many of the services as he or she wishes. Most advertise in medical periodicals, and all have toll-free numbers.
