Locum Tenens Urgent Care Physician

What these providers cover

Walk-in patients with acute low-to-moderate acuity presentations.

What the shift actually looks like

Three to four walk-in patients an hour with acute low-to-moderate acuity, plus procedures and imaging interpretation on site.

Credentials and certifications

Typically required

MD/DO in EM, FM or IM; state license; DEA

Typical workload

Typically 3–4 patients per hour

What to specify when you send the req

Volume, procedures performed, imaging and lab on site, and whether APPs are supervised.

Why this role is hard to fill

Supervision responsibility for APPs is frequently omitted and carries real liability. State it.

What candidates ask before accepting

Answering these in the req itself shortens the process considerably, because they are the questions that otherwise surface at offer stage and cause declines: Volume per hour, procedures performed, on-site imaging and lab, and whether APPs require supervision.

Contract or permanent?

Locums stabilises the schedule so a permanent search can run on merit rather than desperation. Hiring a permanent physician while critically short-staffed is how facilities end up with a bad twelve-month hire. Locum-to-perm is common and low risk.

Licensure

Physicians and advanced practice providers are licensed in all 50 states. The Interstate Medical Licensure Compact is widely described as portability and is not — it is an expedited route to obtaining several separate state licenses, each still issued and regulated independently. The physician assistant compact has been enacted but is not yet issuing privileges. Privileging, which runs on your medical staff committee calendar, is usually the binding constraint rather than licensure.

How we work this req

Every candidate is spoken to before you see them, with licensure for your state, certifications and unit-specific competency confirmed before submittal. We screen to the credential the unit actually needs rather than the title on the posting. Rates sit inside the ranges on our published cost breakdown.