Locum Tenens Hospitalist

What these providers cover

Admitted medical inpatients — admissions, rounding, discharge and rapid response.

What the shift actually looks like

Admissions, rounding, discharges and cross-cover, typically twelve to eighteen encounters a shift on a seven-on seven-off pattern. Census volatility is the main variable.

Credentials and certifications

Typically required

MD/DO, board certified or eligible in Internal or Family Medicine; state license; DEA

Typical workload

Typically 12–18 encounters per shift

What to specify when you send the req

Census expectations, admission volume, ICU responsibility, procedures and code coverage.

Why this role is hard to fill

Privileging, not sourcing, is the constraint. Start the credentialing pathway in parallel with licensure.

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: Census caps, admission volume overnight, ICU responsibility, procedures expected and APP support.

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.