Healthcare leaders are operating under tighter margins, rising costs, and growing pressure to maintain access to care. Many are turning to AI to help bridge the gap.
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: McKinsey offers its year-end outlook on the future of US healthcare, outlining both financial headwinds and emerging opportunities. Industry margins remain below pre-pandemic levels, while new legislation and reimbursement pressures continue to strain providers. At the same time, these challenges are accelerating the adoption of AI, automation, and new care models, all of which McKinsey estimates could improve healthcare efficiency by 9% to 15%. Staffing firms that can support clients through today’s constraints while preparing for long-term change will be better positioned for sustained success.
Also in Digest 107: Cross Country brings back its founder as CEO, rural healthcare navigates renewed funding uncertainty, and Vivian Health doubles down on AI as a core growth strategy for 2026. Plus, we unpack why common locum tenens myths don’t hold up, and why more physicians are prioritizing flexibility over traditional hospital loyalty.
Financial Headwinds Persist as Healthcare Invests in Efficiency
November 18 | McKinsey & Company
The healthcare industry continues to face sustained financial pressure following the pandemic. Industry margins remain below pre-2020 levels, federal spending constraints are tightening, and recent legislation and payment policies are increasing cost and reimbursement challenges for providers across care settings.
At the same time, these pressures are accelerating operational change. Advances in AI, automation, and evolving care models represent a sizable opportunity to improve efficiency, estimated at 9% to 15% of national health spending.
Tools that reduce administrative burden, improve workforce management, and shift care to lower-cost settings are moving from pilot phases into broader adoption. For healthcare staffing firms, this translates into growing demand for technology-enabled services, faster placement timelines, and clinicians who can operate effectively across diverse environments.
The overall outlook reflects both constraint and opportunity. Healthcare leaders are focused on cost discipline while investing in care redesign to support long-term sustainability. Staffing organizations that align with both supporting near-term operational needs and longer-term transformation are likely to remain valuable partners as the system evolves.
La Vida Locum
Common Locum Tenens Myths and Why They Don’t Hold Up
December 19 | LinkedIn
Rather than serving as temporary substitutes, locum tenens providers are experienced clinicians who’ve worked across multiple facilities and can quickly bring proven approaches to your facility, especially in EMRs, workflows, and team dynamics.
The common argument that locums cost too much also doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. Hourly rates don’t tell the whole story. When you factor in revenue per shift, coverage cost per encounter, and the opportunity cost of an unfilled shift, locum tenens can save facilities money. A vacant schedule can trigger patient diversions, OR cancellations, ED boarding, and burned-out clinicians walking out the door (with replacement costs that can exceed $ 250,000).
While it’s a widespread misconception that locum tenens providers are hard to manage, the right partner and MSP can make locums easier to manage than permanent staff. Consolidate vendors, streamline credentialing, and negotiate from a position of volume. Used strategically, locums become capacity planning rather than crisis control.
Five Reasons Locums Belongs in Your Core Staffing Strategy
December 18 | LocumTenens.com
Vacancies due to burnout, PTO, or turnover can strain clinicians quickly and put patient access at risk. Locums can solve that problem with speed. Facilities gain immediate access to credentialed providers who can step in quickly, keeping schedules intact and care flowing when it matters most.
Locums also removes geographic barriers. With shortages intensifying, recruiting locally isn’t enough, especially in rural and underserved areas. A locum model opens the door to a nationwide pool of specialized talent, including telehealth-ready clinicians who can extend coverage without relocating. And despite the sticker shock some still fear, locums can be cost-effective. When you factor in recruiting costs, benefits, onboarding time, and productivity losses from empty shifts, temporary coverage can protect the bottom line.
The biggest win may be flexibility and morale. Patient volumes fluctuate, but permanent headcount doesn’t have to. Locums lets facilities scale up or down while giving full-time clinicians breathing room, reducing work-related stress, and improving retention.
Locum Leaders
OnCall Solutions Names Michael Skovira CEO
December 28 | OnCall Solutions
OnCall Solutions has named Michael Skovira as its new Chief Executive Officer. A clinician by training, Skovira, who joined the company as President in July 2024, brings a provider-first lens to leadership. He blends operational discipline with a clear understanding of what hospitals and clinicians need from a modern staffing partner.
Since joining the company, Skovira has helped drive growth by strengthening OnCall’s clinical recruitment engine and expanding technology-enabled workflows. His appointment signals a continued focus on scalability, innovation, and the delivery of high-quality locum tenens and permanent placement solutions, while maintaining the clinical standards healthcare employers expect.
Cross Country Brings Back Founder Kevin Clark as President and CEO
December 15 | Staffing Industry Analysts
Cross Country Healthcare announced a leadership change on December 14, 2025, with President and CEO John Martins exiting the company and stepping down from the board.
Current chairman Kevin Clark was appointed as President and CEO, marking a familiar face back at the helm following the recently canceled acquisition by Aya Healthcare.
Clark, who co-founded Cross Country in 1986, brings nearly four decades of healthcare staffing experience and has previously led the company during multiple growth phases. The board cited the timing as an opportunity to reset strategy, with Clark signaling a renewed push toward tech-enabled, AI-driven workforce solutions aimed at long-term, profitable growth as Cross Country charts its next chapter.
Vivian Health Focuses on AI Heading Into 2026
December 26 | Vivian Health
As Vivian looks toward 2026, its message is clear: the staffing playbook changed in 2025, and the agencies winning are working smarter, not harder. While the market may feel flat, Vivian says performance is anything but. With 2.7 million healthcare professionals and more than 220,000 monthly active users across over 10 disciplines, the platform has become a daily touchpoint for clinicians. But scale alone doesn’t win, which is where vertical, purpose-built AI enters the picture.
By diving back into the codebase, Vivian’s founders focused on AI designed to act on recruiters’ behalf, specifically for healthcare staffing. For locum tenens agencies, that means faster submissions, lower cost-per-hire, and round-the-clock momentum, turning AI into a real competitive edge.
Hire Power
Generative AI in Healthcare: The Case for Augmenting, Not Replacing
December 18 | Healthcare IT Today
As healthcare organizations race to adopt generative AI, it’s becoming clear that not all AI strategies deliver equal value. According to Mark Bates, healthcare leaders are experimenting with three approaches, but only one consistently works. Turning AI loose on data or handing tools to staff without guidance often leads to wasted effort, errors, or distrust in the technology.
The most effective path is augmentation. In this model, generative AI supports experienced professionals by organizing information, surfacing ideas, and accelerating workflows while people apply judgment and context. The article likens AI to on-demand access to a subject matter expert. It’s powerful when paired with experience, but risky when relied on blindly. In complex environments like healthcare, expertise remains the filter that separates insight from noise.
This approach is especially relevant for healthcare staffing and recruiting. Used by seasoned recruiters, AI can enhance job descriptions, improve candidate engagement, and reduce friction without sacrificing quality. AI shouldn’t replace your best people, but it should make them faster, sharper, and more effective.
Making the Rounds
Rural Healthcare Faces Funding Uncertainty
December 18 | HealthTech Magazine
Heading into the new year, rural healthcare leaders are facing new challenges. More than 57 million Americans rely on rural hospitals, but many of those facilities are operating in the red after a year marked by funding ambiguity, Medicaid cuts, and uncertainty. Add expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies to the mix, and rising costs are becoming a shared concern for patients and providers alike.
For rural health leaders, the biggest challenge isn’t shrinking reimbursement, but unpredictability. Budget planning is increasingly difficult when payment models and funding streams remain unclear. That instability has already forced some hospitals to scale back essential services, a move that directly affects access to care in already underserved communities.
There is some room for cautious optimism. Federal programs, telehealth grants, nonprofit funding pathways, and partnerships with major technology vendors are helping rural systems stay afloat. This uncertainty underscores the ongoing need for flexible, reliable clinicians as rural health leaders navigate financial headwinds.
Physicians Are Staying, But They’re Not Fully Bought In
December 10 | CompHealth
Clinicians aren’t fleeing en masse, but they’re far from fired up. According to CHG Healthcare’s 2025 Physician Sentiment Survey of more than 900 US doctors, 74% say they’re satisfied in their current role as of December 2025, and 64% plan to stay put for at least another year. Stability is there. Engagement is not. Only 18% qualify as highly engaged, and fewer than three in 10 would recommend their organization as a great place to work, a warning sign for staffing leaders focused on long-term retention.
The frustration drivers are familiar: documentation overload (50%), administrative work (34%), staffing shortages, and leadership that doesn’t listen. Physicians are logging roughly 60 hours a week when clinical and admin time are combined, and nearly 30% say they’re spending less time with patients than a year ago. Trust is thin, too, with only about 40% saying they trust executive leadership or feel aligned with decisions.
Economic pressure is pushing behavior change. In 2025, 30% plan to moonlight, 31% are exploring nonclinical work, and nearly half of physicians already working locum tenens expect to take more shifts. In this environment, flexibility, voice, and smarter workload relief are expected to be the baseline.
2026 Healthcare Trends: Staffing Pressure Meets Strategic Reality
December 26 | Medicus Healthcare Solutions
As 2026 approaches, healthcare leaders are staring down a familiar problem: physician shortages paired with rising patient demand. Federal projections estimate a shortfall of roughly 96,000 physicians in 2026, with the hardest hit specialties being hospital medicine, anesthesiology, cardiology, surgery, and radiology. States like Florida, Texas, and Georgia face the widest gaps.
This translates into longer recruiting cycles, greater pressure on compensation, and a higher risk of service disruption. At the same time, rapid growth among NPs and PAs is reshaping coverage models. While APPs won’t fully replace physicians, they’re becoming essential for maintaining access as shortages persist.
Rural hospital closures add another layer of strain, pushing patient volume and acuity toward regional systems and amplifying the need for flexible coverage, regional call models, and thoughtful contingency planning. Organizations that blend locum tenens, APPs, and technology while prioritizing work-life balance will be best positioned to stabilize care teams and protect access in 2026.
Sponsored Content
Oncology Staffing in 2026: Planning Ahead or Falling Behind?
October 31 | Cancer CarePoint
Oncology programs are entering the new year under real pressure, with aging clinicians, rising cancer volumes, and tighter workforce margins. Nearly one in four oncologists is approaching retirement, and without clear succession plans, facilities risk coverage gaps that disrupt care, strain remaining staff, and threaten accreditation benchmarks. Forward-looking cancer centers are responding early, using data-driven forecasting and hybrid staffing models to protect continuity and revenue before cracks appear.
AI is becoming a key planning tool, helping leaders anticipate patient surges, retirement waves, and shifts in treatment demand months in advance. At the same time, oncology-trained NPs and PAs are playing a larger role in sustaining access, managing routine care, and easing physician burnout, freeing oncologists to focus on complex cases that require their expertise.
The most significant shift is that flexibility is now standard. Successful programs are blending full-time staff, locum tenens clinicians, teleoncology, and cross-system coverage to stay agile. Proactive, hybrid staffing is now the standard for how care stays uninterrupted in 2026.
Why Younger Physicians Are Redefining the Staffing Playbook
March 28 | OnCall Solutions
As Gen Z and millennial physicians take up a larger share of the workforce, they’re rewriting what a successful medical career looks like. Flexibility now outranks prestige and long hours, with work-life balance topping the list of priorities for younger clinicians. Data shows flexible schedules directly influence job decisions, and many early-career providers are willing to walk away from traditional roles that don’t align with their personal goals.
Work stress is a major driver. Younger physicians have watched prior generations grind under 80-hour weeks and are opting out of that model early. Administrative overload, limited autonomy, and rigid schedules are pushing them toward flexible options like locum tenens, moonlighting, and short-term contracts that offer control without sacrificing patient care.
Higher compensation alone won’t cut it. Organizations that embrace flexible scheduling, hybrid roles, and locum tenens models will attract and retain the physicians shaping the future of care.
