When Joseph Scherger, MD, was
fired from his post as the dean of the medical school
at Florida State University in March 2003, he
negotiated a five-month severance package. But he
didn’t want to remain idle during that stretch,
so he applied for a job covering for a family physician
who had been disabled in an accident. Scherger ended up
with between 25 and 30 percent of that doctor’s
patient load—a move that bought him still more
time to assess his next job. All in all, he took nearly
a year before reporting to his next job at the
University of California-San Diego.
Locum tenens
organizations rely on folks like Scherger to fill their
ranks. These temporary work assignment groups are
particularly great for physicians who lack a solid idea
of where they want to be or the type of practice they
wish to join, says Katie Abby, the chief operating
officer for Vista Staffing Solutions in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the
president of the National Association of Locum Tenens
Organizations,
headquartered in Altamonte Springs, Florida.
“First
of all, it gets them into a position of generating
income. Second, so many of our clients use locum tenens
services as a way to recruit for permanent
staff—a test drive before committing long
term,” Abby says.
Assignments vary
from private sector to government contracting with the Indian
Health Service or the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the average assignment lasts four
to eight weeks. Physicians, naturally, can limit their
involvement by practice type or geographic area. Pay is
lower than what physicians typically earn in the
marketplace, but the medical facility picks up
transportation, housing, and any state licensing fees.
The locum tenens malpractice insurance policy covers
the work physicians do for the organization.
This is not,
however, a way to hide your unemployed status.
“Locum tenens work is not the place for a
physician who has problems or bad issues in their
background,” Abby says. “Certainly being
dismissed from a position may not disqualify you, but
you can expect to explain your situation in every
location you go, much as you would when you apply for a
job.”
