As healthcare staffing settles into a more sustainable phase after pandemic highs, locum-forward and APP-heavy models are emerging as clear winners.
Welcome to Locums Digest, Locumpedia’s free bi-weekly roundup of industry news and trends that helps locum tenens agencies and healthcare facilities make informed business decisions.
In this edition: Ringo breaks down the most important healthcare staffing trends shaping 2025. Even after the market reset, staffing revenue is still projected to reach a steady $39 billion, setting the stage for flexible, physician-led coverage models powered by new technology in 2026 and beyond.
Also in Digest 106: Aya and Cross Country’s merger falls through, five healthcare staffing trends for 2026 to keep an eye on, and new telehealth laws expand access to care. Plus, how locum tenens can protect facilities’ bottom lines, why rural hospitals are losing doctors quickly, and what the One Big Beautiful Bill means for emergency department staffing.
Healthcare Staffing in 2025 and Beyond: Stabilizing, Scaling, and Going Digital
November 21 | Ringo
The post-pandemic staffing boom is settling into a more sustainable rhythm. This year, US healthcare staffing revenue is projected to reach about $39 billion, down from pandemic highs but more sustainable. Locum tenens continues to grow, signaling a long-term shift toward flexible, physician-led coverage models supported by technology.
Locum tenens spending is expected to hit nearly $9.6 billion in 2025, more than double 2019 levels. Physician shortages, aging clinicians, rural hospital risk, and rising labor costs are keeping demand high. In 2024, more than 80% of healthcare facilities used locum providers, and most expect usage to hold steady or increase as vacancies remain costly and difficult to fill.
At the same time, staffing operations are moving onto platforms. MSPs and vendor-neutral VMS tools are becoming standard, improving transparency, speed, and cost control across specialties. For healthcare organizations, this shift signals how staffing will evolve in the second half of the 2020s.
La Vida Locum
Six Smart Ways Locums Strengthen the Bottom Line
November 20 | CompHealth
Too often, locum tenens is treated as a stopgap, but used strategically, it’s a financial lever. Physicians drive far more than professional fees, as each one supports millions in downstream revenue from imaging, labs, referrals, and procedures. Filling coverage gaps with locums keeps that engine running while protecting patient volume and ancillary revenue that would otherwise stall during vacancies.
Locums also help organizations earn more with the staff they already have. By covering routine visits, locum physicians free full-time specialists to focus on high-margin procedures, reduce referral leakage, and keep lucrative service lines in-network. In fact, a single physician vacancy can cost close to $1 million in lost referrals, while patient retention directly influences reimbursement in value-based models.
Just as important, locums ease burnout. Temporary coverage reduces overload, shortens time-to-fill gaps, and lowers costly turnover. The result is steadier throughput, healthier teams, and a staffing strategy that supports both care delivery and financial performance.
Why Locum Tenens Is a Workforce Advantage
December 9 | Medicus Healthcare Solutions
When healthcare leaders think of locum tenens, coverage is usually the first thing that comes to mind. But hospitals that use locums strategically gain much more. Locum physicians and advanced practice providers bring experience shaped across health systems, community hospitals, and rural settings, allowing them to deliver confident care from day one while adapting quickly to local needs.
That adaptability pays dividends. Locum clinicians are accustomed to joining new teams, supporting workflows, and easing pressure during turnover, seasonal surges, or service expansions. Their flexibility helps stabilize care delivery, protects team culture, and reduces burnout by preventing permanent staff from carrying unsustainable workloads.
Most importantly, locums bring cross-system insight. Exposure to different care models, technologies, and clinical approaches allows them to share practical ideas that strengthen collaboration and operations. When integrated into workforce planning, locum tenens becomes a strategic asset that supports resilience, continuity, and long-term access to care.
Using Locums to Protect Care Access and Financial Performance
November 25 | Advisory Board
Most health systems use locum tenens physicians, but many leave value on the table. The issue isn’t locums, but deployment. When integrated into a long-term workforce strategy, locum physicians can stabilize coverage, preserve patient access, and protect margins during vacancies instead of creating revenue gaps.
High-performing systems plan ahead. They align payer enrollment with credentialing, classify locums early as replacement or supplemental, and ensure billing starts on day one. Proactive credentialing alone can prevent months of lost revenue, keep service lines open, and avoid patient leakage when a physician departs unexpectedly.
The biggest shift is cultural. Forward-thinking organizations treat locums as clinical equals, fully integrating them into schedules, systems, and teams. Used this way, locums support innovation by launching service lines, extending high-margin throughput, and strengthening recruitment pipelines. Done right, locum tenens is a scalable strategy for resilient care delivery and financial stability.
Locum Leaders
Aya–Cross Country Deal Falls Through: What It Means for Staffing
December 5 | Staffing Industry Analysts
Aya Healthcare terminated its planned acquisition of Cross Country Healthcare due to prolonged regulatory delays and disruption caused by the government shutdown. As a result, both organizations will continue to operate independently rather than consolidate into a single entity.
For clinicians and healthcare organizations, the decision maintains the current competitive structure across several staffing segments, including locum tenens. Health systems can continue evaluating Aya and Cross Country separately based on pricing, technology offerings, vendor neutrality, and service models, rather than adjusting to a consolidated provider.
For small and midsize staffing firms, the termination reduces near-term consolidation pressure while broader M&A activity in healthcare staffing continues. The outcome preserves a fragmented market structure and leaves room for firms to pursue growth, partnerships, or acquisitions aligned with their strategic priorities.
Hayes Locums Elevates Two Leaders Driving Its Next Chapter
November 18 | Hayes Locums
Hayes Locums announced two executive promotions that signal where the firm is headed next: operational discipline paired with strategic innovation. As reported in Locums Digest #102, David Richardson steps into the chief operating officer role after a decade shaping core operations, from credentialing and travel to marketing and sales support, helping scale specialty teams and tighten performance across the business.
Meanwhile, Corey Self was promoted to chief strategy officer after leading major advances in training, technology, and digital transformation. From award-winning onboarding programs to platforms like LocumScope, Self has aligned technology with business strategy. Together, these promotions reflect Hayes Locums’ focus on people-first leadership and long-term execution in a competitive locums market.
Hire Power
Healthcare Staffing in 2026: Five Shifts You Can’t Ignore
December 1 | All Medical Personnel
Healthcare staffing is heading into 2026 with both momentum and tension. AI tools are becoming routine in scheduling, documentation, and workforce forecasting, but they’re augmenting clinicians, not replacing them. The competitive edge will go to professionals and organizations that understand how to work alongside tech without adding friction to care delivery.
Meanwhile, shortages aren’t easing. Physician workforce gaps are expected to deepen, pushing facilities toward new solutions like locum tenens, telehealth, and flexible scheduling models. At the same time, licensure compacts are expanding, making multi-state practice more common and more valuable for clinicians willing to cast a wider net.
Specialization and policy awareness round out the picture. Niche skills in behavioral health, geriatrics, diagnostics, and virtual care will command attention, while scope-of-practice laws and reimbursement changes reshape where and how clinicians work.
Why the Big Beautiful Bill Will Send More Patients to the Emergency Department
December 1 | Vista Staffing
The One Big Beautiful Bill is poised to reshape demand for emergency care. By tightening Medicaid eligibility, rolling back premium tax credits, and cutting state funding streams, the law could leave more than 10 million Americans uninsured over the next decade. When coverage shrinks, patients delay routine care, chronic conditions worsen, and the emergency department becomes the default entry point.
Hospitals should expect higher ED volume and acuity. Fewer outpatient and behavioral health resources mean more psychiatric crises, more complex social dispositions, and longer lengths of stay. Cuts to post-acute care are likely to worsen boarding as discharges stall, while nursing home closures and strained community programs push patients back through ED doors.
Rural and safety-net hospitals will feel it first. With emergency medicine already facing workforce gaps, leaders will need flexible staffing models, surge planning, and strong EM partnerships to protect access, clinician retention, and operational stability as demand rises.
Making the Rounds
New Telehealth Laws Are Expanding Access, For Now
November 20 | Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
Telehealth’s pandemic-era surge has rewired access to care. Recent federal and state laws are expanding reimbursement, technology investment, and licensure flexibility, helping clinicians reach patients who’ve long faced barriers due to geography, broadband gaps, or workforce shortages.
At the federal level, the Rural Health Transformation Program now directs $10 billion annually to states that invest in tools such as telehealth and remote patient monitoring, with additional incentives for licensure compact participation. CMS has also added new Medicare codes for RPM in the 2026 Physician Fee Schedule, supporting proactive management of chronic conditions and fewer emergency visits. The catch is that many Medicare telehealth flexibilities expire in January 2026 unless extended, which could narrow access again.
States are stepping in to fill gaps. Laws expanding audio-only telehealth and Medicaid-covered RPM are gaining traction. Together, these policies signal momentum toward broader access, but sustainability will hinge on what happens next at the federal level.
Rural Family Medicine Is Losing Doctors Quickly
December 4 | Health Leaders Media
Rural primary care is shrinking at the worst possible time. Between 2017 and 2023, the number of family physicians practicing in rural communities dropped 11%, even as many of those areas grew in population. This loss of more than 1,300 physicians nationwide puts pressure on access, continuity, and already-stretched care teams.
The workforce is becoming more diverse, with women now making up about 42% of rural family physicians. But heavier workloads, limited community support, and blurred work-life boundaries continue to drive burnout, relocation, and early retirement. Rural physicians are still expected to do it all, often with fewer resources.
Researchers say reversing the trend will require targeted action. Rural-focused training pathways, better compensation, stronger APP support, and real attention to work-life balance are critical. Without them, the gap between rural and urban healthcare access will only widen.
Sponsored Content
Oncology Staffing in 2026: How Cancer Programs Are Getting Ahead
October 31 | Cancer CarePoint
Oncology leaders know staffing decisions directly affect access, continuity, and outcomes. Heading into 2026, cancer programs face an aging oncologist workforce, rising demand, and mounting work stress. That’s why the most innovative systems are planning early to protect patient care and program stability.
AI-driven forecasting and succession planning are moving to the forefront as nearly one-quarter of oncologists are near retirement age. Programs are pairing predictive analytics with hybrid staffing models that blend employed clinicians, oncology-trained APPs, and locum tenens support. This approach preserves institutional knowledge, prevents care disruptions, and keeps high-value service lines running without overloading permanent teams.
Teleoncology and cross-system staffing are rounding out the strategy. Virtual visits, float pools, and multi-site credentialing help extend subspecialty expertise into rural and underserved areas while maintaining flexibility. Resilient oncology programs in 2026 will be those that balance long-term workforce planning with adaptable, data-informed staffing solutions.
The Real Cost of Locums, and Why the Math Often Works
September 26 | OnCall Solutions
Vacant shifts are expensive. Lost billings, overtime, diverted patients, and burned-out clinicians add up fast. Locum tenens physicians help stabilize schedules and protect access, but budgeting solely around hourly rates misses the bigger financial picture and often undervalues the return.
When you factor in agency support, travel, malpractice, and credentialing, locum rates look higher at first glance. Compare that to permanent hires, though, and the gap narrows. Benefits, taxes, recruitment timelines that stretch four to 11 months, and idle operating room or emergency department capacity can cost far more than short-term locum coverage. In many cases, locums prevent six-figure revenue losses tied to extended vacancies.
Smart budgeting treats locums as a strategic investment, not a panic expense. Breaking costs into clear categories, modeling realistic time-to-fill scenarios, and accounting for downstream benefits helps leaders protect margins while keeping care uninterrupted.
