When facing shortages, healthcare facilities increasingly seek the help of locum tenens and moonlighting medical professionals. In fact, a 2022 survey from AMN healthcare found that as many as 88% of healthcare facilities nowadays rely on locum tenens providers.
Locum tenens agencies help healthcare facilities reduce costs, provide better patient care, prevent employee burnout, and more. But what should hospital models look like to balance full-time and locum tenens ?
Here are four cost-effective hospital models for healthcare facilities looking to maximize the benefits of their locum tenens and moonlighting medical .
1. Top-of-License
Top-of-license hospital models prioritize assigning medical to positions that align with the highest levels of their expertise. A top-of-license hospital model seeks to minimize medical professionals working in positions they are overqualified for, regardless of whether they are full-time or per diem.
There are numerous benefits to a healthcare model like this. One is that hospitals can reduce costs—after all, many tasks don’t require the expertise and compensation of your most qualified clinicians. Additionally, experienced employees tend to appreciate this model, which respects their expertise, leading to higher worker satisfaction and better quality of care.
2. Developmental
A developmental hospital model seeks to pair less-experienced with highly-qualified medical professionals to develop their skills. Developmental models seek to strengthen the expertise of your medical professionals over the long run.
With this model, it’s valuable to remember that per diem doctors might be some of the most experienced in their field—and your full-time team can learn a great deal from them. In the same way, training per diem doctors can be just as valuable for your organization long-term since many locum tenens doctors return to the same assignments year after year.
Developing everyone on your team, regardless of their contractual status in your organization, will aid your institution in the long run.
3. High Occupancy Support
In order to address hospital issues during times of high occupancy, many medical facilities require a stable of on-call locum tenens medical professionals who help fill the gaps. That’s why they rely on locum tenens agencies to play the valuable role of supplying the qualified they need, when they’re needed.
In the high-occupancy hospital model, hospitals rely primarily on their in-house full-time for standard occupancy times. For times of high occupancy, they reach out to their locum tenens medical partners for assistance.
4. The Hybrid Model
The hybrid hospital model incorporates elements of all three of the previous models in order to maximize the benefits of locum tenens and moonlighting medical professionals.
In a hybrid model, hospitals maintain pools of promising per diem doctors they develop, while maintaining a larger list of qualified professionals they can call upon in times of need. With this developmental model, healthcare facilities can also practice top-of-license methodologies to save facilities money and maintain employee work satisfaction.
While the hybrid hospital model requires the most planning and orchestration, it helps ensure maximized affordability, long-term professional development, and patient care.
OnCall Solutions: Support for All Hospital Staffing Models
Maintaining any hospital model can be a complicated process—and OnCall Solutions is here to help. Our locum tenens and moonlighting services ensure that healthcare facilities remain equipped with qualified and committed medical professionals so that patients can continue receiving their best care.
Learn more about how OnCall Solutions can help your medical facility, no matter the hospital model you choose to employ. Reach out to us to learn more today.
