Editor’s Note
As flexibility and work-life balance remain among providers’ top priorities, locum tenens has become an increasingly common way for clinicians to thrive in a strained healthcare system. Ongoing workforce shortages have pushed facilities to rely more heavily on temporary coverage, while more clinicians are turning to locum work to gain autonomy over where, when, and how they practice.
This issue focuses on the practical realities that come with that independence. We lead with an update on REAL ID enforcement, a reminder that mobility is not just a benefit of locum tenens but a logistical requirement. As locums travel more frequently across state lines, staying current on evolving regulations is essential to keeping assignments on track.
Elsewhere in this issue, we explore how clinicians are managing the responsibilities that accompany 1099 work, from securing health insurance and navigating financial decisions to rethinking burnout and career sustainability. Together, these pieces reflect a broader shift: locum tenens is becoming a long-term career path that rewards preparation, adaptability, and informed decision-making.
– The Locumpedia Editorial Team
Locum Travel Guide: Do You Need a REAL ID to Fly in 2026?
January 2026 | AMN Healthcare
For locum tenens providers, reliable air travel is essential. With federal identification rules now fully enforced, understanding current TSA requirements is critical to avoiding delays that could disrupt an assignment. As of May 7, 2025, all US travelers age 18 and older must present a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license, an enhanced state ID, or another acceptable form of identification, such as a passport, to fly domestically. Standard driver’s licenses without the compliance star are no longer accepted at TSA checkpoints.
A REAL ID is a state-issued license or ID card that meets federal security standards established under the REAL ID Act. Those who do not yet have one must apply in person at their state licensing agency and provide documentation verifying identity, Social Security number, and residency. Travelers without acceptable ID at the airport may also be subject to additional TSA identity verification steps and fees. While a passport remains a valid alternative, a REAL ID is often more convenient for frequent domestic travel.
For locums who fly often, preparation goes beyond ID compliance. Practical travel strategies, including enrolling in TSA PreCheck, digitizing credentials, packing efficiently, and maximizing airline and hotel rewards, can make constant travel more manageable. With documentation in order, clinicians can focus on patient care rather than travel logistics.
Your Locums Prescription
How to Get Health Insurance as a Locum Tenens Provider
January 20 | CompHealth
For providers considering locum tenens work, health insurance is a top concern. Most locums are 1099 independent contractors, which means they do not have access to employer-sponsored plans and must purchase coverage on their own. Common options include ACA Marketplace plans, private individual plans purchased directly from insurers, COBRA coverage, and joining a spouse or partner’s employer plan.
Managing health insurance becomes an active responsibility when you go locum. Income fluctuations, multi-state assignments, and enrollment timing can all affect costs and coverage. With advance planning, locums can secure reliable coverage that supports flexibility and protects financial stability.
Announcing the Five Outstanding Winners of Locumpedia’s 2025 Locum Tenens Providers of the Year Award
February 3 | Locumpedia
Locumpedia has announced the five winners of its 2025 Locum Tenens Providers of the Year Award, recognizing clinicians whose work exemplifies excellence, service, and impact across the locum tenens community. Selected from dozens of nominations submitted by staffing agencies, this year’s honorees represent a wide range of specialties, including ob/gyn, cardiac anesthesiology, general surgery, emergency medicine, and cardiothoracic surgery. Each provider was recognized for a defining professional quality, delivered in settings where access and continuity are often at risk.
These stories highlight the essential role locum clinicians play in sustaining care across rural, underserved, and high-need communities. Beyond filling staffing gaps, the award recipients demonstrate how locum tenens work can align with purpose, flexibility, and professional growth. By honoring these clinicians, Locumpedia reinforces the value of locum tenens medicine and the meaningful, patient-centered difference providers make when they step in where care is needed most.
International Locum Tenens 101: A Beginner’s Guide
January 26 | Global Medical Staffing
International locum tenens assignments offer physicians the chance to practice medicine abroad while experiencing life in places like New Zealand, Australia, and the Caribbean. These roles often appeal to clinicians seeking adventure, cultural immersion, and a slower pace of life. Unlike domestic locums, international assignments usually require longer commitments, typically six months to a year, due to visa, licensing, and credentialing requirements. However, the benefits include paid lodging, unique experiences, and a renewed sense of purpose.
International locum tenens work is not a quick pivot but can be a deeply rewarding career move. Understanding time commitments, family considerations, and practice differences is essential to success. With the right preparation and support, international locum tenens can reinvigorate a physician’s career while delivering care where it is truly needed.
Maternal-Fetal Medicine Jobs: Is Locum Tenens the Reset You Didn’t Know You Needed?
January 23 | Barton Associates
Maternal-fetal medicine physicians are facing growing pressure as high-risk pregnancies increase and specialist coverage continues to thin. About 35% of US counties are considered maternity care deserts, and national projections estimate a shortage of more than 5,000 obstetricians by 2030. With only about 1,600 MFM specialists practicing nationwide, many are covering large regions, managing complex cases with limited backup, and struggling to step away without disrupting care. As a result, more facilities are turning to locum tenens to maintain access to high-risk pregnancy care.
Locum tenens offers these clinicians a way to reduce burnout without leaving medicine. Flexible scheduling, competitive pay, and reduced administrative burden allow them to regain control over how they practice. At the same time, locum MFMs play a critical role in keeping maternity services available in underserved communities, improving access and outcomes where specialists are urgently needed.
AI On Call
- Doximity shares tips and best practices for providers using AI tools in the workplace, such as ensuring patient privacy protections.
- AI tools make it nearly 14 times more likely that patients are correctly flagged for needing extra care after their hospital visits.
- With AI governance a necessary step for wider adoption, state laws are set to be the primary drivers of regulation and support.
Wellness Retreat
Fighting Burnout With Innovation and Teamwork
January 23 | American Medical Association
Ochsner Health is taking a system-level approach to burnout by redesigning workflows, investing in team-based care, and using technology to reduce administrative burden. Recognized by the American Medical Association’s Joy in Medicine program, the health system has focused on removing low-value tasks that pull physicians away from patient care. One key initiative is the use of ambient listening technology, an AI-supported tool that documents clinical notes in real time during visits. By minimizing after-hours charting and EHR friction, Ochsner aims to restore doctors’ sense of flow and presence in patient interactions.
Burnout is driven less by a lack of resilience and more by poorly designed systems. Ochsner’s approach shows how thoughtful use of technology and teamwork can improve well-being without sacrificing care quality. Reducing cognitive load, not just saving minutes, helps clinicians reconnect with purpose, improve patient communication, and build more sustainable careers in an increasingly demanding healthcare environment.
The Overlooked Role of Finances in Burnout
January 9 | LinkedIn
Burnout is often discussed in terms of workload, documentation, and emotional strain, but financial stress is a quieter contributor. Financial planner Carol Dixon explains how money-related decisions compound the cognitive load physicians already carry. Student loan debt, delayed earning years, complex tax situations, insurance choices, and compressed life milestones all demand attention, despite receiving little to no coverage during medical training. These decisions evolve across career stages, and strategies that work in residency or early practice can become misaligned over time if left unchecked.
Financial uncertainty adds to decision fatigue and can quietly intensify work stress. Clinicians need clarity, context, and financial plans that adapt as careers and personal lives change. Thoughtful, holistic financial planning can reduce stress, support long-term well-being, and help physicians preserve energy for patient care rather than carrying avoidable financial worry alongside clinical demands.
10 Best Medical Specialties for Work-Life Balance
February 2 | Era Locums
As more physicians prioritize flexibility and time off, Era Locums shared a list of 10 specialties with the best work-life balance. It includes teleradiology, anesthesiology, dermatology, otolaryngology, endocrinology, and more, many of which align well with locum tenens work.
Work-life balance is not just about fewer hours, but about being truly off when work ends. Specialty choice plays a major role in long-term sustainability, especially for clinicians dealing with burnout, caregiving responsibilities, or career transitions. For those exploring locum tenens, these specialties may offer a practical path to reclaim time, reduce stress, and build a career that better fits life outside medicine.
Doctor’s Notes
States Where CRNAs Can Practice Independently
January 22 | Medicus Healthcare Solutions
As demand for anesthesia services grows, more attention is turning to where CNRAs can practice independently. They already deliver more than 58 million anesthetics each year, and many rural hospitals rely on them exclusively. Federal policy allows states to opt out of physician supervision requirements for Medicare, but actual practice authority is defined at the state level. As of January 2026, 30 states and Washington, D.C., allow CRNAs to practice without physician supervision, though facility bylaws and payer rules may still apply. Workforce projections suggest reliance will increase as anesthesiologist shortages continue.
Practice authority directly affects autonomy, responsibility, and career options. Independent practice offers greater flexibility but also requires comfort with full clinical ownership. Understanding state-specific rules helps CRNAs align opportunities with experience level and career goals. For many, locum tenens roles provide a lower-risk way to explore independent practice before committing to a long-term role.
How to Ensure Your Lifestyle Doesn’t Outgrow Your Salary
January 25 | The White Coat Investor
White Coat Investor founder Jim Dahle explains how physicians often fall into the “hedonic treadmill,” where spending rises alongside income without delivering lasting increases in happiness. As earnings grow, expectations and lifestyle costs expand, making it harder to save, invest, or reach financial independence. Dahle argues that financial progress depends more on controlling spending than earning more, noting that financial independence is driven by the gap between income and expenses.
Lifestyle inflation can quietly lock doctors into longer, more stressful careers driven by financial necessity rather than choice. Understanding this helps clinicians make intentional decisions about spending, saving, and values. By aligning expenses with what truly brings satisfaction and increasing savings rates, providers can reduce financial stress, preserve flexibility, and avoid burnout tied to feeling financially trapped in demanding roles.
The Risks and Challenges Providers Will Face in 2026
January 23 | Medical Economics
Peter Reilly of HUB International outlines persistent clinician challenges in 2026. Rural hospitals and critical access facilities remain especially vulnerable, raising concerns about long-term viability. At the same time, physicians face increased liability exposure driven by large jury verdicts, cybersecurity threats targeting healthcare organizations, and growing uncertainty about reimbursement and regulation.
These risks extend well beyond day-to-day patient care and can directly affect financial stability, practice sustainability, and well-being. Reilly emphasizes that many of the root causes are interconnected and unlikely to ease quickly. Proactive planning, including stronger risk management, financial reviews, staff support strategies, and advocacy at the local and state level, can help clinicians reduce uncertainty and protect their practices in an increasingly volatile healthcare environment.
Lessons From a Career in Health Tech
February 3 | Physician Side Gigs
We recently shared Physician Side Gigs’ new podcast, “Inside the Doctor’s Lounge”. In the latest episode, Dr. Linda Anegawa, former CMO of Noom, joins Dr. Nisha Mehta to discuss key lessons from her years in health tech.
While the discussion is from a tech perspective, Dr. Anegawa offers practical insights on recognizing your worth, staying true to your role as a physician, and the evolution of provider involvement in tech. It’s a valuable conversation for any clinician seeking to better understand their role in the evolving healthcare technology landscape.
