Editor’s Note
Planning earlier shows up in nearly every part of this issue of Locums Digest. The lead story looks at locum tenens through a financial lens, highlighting how coverage decisions connect directly to access, scheduling, and the ability to keep services moving. When roles sit open or onboarding lags, the effects are felt quickly across healthcare organizations.
That same pattern carries into how staffing is being approached more broadly. A single solution rarely holds up on its own. A mix of locum tenens, per diem, and permanent hiring is increasingly presented as a more flexible way to manage variability, along with a more deliberate approach to working with agency partners and planning for known gaps. In specialties like hospital medicine, where supply remains uneven, those decisions carry real consequences. Market conditions are still settling, with growth patterns that vary by segment and expectations that continue to shift.
Outside of staffing models, a few other signals are worth paying attention to across the industry. “Shadow AI,” the unauthorized use of AI tools in clinical settings, is already surfacing and creating new questions around governance. Conversations around physician burnout continue to point back to system-level issues. Even recent hiring gains come with some caution, as labor disruptions and return-to-work patterns continue to influence the numbers. None of this is static. Conditions are still shifting, which makes preparation and alignment more important than ever.
– The Locumpedia Editorial Team
Main Story
4 Ways To Improve Hospital Revenue With Locum Tenens
March 24, 2026 | CHG Healthcare
It’s often framed as a cost, but locum tenens is better understood as a revenue protection strategy. Intentional coverage planning, combined with sound billing practices, allows temporary staffing to preserve and even support revenue while healthcare organizations stabilize their workforce. Unfilled roles extend beyond scheduling gaps, limiting access to care and reducing the volume of billable services across the organization.
Revenue follows coverage. With physicians in place, hospitals can maintain patient throughput, keep appointments on the books, and support downstream services tied to diagnostics, procedures, and referrals. Gaps in credentialing or payer enrollment can quickly erode that value. Data cited in the piece shows that clinicians who are not billable on day one can represent significant missed revenue, underscoring the need to align credentialing and enrollment timelines with staffing plans.
Locum tenens works best as part of a proactive workforce strategy instead of a last-minute fix. Standardized billing processes, earlier planning for vacancies, and a clear approach to onboarding help facilities maintain continuity while protecting financial performance. Used this way, locum tenens supports operational stability and long-term recruitment efforts, giving teams the flexibility to avoid rushed hiring decisions and reduce strain on permanent staff.
La Vida Locum
Healthcare Staffing Solutions: Per Diem, Locum Tenens, Workforce Planning, and AI-Enabled Workforce Intelligence
April 1, 2026 | Cross Country Healthcare
A more effective way to think about staffing is as a mix of models rather than a single solution. Locum tenens, per diem, permanent hiring, and workforce planning each serve a different purpose, and leaning too heavily on one approach can create gaps elsewhere. That shift reflects how many facilities are operating today. A unit may appear stable on paper, yet still struggle week to week as PTO, patient volume, and unexpected departures throw off the schedule.
A flexible coverage model helps absorb that variability without turning every disruption into an urgent request. Organizations that plan ahead and build in optionality are better positioned to maintain continuity and manage labor costs more effectively. Workforce intelligence, including AI-enabled tools, provides a way to identify patterns earlier and support more informed decisions around staffing and resource allocation. This changes the focus from filling shifts to forecasting demand, aligning resources, and reducing reactive decisions that stretch clinicians and scheduling teams.
Building Strategic Partnerships With Locum Agencies
April 2, 2026 | Consilium Staffing
Many facilities work with three to five locum agencies at once, assuming more options will lead to better outcomes. In practice, that approach often creates more complexity than coverage. When every opening is sent to multiple vendors, internal teams spend more time managing submissions, tracking candidates, and sorting through duplication than actually moving roles forward.
The distinction comes down to how agencies operate. A strong partner is tracking contract end dates, understanding credentialing timelines, and reaching out 90 to 120 days before predictable gaps emerge. A tiered network supports that model, with a go-to partner handling core volume, specialty partners covering hard-to-fill roles, and a broader pool reserved for true emergencies. This raises the bar for agencies. Operational awareness, clear communication, and honest timelines matter more than volume alone.
5 Powerful Ways Locum Tenens Staffing Is Reducing Physician Burnout and Improving Retention Rates in Healthcare
April 8, 2026 | Annashae Healthcare Staffing + Consulting
Locum tenens is positioned here as a practical way to relieve physician burnout, with a focus on how facilities are applying it in daily practice. Temporary coverage during high-demand periods allows permanent physicians to take time off and recover without shifting unsafe workloads onto the rest of the care team. That support helps maintain continuity while reducing the pressure that builds when gaps go unfilled.
Retention shows up in how that relief is sustained. Flexibility, faster gap coverage, and more consistent staffing all contribute to a healthier work environment, and planning plays a central role. Coverage is most effective when it accounts for predictable needs such as seasonal demand, parental leave, and known surges in patient volume. Organizations that take this approach are better equipped to stabilize teams, support physician well-being, and avoid the cycle of overwork that leads to turnover.
Locum Leaders
- Aya Healthcare and Provider Solutions & Development aligned to combine locum tenens staffing and permanent recruitment, offering healthcare organizations coordinated support for immediate coverage and long-term hiring.
- VeloSource was named to Staffing Industry Analysts’ 2026 Best Staffing Firms to Work For list for the second straight year, reflecting strong employee satisfaction and continued growth.
- Pacific Companies promoted Graham Mask to Director of Recruitment, Locum Tenens, recognizing his performance, consistency, and impact over the past year.
- Floyd Lee Locums’ Natasha Lee was named one of Charleston Business Magazine’s 50 Most Influential People in South Carolina.
Hire Power
How To Stay Ahead of Workforce Gaps With Predictive Analytics
April 2, 2026 | LocumTenens.com
Workforce gaps rarely come out of nowhere. A flu surge, a cluster of PTO approvals, or a sudden departure can quickly sap a schedule that looked stable days earlier. Predictive analytics reframes that volatility as something measurable. By analyzing historical operational data, health systems can identify recurring patterns and anticipate when staffing pressure is likely to build.
Common signals include seasonal demand shifts, recurring overtime spikes, vacation trends, and service line growth. Tracking those patterns allows teams to plan earlier and secure coverage before demand tightens. This approach supports more consistent operations, reduces reliance on urgent orders, and helps limit the cost and burden that come with reactive staffing decisions.
The Hospitalist Shortage: Understanding the Growing Supply-Demand Imbalance
March 24, 2026 | Medicus Healthcare Solutions
Hospital medicine remains an ongoing staffing strain. The US has approximately 40,120 active hospitalists, with an average of about 10 per 100,000 people, but that supply is unevenly distributed across regions. National totals offer limited relief for facilities struggling to recruit in specific markets, where gaps persist despite overall workforce size.
Locum tenens continues to play a meaningful role in maintaining access. Medicus reports that about 13% of the hospitalist workforce has worked or currently works in locum tenens, based on proprietary data as of March 2026. Burnout remains a factor in retention, with a 2025 Medscape survey finding that 32% of hospitalists said their work-life balance had worsened over the past three years. Coverage in this specialty will continue to rely on interim staffing, making early planning, aligned credentialing timelines, and assignment continuity critical to maintaining stability.
Healthcare Staffing Seeing Uneven Growth Following Post-Pandemic Correction
April 7, 2026 | Staffing Industry Analysts
Healthcare staffing isn’t moving as a single market. The post-pandemic correction and subsequent recovery have played out unevenly across segments, with some areas stabilizing and returning to growth while others continue to adjust under tighter budgets and increased buyer scrutiny. Locum tenens remains one of the few still seeing strong gains, driven by physician shortages and sustained demand across high-need specialties.
Growth is becoming more conditional. Health systems are placing greater emphasis on fill rates, time-to-credential, and demonstrated performance within specific specialties. Benchmarking against peak-pandemic demand is no longer useful. Expectations have shifted, and staffing models, vendor structures, and workforce planning approaches need to reflect a more segmented and selective market.
Making the Rounds
Shadow AI: Dos and Don’ts for Healthcare Orgs
April 8, 2026 | Fierce Healthcare
Unauthorized use of AI tools, often referred to as “shadow AI,” is already showing up in clinical settings. Reporting from Fierce Healthcare highlights a Wolters Kluwer survey of more than 500 health professionals, where 40% said they had encountered unauthorized AI tools at work and 17% reported using them. The article also features a Podnosis podcast conversation between Fierce Healthcare’s Anastassia Gliadkovskaya and Wolters Kluwer Health CTO Alex Tyrrell on how organizations should respond.
The discussion centers on governance rather than restriction. Blanket bans may not address why clinicians turn to these tools, particularly for speed, documentation support, and quick access to information. Clear policies, structured onboarding, and defined guardrails help organizations manage risk while supporting appropriate use as AI adoption continues to expand across care settings
Physician Burnout, Stigma, and System Failure: What Leaders Must Address Now
April 7, 2026 | LinkedIn
Tim Fischer, President of Jackson and Coker, frames physician well-being as a leadership responsibility rather than an awareness issue. He points to three persistent drivers: burnout becoming normalized, stigma around seeking help, and structural barriers that make clinical practice harder than it should be. The underlying causes are familiar, including administrative burden, inefficient systems, misaligned incentives, and limited flexibility in care delivery.
He also highlights the work of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation, particularly efforts to change licensure and credentialing questions that can discourage clinicians from seeking mental health support. The implications extend beyond individual experience, affecting retention, team dynamics, and the stability of care delivery. Addressing these issues requires leadership-level action, with changes to policies, systems, and support structures that influence whether clinicians stay engaged or step away.
Healthcare Adds 76,000 Jobs in March: 5 Things To Know
April 3, 2026 | Becker’s Hospital Review
Healthcare hiring rose in March, with employment up 76,400, well above the 12-month average of 29,000 monthly gains, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The increase followed a February decline of 32,400 jobs. Ambulatory care drove much of the growth, including a 35,000 gain in physician offices as workers returned from a strike, while hospitals added 14,900 jobs.
The rebound points to continued volatility rather than steady momentum. Month-to-month gains can be influenced by labor disruptions and return-to-work patterns, making underlying staffing stability harder to gauge. Demand for clinicians is still shifting in waves, which keeps pressure on coverage planning. Maintaining contingency staffing plans remains important even during periods of growth, particularly when local disruptions or labor events can quickly tighten capacity.
