Sumo Medial Staffing

When’s the right time to hire a locum staffing agency for your healthcare facility? 

Before you need them!

Once a hospital or other medical facility finds it needs temporary healthcare professionals to provide care to patients, the need often is urgent.

Selecting the right locum staffing provider is critical when it comes to continuing the quality of care and operational efficiency your practice has built over the years. 

Four key factors to consider when selecting a locum tenens staffing provider

1. The quality of its healthcare pros: its vetting process.

Most locum tenens providers say they have the best professionals among their roster. 

But how can you be sure they are highly qualified? 

By sussing out how robust the agency’s vetting process is. 

Questions to ask:

• How thorough are your background checks? 
• How well do you verify credentials? Is your internal recruiting team meticulous in this important step? 
• What’s your experience in sourcing different types of locums (physicians, NPs, etc.)? 

Any provider who has done this important work will be more than happy to go into detail about its vetting process and it more than likely will be able to bring you locums who can quickly integrate into your healthcare team, ensuring the high standard of care your patients expect. 

2. How well does the locum staffing agency understand your state’s credentialing and licensing requirements? 

All states have their own credential/licensing processes and requirements and, in short, it’s a lot to stay abreast of. 

Still, the locum staffing agency you’re considering not only should be familiar with these but also should be able to navigate them easily. 

Such knowledge is critical; it makes sure that the healthcare pros sent to you meet all state requirements/regulations and can begin work without the need for more administrative work. 

3. How responsive is the locum staffing agency to your needs?

If there’s one thing constant about providing excellent healthcare services to our patients, it’s the need to turn on a dime.

Can a locum agency your considering find a healthcare pro in mere hours in emergencies? 

Can it supply a dozen more healthcare staff in just a few days/week if you’re expanding quickly or expecting a big influx of patients in the next few weeks or couple of months? 

Finding a locum provider that can respond extremely quickly to your ever-changing staffing needs is a true indication of its reliability and resourcefulness. 

4. Referrals and feedback from past/current clients.

A locum staffing agency’s current/past clients are terrific sources of information. 

Ask for references from current clients, of course, but also ask for contact information for the agency’s past clients. 

Past clients can be great source of information regarding not only how well the agency did in its services to them, but you also can find out why the client no longer uses the agency:  

• Was it for a lack of quality of tenens professionals? 
• Erratic service quality? 
• Costs went up suddenly? 

All of this information is important for you to ascertain a 360-degree view of the provider’s performance. 

We’re happy to provide you with references from current as well as past customers of our services: just ask! 

In fact, we urge you to consider our “try before you buy” staffing scenario so that you can see first-hand how great our healthcare professionals are.