We arrange locum tenens and permanent coverage for physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and CRNAs. Physicians are typically paid $150–$200 per hour depending on specialty, with facility cost above that once malpractice, licensure, credentialing and travel are included. Lead time runs four to twelve weeks when a new state license is required — and privileging, not sourcing, is almost always the binding constraint.
The Interstate Medical Licensure Compact is widely described as portability. It is not. It is an expedited route to obtaining several separate state licenses. Each state still issues, renews and regulates its own, and a physician licensed in four states cannot simply work in a fifth.
That single fact is why locum tenens keeps growing while other staffing segments contract. Facilities cannot self-serve physician coverage across state lines.
Medical staff committees meet on their own calendar regardless of how urgently you need a shift covered. We ask for your privileging cycle at intake and run licensure and privileging in parallel rather than in sequence.
Any agency that quotes a two-week physician start without asking about your committee schedule has not thought about the problem.
The locum tenens market is projected at roughly $13.5 billion in 2026, with around 80% of healthcare organizations planning to maintain or increase their use. Physician shortage projections run as high as 86,000 by 2036. Advanced practice provider locums are growing faster still, and remain underused relative to physician locums.
The practical implication is simple: the physicians you want are booked in advance. Known leave should be covered months ahead, not weeks.
We confirm licensure, DEA and state controlled-substance registration, privileging pathway, malpractice coverage and payer enrollment before a start date is committed. Cost structure is published here; a full walkthrough is in how to hire a locum hospitalist.
The locum tenens market is projected at roughly $13.5 billion in 2026, with around 80% of healthcare organisations planning to maintain or increase their use. Physician shortage projections run as high as 86,000 by 2036. Advanced practice provider locums are growing faster still and remain underused relative to physician locums — historically only about a quarter of healthcare managers used locum APPs against nearly all using locum physicians, which is a gap worth exploiting if your budget is tight.
Active state license, DEA registration plus state controlled-substance registration where required, hospital privileges through your medical staff process, malpractice coverage with tail as applicable, payer enrolment where the assignment involves billing, and NPDB query, references and exclusion screening. The item that most often derails a start date is privileging, not licensure.
Scope of practice for nurse practitioners varies enormously by state, from full independent practice to mandatory collaborative agreements. Physician assistant supervision arrangements likewise differ. The PA compact has been enacted but is not yet issuing privileges, so every state remains a separate license application. We confirm scope and supervision requirements for your state at intake rather than assuming.
No. The Interstate Medical Licensure Compact is an expedited route to obtaining several separate state licenses. Each state still issues, renews and regulates its own. It is not portability.
Physicians are typically paid $150 to $200 per hour depending on specialty, averaging near $158 for hospitalists, or roughly $1,800 per day. Facility cost sits above that once malpractice, licensure, credentialing and travel are included.
Known leave should be covered months ahead, not weeks. Where a new state license and privileging are both required, four to twelve weeks is realistic.
Tell us the credential, the unit and the start date. We come back with a realistic fill window and the current market rate.