- OnCall Solutions Editorial Team
- Published:
- Updated: September 2026
Half of all physician searches were still open at the end of 2025, and the typical new physician didn’t start seeing patients until 229 days after the job posted.
That’s a long stretch for any hospital system to run short. Here are eight specific ways a medical staffing partner closes the gap, and what to expect from a good one.
The short answer: Medical staffing services help hospital systems by supplying credentialed physicians and APPs for vacancies, leaves, seasonal surges, and short-notice gaps. A strong partner verifies documentation before a provider is submitted, bridges long permanent searches, redistributes call so your physicians don’t burn out, and keeps service lines open while you recruit. The right model depends on the gap: locum tenens for vacancies and specialty needs, moonlighters for recurring shift coverage, and permanent placement for the long term.
1. Coverage While the Permanent Search Runs
Physician recruiting is slow, and it’s not getting faster.
The 2026 AAPPR Physician and Provider Recruitment Benchmarking Report puts the median time to fill a physician search at 119 days. Some specialties run far longer: oncology searches took a median of 244 days and endocrinology 321. Once a contract is signed, credentialing, privileging, and licensing push the typical start date to 229 days after posting.
The longer view isn’t much better. The AAMC projects a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036.
Every day a position sits open, someone absorbs that workload or patients wait. Locum tenens staffing keeps the service line running while your recruiters do their job. It’s not a substitute for a permanent hire. It’s what keeps the lights on until you land one.
2. Providers Who Arrive Ready to Work
Speed means nothing if the file stalls in committee.
The real value of a staffing partner is the work that happens before a physician’s CV ever reaches you. At OnCall Solutions, that means:
- Confirming the physician’s availability, rate, and call expectations before submission
- Verifying licensure, board certification, malpractice history, and work gaps up front
- Matching the provider to your EHR, acuity level, and call structure, not just the specialty on the requisition
We cover the details in our post on how hospital staffing partners simplify medical credentialing.
What about quality once they’re on the floor? A large JAMA study of 1.8 million Medicare admissions found no significant difference in 30-day mortality between patients treated by locum tenens internists and those treated by staff internists (8.83% vs 8.70%). Length of stay and spending ran slightly higher with locum physicians, which tells you onboarding and system familiarity matter. That’s exactly why the matching step above isn’t optional.
3. Flexible Capacity for Predictable Surges
Surges aren’t surprises. You know they’re coming. You just don’t know how big they’ll be.
The 2024 to 2025 flu season was the first high-severity season since 2017 to 2018, with an estimated 710,000 flu-related hospitalizations. Summer brings its own spike: the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates about 13,000 people were injured by fireworks in 2025, with burns making up 38% of ER visits.
Staffing your full-time headcount for peak volume all year is expensive. Staffing for average volume and hoping for the best is risky. Flexible coverage lets you scale up for the weeks you need it and scale back when census drops.
Not sure which flexible model fits? Our guide to locum tenens vs. flex pool staffing walks through the decision.
4. Relief for Physicians Carrying Too Much Call
Burnout has improved, but it hasn’t gone away.
The AMA reports that 41.9% of physicians had at least one symptom of burnout in 2025. Emergency medicine topped the list at 49.8%, and hospital-based specialties, including emergency medicine, radiology, and anesthesiology, performed worse than the overall benchmark on three of five well-being measures.
Here’s the part that matters for workforce planning: the physician who covers everyone’s gaps this quarter is often the one who resigns next year. Bringing in outside coverage to redistribute call isn’t a luxury. It’s retention strategy. We go deeper in how locum tenens helps reduce physician overtime.
5. Steadier Throughput and Patient Access
Understaffing doesn’t just strain physicians. It slows the whole building.
A study in JAMA Internal Medicine found that when hospitals ran at 75% to 85% occupancy, length of stay climbed exponentially once a hospitalist’s daily census passed roughly 15 patients. Costs rose $205 for each additional patient on the census. The same study didn’t find changes in mortality or patient satisfaction, so the case here is efficiency and cost, not safety. It’s older data (2008 to 2011 admissions), but it’s still one of the clearest looks at what an overloaded census costs.
The takeaway: when you staff to realistic census levels, beds turn over faster and admissions don’t back up into the ED.
6. Fast, Honest Response When a Gap Opens Overnight
A physician resigns. Someone goes on unexpected medical leave. The ED loses two nights of coverage next week.
This is where many staffing relationships fall apart. An agency quotes an aggressive start date to win the order, then the file stalls, and you’ve lost time you could have spent on a backup plan.
A good partner does the opposite:
- Gathers your specific requirements within the first day
- Presents only providers with confirmed availability and pre-verified documents
- Gives you a realistic credentialing timeline before any CV is submitted
- Starts payer enrollment in parallel, not after arrival
For the full playbook, see short-notice locum tenens coverage without cutting corners.
7. Local Providers Who Know Your Community
Locum work doesn’t always mean a physician flying in from across the country.
According to CHG Healthcare’s 2025 State of Locum Tenens Report, about 58% of locum providers serve in their own communities, and 81% of healthcare organizations maintained or increased their locum tenens use in 2024.
That’s the model OnCall Solutions is built around. We connect hospitals with local physicians and APPs, including moonlighting physicians who already practice in your region. Local providers tend to know the referral patterns, the specialists down the road, and often the hospital itself. Given what the JAMA data says about system familiarity, that’s a real advantage.
8. A Bridge to the Permanent Hire
Some of the best permanent hires start as locum physicians.
Locum work is no longer a fringe career choice. Weatherby Healthcare’s 2026 Locum Tenens Physicians Report found that 14% of physicians worked locums in the past year, up from 5% a decade ago, and 26% say they’re interested in locum work in the future.
That growing pool gives you a low-risk way to evaluate fit. A locum-to-permanent arrangement lets both sides test the schedule, the team, and the community before signing a long-term contract. When you’re ready to hire outright, OnCall also offers permanent placement.
Which Staffing Model Fits Your Gap?
| Coverage gap | Best-fit model | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Open physician position during a long search | Locum tenens | Full-time clinical coverage for weeks or months |
| Recurring nights, weekends, or holiday shifts | Moonlighting coverage | Local physicians pick up predictable shifts |
| Seasonal census spikes | Locum tenens or flex coverage | Scales up and down with volume |
| Sudden resignation or medical leave | Short-notice locum tenens | Pre-verified providers shorten the timeline |
| Long-term need with uncertain fit | Locum-to-permanent | Both sides evaluate before committing |
Frequently Asked Questions
How Long Does It Take to Fill a Physician Vacancy?
According to the 2026 AAPPR benchmarking report, the median physician search took 119 days to fill in 2025, and the typical physician started work 229 days after the position posted.
Are Locum Tenens Physicians as Safe as Staff Physicians?
A JAMA study of Medicare patients found no significant difference in 30-day mortality between patients treated by locum and non-locum internists. Length of stay and spending ran slightly higher, which points to the value of strong onboarding.
What’s the Difference Between Locum Tenens and Moonlighting Coverage?
Locum tenens physicians typically cover a role for a defined assignment, often full-time for weeks or months. Moonlighters are physicians who pick up additional shifts outside their primary role, usually locally. Many hospitals use both.
When Should a Hospital Call a Staffing Partner?
Before the gap becomes a crisis. Build the relationship while your roster is stable, so credentialing groundwork is done when a resignation or surge hits.
Keep Your Hospital Covered With OnCall Solutions
Physician vacancies take months to fill, surges come every year, and your current team can only stretch so far. The right staffing partner doesn’t just send CVs. It sends ready-to-work local physicians and APPs, on a timeline you can plan around.
OnCall Solutions supports hospital systems with locum tenens, moonlighting, and permanent placement for physicians, CRNAs, NPs, and PAs. Request staffing today or contact our team to talk through your coverage gaps.