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Ask the expert: Reader's responses to locum tenens series

Credentialing Resource Center Connection, June 26, 2008

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Kelli L. Fussell, CPMSM, CPCS, manager of medical staff services at Salem Hospital in Salem, OR, says that working with locum tenens agencies is beneficial for patients and the community, as long as there are clear lines of communication and expectations set forth up front between the hospital and agency.

"Without this discussion at the get go, more work and delay can be created for the medical staff office because the locum tenens agency is adding another layer of communication, which can lend itself to misunderstanding and miscommunication regarding information required to complete the application. Ultimately, the burden is on the applicant (and not the locum tenens company) to provide the information necessary to complete the application process," says Fussell.

"Additionally, the credentialing staff at Salem Hospital has experienced a great deal of pressure from locum tenens companies to hurry applications through in a short period of time (the entire credentialing process at Salem Hospital currently takes 3-4 months), in spite of the fact that many locum tenens applications are more complicated than most due to their numerous short-term affiliations. While the ultimate goal of both the hospital and locum tenens company may be the same, i.e., to appoint excellent physicians, it is very well understood that if the locum tenens physician is not credentialed and placed in the hospital by the assignment deadline, the physician does not work and the locum tenens company does not get paid. I wonder whether this fact may be causing a conflict of interest in the process and be partly the reason for the undue pressure to credential."   

Editor's note: Last week concluded the five-part series of questions about locum tenens answered by Beverly Leonard, CPCS, vice president of operations for Weatherby Locums, headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

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