Editor’s Note
Rick Jackson’s win in Georgia’s Republican primary runoff puts a major staffing executive on the November ballot for governor of a key battleground state. Jackson is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Jackson Healthcare, parent company of Jackson and Coker Locum Tenens and LocumTenens.com. The nomination connects the locum tenens industry to one of the more competitive governor’s races in the country this cycle.
This issue also tracks a concentrated stretch of policy developments. A Congressional subcommittee held a hearing on locum tenens provider classification, the Department of Labor proposed wage changes that could raise the cost of sponsoring clinical workers, and Alaska moved toward joining the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. Each carries direct implications for how facilities approach coverage and how agencies operate.
Physician demand continues to climb while new competitors enter the market and the training pipeline remains constrained. Supply data and residency research both point to structural gaps that won’t close quickly. The stories in this edition of Locums Digest reflect an industry that’s being pulled into sharper focus, from the campaign trail to Capitol Hill to the physician supply pipeline.
– The Locumpedia Editorial Team
Lead Story
Billionaire Rick Jackson Defeats Trump-Backed Burt Jones for the GOP Nomination in Georgia Governor’s Race
June 16, 2026 | NBC News
Rick Jackson, founder, chairman, and CEO of Jackson Healthcare, won the Republican primary runoff in Georgia’s gubernatorial race on June 16, defeating Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. Jackson, a first-time candidate who self-funded more than $100 million of his campaign, captured roughly 53% of the vote to advance to the November general election. He will face Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, in what’s expected to be one of the marquee governor’s races of the 2026 cycle.
Jones had President Trump’s backing since August 2025, reinforced through tele-rallies and social media posts in the weeks before Tuesday’s runoff. An endorsement from outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp, issued Sunday night after early voting had already closed, also fell short. The loss makes Jones only the second gubernatorial candidate the president has endorsed to fall in a Republican primary this election cycle.
Jackson Healthcare is the parent company of Jackson and Coker Locum Tenens and LocumTenens.com, making Jackson one of the most prominent figures in the locum tenens staffing industry to seek elected office. He entered the race in February, six months after Jones announced, and positioned himself as a political outsider with business credentials. Georgia last elected a Democratic governor in 1998, making the November matchup a closely watched contest in a key battleground state.
La Vida Locum
Locum Tenens Isn’t Just Another Staffing Lane
June 4, 2026 | Tim Fischer, President of Jackson and Coker Locum Tenens, via LinkedIn
Locum tenens growth is pulling staffing companies from other workforce verticals into physician and advanced practice provider placement. Treating this work like any other temporary labor category overlooks real differences in credentialing demands, malpractice exposure, and the direct line to patient care. Hospitals’ growing reliance on vendor management systems and managed service provider programs brings useful visibility and process discipline, but those models can also nudge the market toward rewarding speed and cost over clinical fit.
A hard-to-fill role doesn’t mean a lower bar for these placements. Responsibility and risk stay the same, and healthcare organizations, with agencies and platforms in an assisting role, set the credentialing and diligence threshold the market has to meet. When that standard holds, locum tenens can ease access gaps and support stretched teams without trading away quality of care.
The Locum Tenens Flu Season Staffing Strategy Most Hospitals Get Wrong
June 5, 2026 | VISTA Staffing
Flu season runs October through March, with peak activity in December and January, and the staffing pattern repeats on the same schedule every year. Emergency departments, urgent care centers, and primary care practices absorb higher patient volume while staff illness pulls clinicians off the schedule at the same time. The timing, the specialties under pressure, and the facility types most likely to struggle are all predictable, yet many organizations still respond after gaps appear rather than before.
The fix is earlier planning. Sourcing locum coverage in August or September leaves enough runway for credentialing and privileging, which can take weeks even when expedited, so providers are cleared before peak season rather than after it begins. Seasonal coverage works better when it’s built into capacity planning the same way other resource decisions are, not assembled under pressure when the candidate pool is already thin.
What Healthcare Systems Are Prioritizing in Recruitment This Year
June 11, 2026 | MPLT Healthcare
Healthcare systems are building recruitment strategies around long-term workforce resilience, with hiring speed treated as one factor among several rather than the primary measure of success. The priorities that surface most consistently include reducing time-to-fill for critical roles; addressing persistent physician shortages across psychiatry, anesthesiology, radiology, and emergency medicine; and building burnout prevention into retention efforts rather than treating it as a separate concern. Locum tenens and other flexible staffing models are increasingly being incorporated as standing resources rather than held in reserve as a gap filler.
That evolution in thinking has real implications for how facilities approach staffing partnerships. Organizations that build those relationships before coverage needs arise tend to have better access to candidate pipelines, market intelligence, and specialty-specific supply. Cultural alignment and credentialing readiness are also getting more weight in the recruiting process, reflecting a wider push to reduce turnover and protect care continuity.
Locum Leaders
- CHG Healthcare carried out a workforce reduction on June 5 affecting an estimated 150 to 200 positions across CompHealth, Weatherby Healthcare, Global Medical Staffing, and other business units.
- St. Louis-based locum tenens agency VeloSource, backed by Interlock Equity, acquired Quest Locum Tenens and Syncx LLC, adding nationwide clinical staffing scale and a vendor-neutral technology platform for managing contingent clinical labor.
- Staffing Industry Analysts’ 2026 list of largest US staffing firms placed Aya Healthcare second, CHG Healthcare Services eighth, and Jackson Healthcare tenth among 214 firms generating $100 million or more in US staffing revenue last year.
- LocumTenens.com introduced a remote radiology workstation program for women’s imaging through LT Telehealth, supplying fellowship-trained breast imaging radiologists alongside calibrated reading workstations and compliance support.
- Emily Marr, VP of Recruitment at Barton Associates, was named to SIA’s 40 Under 40 list, honoring emerging leaders across the staffing and workforce solutions industry.
Hire Power
Department of Labor’s Proposed Foreign Worker Wage Increases Are More Tough News for Healthcare Staffing
June 3, 2026 | Fierce Healthcare
A Department of Labor proposal would raise prevailing wage floors for foreign workers using green cards and certain work visas. The entry-level threshold would move from the 17th percentile to the 34th percentile, while the top level would rise from the 67th percentile to the 88th percentile. The department estimates the change would add about $14,000 per sponsored worker per year, or $6.5 billion in added wages across the economy.
Healthcare employers have less room to maneuver than industries that can offshore work, since licensed clinical professionals must be on site. Higher sponsorship costs get absorbed by the facility, passed to patients, or left unresolved as vacancies. The AMA has warned the changes could reduce the country’s physician workforce by roughly 25% and price H-1B resident physicians out of the market entirely.
Physician Recruitment Market Trends Q1 2026: What the Data Is Showing Right Now
June 4, 2026 | DocCafe
DocCafe’s recruitment data indicates physician demand continued climbing in the first quarter of the year while new supply remained uneven. Open physician jobs reached 26,990 in March, up 5% month over month and 23% since August. Applications rebounded 11% month over month, but new physician registrations fell 3%, with declines of 19% for hospitalists, 18% for pediatrics, and 6% for emergency medicine.
The hardest pressure remains in coverage-critical roles. Emergency medicine openings rose 8% month over month, hospitalist roles increased 9%, family practice rose 6%, and general surgery demand is up 20% since August. The concentration in these specialties signals sustained need in the roles that keep service lines running and schedules intact.
Why Utilizing Locum Tenens Is Ideal for Dental Practices
May 18, 2026 | Cross Country Healthcare
Dental practices are navigating the same staffing pressures that have long challenged hospitals and health systems, including provider shortages, burnout, unexpected vacancies, and growing patient demand. Locum tenens has evolved from a short-term fix into a more fluid model that helps practices maintain productivity and protect patient access without committing to permanent hires. When a dentist position goes unfilled, the effects are immediate: missed appointments, lost revenue, and added strain on the rest of the team.
The case for proactive use of temporary dental staffing comes down to speed, flexibility, and cost predictability. Recruiting a permanent provider can take months, while a locum dentist can step in quickly with credentials already in place. Practices that build this kind of coverage into their broader workforce strategy, rather than reaching for it only in a crisis, tend to manage transitions, seasonal demand, and leadership changes with less disruption.
Making the Rounds
Mackenzie Holds Hearing on the Importance of Locum Tenens Providers in Healthcare
June 9, 2026 | Committee on Education & the Workforce
The House Workforce Protections Subcommittee held a hearing titled “On Call for America: Strengthening Access Through Locum Tenens Providers.” Chairman Ryan Mackenzie said rural patients can lose specialty access when a provider leaves, takes family leave, changes careers, or goes on vacation. He cited average recruitment timelines of 189 days for primary care roles and 226 days for specialists, noting that 88% of healthcare organizations use locum tenens providers.
The hearing connected locum coverage to independent contractor classification and the RURAL Healthcare Act, a bill introduced by Congressman Burgess Owens. It would establish that qualified locum tenens providers are independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the National Labor Relations Act. Removing that ambiguity would reduce legal uncertainty for the healthcare facilities and staffing agencies that depend on temporary physician coverage.
Alaska Prepares to Become the 44th IMLCC Member State
June 2, 2026 | Interstate Medical Licensure Compact Commission, via LinkedIn
Alaska is moving toward joining the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact after HB110 passed both the state House and Senate last month. The bill was transmitted to Governor Dunleavy for signature, and once signed, Alaska would become the 44th member state and 46th member jurisdiction, alongside the District of Columbia and Guam. No signature has been confirmed as of publication.
The state’s geography, rural access challenges, and specialist coverage gaps make physician mobility especially valuable. Compact membership can give qualified clinicians a more direct licensing pathway, reducing friction for facilities and agencies working to place providers on assignment there. The practical effect is a shorter runway between a willing physician and an available assignment.
Growing the Pipeline Where It Matters Most: Why Expanding Residency Training Is Critical to Solving the Physician Shortage
June 11, 2026 | Medical Economics
Medical school enrollment has grown significantly over the past two decades, but residency capacity hasn’t kept pace, creating a bottleneck that limits how many clinicians enter practice each year and shapes where they end up working. The effects are felt most acutely in rural areas and underserved communities, where training programs are sparse and physician retention suffers as a result. AAMC data show about 56% of physicians practice in the state where they completed residency training.
The data make the scope concrete. The typical physician search takes 121 days to fill, specialty care searches average 176 days, and only about 47% of physician searches were filled in 2024. Healthcare employers and recruiters have a direct stake in where new residency slots are built, since training geography shapes the long-term candidate pool those organizations depend on.
