Locum Tenens offers key benefits for FQHCs by filling staffing gaps, reducing burnout, improving access to care,...
02/20/2025 |
Consider this—over 20 million people in the U.S. live in medically underserved areas or belong to underserved populations. These communities often struggle to access adequate care. This is where Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) play an integral role in providing care to vulnerable groups who may otherwise not have access. Funded through HRSA Health Center Programs, FQHCs include Community Health Centers (CHCs), Migrant Health Centers (MHCs), Healthcare for the Homeless (HCHs) and more.
In 2023, health centers served 31 million patients, with care delivered across 1,400 FQHCs nationwide, highlighting how important these institutions are in their communities.
Now consider this challenge—The U.S. is facing a severe physician shortage, with projections ranging from 86,000 to 124,000 physicians by 2036 according to the AHA and AAMC. Regardless of the exact figure, one thing is clear: the skills gap will be devastating. And this will be particularly devastating for the medically underserved and rural regions where many FQHCs tend to operate. With 7,742 healthcare professional shortage areas affecting 77 million people and 13,271 practitioners needed, these gaps lead to greater health disparities.
With healthcare systems nationwide struggling to recruit and retain talent, FQHCs—especially in medically underserved and rural areas—are particularly vulnerable. So how are FQHC health systems planning for these widening shortages? Many are turning to locum tenens as a flexible, cost-effective solution to bridge skills gaps and ensure uninterrupted patient care.
This blog explores what locum tenens is, the challenges FQHCs face, and the key benefits locums provides to these health centers.
What is Locum Tenens?
Locum Tenens is a Latin term meaning “to hold the place of”. It refers to healthcare professionals who temporarily fill staffing gaps in healthcare facilities. Though traditionally locum tenens providers referred to physicians, it now encompasses a wide range of advanced practice providers (APP) including physician assistants (PAs), nurse practitioners (NPs), dentists, and more. Collectively, these temporary clinicians are referred to as locum tenens providers in the field.
Locum tenens providers cover staffing gaps caused by a variety of factors such as:
Employee vacationsMaternity leaveExtended illnessesSabbaticalsGeneral shortagesIncreased seasonal demandHealth crises & pandemicsEmergencies & natural disasters
Healthcare facilities of all kinds enlist locums to meet staffing needs, such as urgent cares, FQHCs, dental practices, hospitals, outpatient clinics, and other health centers. While nearly 90% of health systems use locum tenens, one 2021 study in the Journal of Rural Health found that over a third of FQHCs utilized temporary providers, such as physicians, NPs, and PAs, from 2013 to 2017. Furthermore, one 2024 report found that 56% of healthcare organizations expected to either increase or maintain locum tenens levels.
Workforce Challenges Affecting FQHCs
Considering the diversity of FQHC types, it’s understandable that their needs and challenges also vary, but overlap exists in some of the challenges they face. Like most healthcare systems, recruiting and retaining talent are one of these challenges. The inability to recruit physicians or advanced practitioners ultimately jeopardizes the care they can provide, or in some cases, whether they can offer services at all.
Though recruitment and retention are major workforce challenges, other workforce issues FQHCs face include:
Recruitment in Rural/Underserved Areas & Lack of Local Providers: FQHCs struggle to attract and retain permanent providers in rural, isolated areas due to limited appeal and a lack of local clinicians.High Turnover Rates & Increased Burnout: Demanding work conditions, heavy workloads, and understaffing contribute to burnout, resulting in high turnover that affects both provider well-being and patient care.Budget and Funding Constraints: Tight budgets make it difficult to hire full-time staff, limiting the services FQHCs can offer and impacting the quality of care.Seasonal and Short-Term Coverage Needs: With patient needs fluctuating, FQHCs often face challenges finding short-term coverage that aligns with their staffing demands. Growing Patient Volumes & Higher Provider Workloads: More patients and increased workloads place greater pressure on providers, leading to operational strain, burnout, and job dissatisfaction. Revenue Loss: Limited resources and high demand result in revenue losses, as patients seek care elsewhere and operations become harder to sustain.
Key Benefits of Locum Tenens for FQHCs
How do locum providers help address workforce challenges for FQHCs? Locum providers step in to assist facilities dealing with chronic understaffing. They offer greater coverage to ensure seamless care continuity, redistribute workloads to alleviate pressure on core employees, increase revenue potential, and provide many other benefits to counteract the workforce challenges currently faced.
Here are some of the key benefits locum providers offer FQHC facilities:
1. Uninterrupted Patient Care
Locum tenens ensure continuity of care by filling in gaps and preventing interruptions. By handling patient loads, locums allow permanent staff to focus on critical tasks, improving both provider well-being and the overall patient experience. Understaffing can limit the services facilities are able to offer, but with locum providers stepping in, patients are tended to rather than turned away. This consistent care leads to better patient outcomes, increased community trust, and higher patient satisfaction, all of which positively impact workplace morale.
2. Filling Critical Staffing Gaps
Enlisting locums can be a powerful, short-term solution to combat physician shortages. Gaps caused by medical leaves, sabbaticals, vacations, or increased patient volumes are common, and this is where locum workers fill the gap. Leveraging locum providers to address shortages is actually a common practice in healthcare. For instance, a 2024 study found that 71% of locum tenens worksites were in Healthcare Physician Shortage Areas (HPSA), and a 2022 survey revealed that 43% of hospitals and medical groups tackled staffing shortages by adding temporary clinicians. This temporary help is valuable and necessary for hospitals struggling with ongoing shortages.
3. Reducing Patient Wait Times
In 2022, the average physician wait time for new patients was reported to be 26 days. A more recent 2024 report by Becker’s Hospital Review found that the third next available appointment across 11 specialties averaged 38 days—a sharp contrast to the 14-day wait time once considered typical. This has serious consequences for patients seeking care, especially in facilities with limited staff.
The extra support that locums lends means that long wait times are reduced and it also ensures that patients are tended to more quickly. Shortening these wait times improves care, boosts patient satisfaction, and fosters brand loyalty and trust. Locum providers can handle routine visits, freeing up permanent staff to focus on administrative tasks or other priorities, ultimately reducing patient backlogs and easing the workload.
4. Preventing Burnout & Supporting Full-Time Staff
The physician burnout crisis peaked in 2021, with the American Medical Association reporting a record high of 62.8%. Luckily, for the first time in four years, burnout dropped below 50% as of summer 2024. Though figures have dropped, the AMA emphasizes the importance of maintaining focus on physician well-being to prevent burnout. This is especially relevant for health centers in underserved areas that may be experiencing constant shortages and workplace turnover, resulting in added workloads for their employees.
Locum providers help prevent overburdening permanent staff by offering relief from daily pressures and workload stress. By stepping in to handle greater patient volumes or covering for permanent staff to enjoy vacations and breaks, locum coverage can improve retention, boost job satisfaction, and allow core employees to recharge—all of which enhances morale and reduces turnover.
5. Financial Benefits of Locums Support
For the facility seeking greater cost efficiencies and driving revenue, locum tenens plays a crucial role in two powerful ways.
First, utilizing temporary clinicians through an agency helps avoid overhead expenses such as salaries, benefits, malpractice insurance and ongoing recruitment costs associated with longstanding vacancies. If applicable, locum usage also helps reduce overtime costs, which is meaningful in dollar amounts, yes, but also for promoting a healthy work-life balance for full-time employees.
Another financial benefit of locums? Helping facilities keep revenue flowing. Patients who can’t be seen often have no choice but to seek care elsewhere, leading to thousands of dollars in lost revenue daily. Locum providers help prevent this by stepping in to keep services running, expanding capacity, and ensuring more patients get the care they need. In many cases, locum providers even pay for themselves through patient billing, helping facilities—especially FQHCs—stay financially stable.
It's important to address the obvious—locum workers tend to have a higher hourly rate than their permanent counterparts (about $32.45 more per hour as of 2020). As a short-term solution, however, the ROI is clear: keeping doors open, accepting more patients, and maintaining care. That said, for a long-term workforce strategy, it’s best to combine locum support with other workforce solutions.
Looking to build a long-term, sustainable workforce? Explore other healthcare workforce solutions that support lasting strategies for resilience and success!
6. Access to a Diverse and Skilled Talent Pool
A great benefit of partnering with a locums agency is their nationwide reach, connecting facilities with a diverse pool of clinicians from various backgrounds and specialties. For facilities struggling to staff hard-to-fill positions, a locums agency can provide highly qualified professionals in that niche. It’s also a great way to bring in providers from diverse cultural backgrounds, helping integrate fresh perspectives into your facility and positively impacting both diversity efforts and patient outcomes in the community.
7. Flexibility to Changing Needs
Flexibility is a key benefit of locums. Imagine having staff exactly when and where you need them as unanticipated challenges arise. Whether it’s seasonal fluctuations, sudden patient surges, or unexpected vacancies, locums serve as a responsive solution, ensuring operations continue to run smoothly.
Temporary workers also offer flexibility for hospitals expanding their services. They provide immediate coverage while facilities recruit permanent hires, allowing organizations to scale their workforce, operations, and service offerings.
8. Streamlined Hiring Process
We’re all too familiar with the woes of hiring—sourcing, screening, compliance checks, and all the meticulous steps needed to find the right provider. It’s time-consuming. Time-to-fill estimates vary widely, from 103 days for a general physician to 62 days for advanced practitioners. Some place the industry average at six months across all physician specialties, with competitive fields or hard-to-recruit regions taking an extra six months. The AAPPR Physician and Provider Recruitment Benchmarking 2024 Report found median hiring times for physicians range from 77 to 228 days.
One major advantage of partnering with a locum agency is that they handle the entire hiring process—including sourcing, screening, background checks, compliance, and more. They work closely with your facility to find candidates who align with your criteria, values, and culture. You’ll have the opportunity to connect with candidates to ensure the right fit, while the agency takes care of the rest—managing compliance, covering malpractice insurance, and securing the necessary state licensing.
This saves valuable time, allowing organizations to onboard professionals quickly and ensure operations continue running smoothly.
9. Trial Period Before Committing
One great thing about temporary hires is the exposure both the provider and facility get. The provider can experience a new environment, role, and location—sometimes leading to a full-time transition. For the facility, trying out a temporary provider is a way to try out a potential employee and avoiding costly mis-hires. It’s a great way for both parties to test the fit before making a long-term commitment.
10. Support in Provider Enrollment and Billing
Locum tenens agencies can offer support in credentialing and billing, helping health centers navigate the complexities of provider enrollment and reimbursement. Their expertise can ease administrative burdens, streamline processes, and help ensure providers are set up properly, allowing facilities to focus on patient care
How to Get Started with Locum Tenens Staffing
Incorporating locum tenens solutions is a valuable asset to many healthcare facilities, especially those already struggling with staffing. Their use helps alleviate several challenges FQHCs face by optimizing staffing levels, easing workload distribution, and most importantly, enhancing patient care delivery.
It might seem intimidating getting started with locums, but we’ve outlined a few steps to consider if you’re thinking this might be the solution for your health organization.
Steps to Take:
Assess Your Staffing Needs – Identify where your gaps are, who is impacted, and whether you need short-term coverage, long-term support, or specialists. Research Locum Tenens Providers – Not all locum agencies are the same. Look for a partner with strong industry expertise, a broad provider network, and the right technology to support your needs.Partner with a Trusted Provider – Choose an agency experienced in FQHC staffing that understands your facility’s unique needs.Collaborate to Find the Right Fit – Work with your locum partner to identify candidates that align with your culture, values, and patient care model.Now, Deliver Care with the Right Team in Place! – With the right locum providers seamlessly integrated into your team, your facility can stay fully staffed and focused on patient care.
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