Healthcare is a world that is always evolving and changing, and yet there are still some things that industry professionals will continue to focus on. No matter how many new laws and regulations come to be under whatever administration is in power, real healthcare workers really just want to improve patient care, reduce healthcare costs and facility spending, and promote the best population health management through the latest technology.
Something that bridges each of these issues is making sure you’re staffing as effectively as possible — and that definitely means hiring traveling physicians. If you’ve been considering hiring locum tenens professionals, traveling doctors of any sort, or even looking to travel yourself, then this post will help reaffirm that decision!
5 Reasons for Hiring Traveling Physicians
There are many reasons to hire traveling physicians, but we’ll start with the basics!
1. Dealing with a Growing Skills Gap
A report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics has predicted that from now until 2022, healthcare will have approximately 5 million new job openings. Compounded with HealthLeaders’ report that 50 percent of the positions created in 2013 actually went unfilled, only deepening the impact of the current physician shortage. Due to this overwhelming amount of open jobs, the skills gap may continue to widen as baby boomers retire in record numbers.
With trends likely to persist through 2017 and beyond, hiring traveling physicians is a great way to fill any open positions causing a headache in any given hospital, clinic, or facility. There are open positions whether you’re a PA, CRNA, DO, MD, or NP right here on LocumJobsOnline.com just waiting for someone to swoop in and save the day!
2. Physician Burnout is All Too Prevalent
It’s no secret that physician burnout is not going to just disappear overnight — affecting anywhere from 40-55% of practicing physicians across the United States. Besides taking a toll on someone on all levels, physician burnout can affect healthcare workplaces in very serious ways such as a lower quality of care, less patient engagement, and efficiency, along with higher turnover rates.
Hiring traveling physicians is one way that a facility can be refreshed and made more effective on multiple levels. Bringing in professionals who are energized and fresh is a great way of helping entire teams achieve a better sense of work-life balance, all while providing traveling physicians a means of gaining their next great traveling position.
3. Changing Regulations Remain Challenging
Regulatory compliance is bound to be a hot-button issue for the rest of 2017 and many years to follow. With the fate of American healthcare legislation remaining uncertain for the time being, no one is sure exactly what changes the Affordable Care Act will experience and how to prepare for the future.
That said, hiring traveling physicians is likely to remain a solid strategy when it comes to providers who can focus on quality patient care, allowing on-staff doctors and clinicians to focus their efforts on remaining fully compliant with whatever regulations emerge. This way, you can have the best possible patient outcomes while allowing clinics and hospitals to maintain the best standards possible.
4. Electronic Health Records Can Be Manageable
In terms of the demands and struggles of using electronic health record systems properly, EHRs have created massive headaches for medical communities across the United States. Suggested by data from the American Medical Association, EHR systems are one of the top causes of workforce management problems in the world of healthcare.
Although it might not be an ideal reason for hiring traveling physicians, they may be just the ones to get your EHRs on the right track. You could force on-staff physicians and other full-time employees to spend the time getting a disarrayed system together or allow the fresh perspective of a temporary staff member to hopefully make quick work of the task.
5. Hiring Traveling Physicians Makes Financial Sense
Although healthcare shouldn’t primarily be a business, it does make the most financial sense to develop and maintain an effective staffing strategy which involves hiring traveling physicians. Considering that a single primary-care doctor quitting can cost a medical practice anywhere from $250,000 to $1 million, it is extremely important to establish a smart flow of locum tenens or temporary personnel when possible.
Again, physician burnout is something that is not only costly on a personal basis but can amount to financial strife as well. Investing in a way to continue building a solid staffing strategy will eventually pay for itself in terms of happy employees, well-treated patients, and better workflow all around.
Sure, the world of healthcare is constantly changing and bending with whatever legislation arises, but one thing is bound to remain constant — the need for top, qualified medical professionals to fill the gaps and keep a practice running smoothly and safely!
