With summer approaching, many health care administrators in Florida and across the country are wondering about vacation staffing issues and the benefits of locum tenens programs. At the same time, many physicians are also considering the advantages of taking a temporary position during the peak vacation season through a locum tenens placement.

To answer those questions, All Medical Personnel’s staffing professionals will be on the scene at the Florida Medical Group Management Association (FMGMA)’s annual conference, May 13-15, 2013, at the Caribe Royale in Orlando.  The event will bring together hundreds of administrators and other professionals who belong to MGMA, a well-established organization whose mission is to improve the effectiveness of medical group practices in Florida and the skills of the individuals who manage or lead them.

As a member of MGMA, All Medical Personnel contributes to advancing that mission by providing a wide range of staffing programs, including temporary or long-term locum tenens placements for physicians and other healthcare professionals.  For administrators, locum tenens staffing can meet increases in seasonal demand for services or fill gaps in coverage due to vacations, extended illness, or other causes.

For physicians and other professionals, locum tenens assignments offer variety, providing opportunities to practice skills in a new clinical setting and serve a different patient population.  Many locum tenens physicians also enjoy a change of pace in their lifestyle, such as spending a month or two in a coastal, vacation-oriented community.  Other advantages include flexibility in scheduling.  That might mean working a new shift, taking a temporary assignment for several weeks or moving to a new location for several months or longer.  A locum tenens assignment can also help professionals find a healthy balance between work and family responsibilities.

To find out more about summer staffing options, visit All Medical Personnel’s booth at MGMA2013. For more information on the conference, go to: http://flmgma.com.

It is that wonderful time of year when everyone is making travel plans!  Spring Break is just around the corner and soon it will be Summer. Locums are in-season. Physician coverage is in demand. And we are receiving tons of new Job Orders each day! Have you thought about where you want to travel this Summer? Why not make a little money while you’re there? Locum Tenens work, whether it be at a clinic or hospital facility, rural or city, long- or short-term, almost always includes covered travel and lodging expenses. So do a little work during the day and enjoy the city at night.

Many states even offer a Locum Tenens License. Instead of waiting the typical 2-12 months to obtain a permanent license in that state, they offer a speedier option whereby you can obtain a temporary or locums permit in 2-8 weeks. The fees are less and the wait times are shorter. It’s a win-win. The third piece of that is that the client receives the coverage they need much more quickly. Win-win-win!

States such as Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Wyoming and others will grant temporary licenses. New Hampshire, Maine, Indiana, Texas and others even have an expedited protocol on top of that to get Locums Physicians in quickly. All Medical’s experienced administrative staff can provide paperwork assistance to help make the licensing process as quick and painless as possible.

Not a Physician? Nurse Practitioners are also in demand. Many facilities are now using certified Advanced Practice Nurses to fill in as well. And with the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC), it makes obtaining an APRN license in a compact state for a practitioner who already has a multistate nursing license a much quicker process. The compact states are Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. 24 states and counting!

If you are interested in Locums opportunities in the coming months, please give us a call. Our team of seasoned recruiters would love to speak with you and start your Customized Locums Search today. Or if you’re more of a ‘stay-cation’ kind of person, we can find you something local instead. We have a lot of non-travel work available too.

For nurse practitioners, locum tenens placements can open the door to new job and career opportunities.  With approximately 300,000 advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) in the U.S, there are plenty of opportunities for “fill-in” positions, project staffing and other types of temporary employment in hospitals, physician groups and other healthcare organizations.  The most important benefits of locum tenens placements include:

• Flexibility. You can choose a schedule that meets your needs. That might mean working a new shift, taking a temporary assignment for several weeks or moving to a new location for several months or longer.
• Variety. You have a chance to practice your skills in a new clinical setting and serve a different patient population. Many locum tenens providers also enjoy a change of pace in their lifestyle, such as spending a month or two in a seaside, mountain or other vacation-oriented community.
• Income. You can earn a solid income throughout the assignment period. All Medical Personnel pays providers weekly on a fee for service basis, and provides professional liability insurance at no cost to the employee.
• Work-family balance.  A locum tenens assignment can help you find a healthy balance between work and family responsibilities. For instance, it can be difficult for two medical professionals to find appealing jobs in the same location. A locum tenens placement can provide a temporary solution while you search for the right step to advance your careers.

As a nurse practitioner (NP), your skills are in demand throughout the country. That’s also true for specialists like a family nurse practitioner (FNP), pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP), adult nurse practitioner (ANP) or women’s health nurse practitioner (WHNP).  Staffing firms like All Medical Personnel can help you apply for the necessary credentials and licenses for locum tenens placements in different states. The placement process is usually much easier for temporary positions in your current community and state.

Fortunately, national nursing associations are working on a consensus model designed to unify licensure, accreditation and certification requirements on the state level. That will make it easier for nurse practitioners to move from state to state, creating more opportunities for locum tenens employment and improving access to nursing care across the country.

In the next decade, the United States faces a shortage of approximately 40,000 primary care physicians, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians.  In 2013, the new Congress is expected to consider one strategy to help address this growing problem.

Last year, Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) introduced the Physician Reentry Demonstration Program Act, which focuses on bringing retired physicians back into active practice.  In his bill, Sarbanes proposed launching a demonstration project under the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to see how well this concept would work at hospitals and other healthcare organizations.

Under Sarbanes’ bill, these older physicians would need to undergo the usual credentialing procedures. If the demonstration project were to be enacted, evidence-based assessments and evaluation tools would be used to measure core competencies, in accordance with the guidelines of the Federation of State Medical Boards.

For physicians, one of the intriguing aspects of Sarbanes’ bill is that it provides greater flexibility for physicians to make their own career decisions.  For instance, a doctor who has left a full-time clinical practice might enjoy practicing on a part-time basis, or taking advantage of flexible scheduling to take on a series of temporary positions.

Because aging Baby Boomers will require more healthcare services each year, the need for more primary care and specialized physicians will continue to rise for at least 15 more years. Therefore, the clock is ticking in terms of finding effective solutions to the shortage.

Other options include increasing the size of the nation’s medical schools, bringing in more foreign physicians or using physician assistants and nurse practitioners to handle more routine patient cases.   In any case, U.S. healthcare organizations will need to exercise their ingenuity in finding sustainable solutions to this gap between demand and supply for physician services.

With primary care physicians in short supply across the United States, demand is growing for nurse practitioners (NPs), licensed clinicians with advanced education and training who provide primary, acute and specialty health care services.  NPs assess patients, order and interpret diagnostic tests, make diagnoses, and initiate and manage treatment plans, including prescribing medications.

According to the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), patients report an extremely high level of satisfaction with the care they receive from the nation’s 155,000 NPs, who will be recognized November 11-17 during National Nurse Practitioner Week.

Many healthcare organizations value nurse practitioners for delivering quality patient-centered care while reducing costs both directly and indirectly.  Even though NPs have graduate degrees, their salaries are usually less than payments to physicians.  In addition, NPs often can spend more time educating patients on acute and chronic conditions, resulting in fewer emergency room visits, shorter hospital stays and lower medication costs.

If you are enjoying a career in nursing, it may make sense to go back to school for the additional training needed to become a nurse practitioner.  As the nation’s population ages, there will be an increasing need for primary care services, and NPs are well-positioned to fill the current gap between patient demand and the limited supply of new physicians.  In fact, the American Association of Medical Colleges estimates there will be a shortage of more than 90,000 physicians by 2020 rising to more than 130,000 by 2025.

Already, NPs are playing key roles at primary care clinics throughout the country, particularly in rural areas and urban neighborhoods where physicians are in particularly short supply.  By taking a holistic approach to patient care, NPs can help their patients understand the importance of managing chronic conditions, medication compliance and building a healthy lifestyle. All Medical Personnel is committed to helping NPs find appealing positions and advancing their professional careers.

Three major national conferences are coming in October, and All Medical Personnel’s locum tenens team will be present at each one:

• American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Scientific Assembly on Oct. 8-11 in Denver, CO (www.acep.org/sa)
• American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Scientific Assembly on Oct 18-20 in Philadelphia, PA (www.aafp.org)
• Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) Annual Conference on Oct 20-23 in San Antonio, TX (www.mgma.com/mgma12)

For physicians, these conferences provide an ideal opportunity to connect with other subspecialists, build your professional network, and explore locum tenens opportunities. Healthcare administrators at the MGMA event can learn more about the importance of having a robust locum tenens program in place for providing coverage on a temporary basis or handling a surge in patients.

Long ago, the Romans coined the term locum tenens, which in Latin means “placeholder,” someone who fills in for another person.  Today the word locum tenens covers a much broader range of career options, from daily “fill-in” assignments to  longer-term engagements that could be related to the opening of a new office, clinic or hospital, the launch of a new medical service or a “ramping up” of staffing to meet higher demand.  These temporary or long-term placements offer significant benefits for physicians and other healthcare professionals, including:

• Flexibility.  You can choose a schedule that meets your needs.  That might mean working for several weeks at a different organization in a nearby community or spending the summer at a popular seasonal destination.
• Work-family balance.  A locum tenens assignment can help you find a healthy balance between work and family responsibilities.  That’s particularly important to parents of young children or caregivers for aging parents.
• New experiences.  You can gain experience in different clinical settings, handling different types of cases and working with new patient populations.

If you plan to attend one of these October conferences, we invite you to talk with All Medical Personnel’s locum tenens team and learn more about these exciting opportunities.

As physicians, hospitals and other providers move into the new era of collaborative care models, one of the key considerations is selecting a vendor for an electronic medical record (EMR) or electronic health record (EHR) system.  While the changeover to “paperless” patient records holds the promise of greater efficiency and higher quality care, it’s vital to deploy an EMR system that fits the provider’s requirements.  Here are some issues to consider:

• Size and scope.  Will a simple “out of the box” solution meet your organization’s needs?  Can the system be scaled up if patient volume increases?
• Customization.  How much can the vendor customize the EMR system to meet the specific requirements of your organization?
• Compatibility. With the expected growth of accountable care organizations (ACOs), your patient records may need to be passed seamless to other providers.  Is the EMR system fully compatible with other platforms?
• Total cost.  When comparing vendors, look at the total cost over the life of the contract rather than just the initial purchase.  Some vendors discount the “front end” of the contract and make it the difference in the monthly service payments.
• Platform.  Is this a cloud-based or a web-based system?  Be sure the vendor explains the pros and cons of each platform.
• Training.  Some vendors include hands-on user training in the contract, while others only provide online training, with in-person service available for an additional fee.
• Mobility options.  Will physicians be able to view patient data from their smartphones and tablets as well as their laptops?
• Termination.  What happens if the contract needs to be terminated before the expiration date?  Is there a penalty fee?  Do you have to buy back your patient records from the vendor’s database?

If you are considering the purchase of an EMR system, be sure to take your time, determine your requirements and carefully compare different proposals before making the decision.  That’s the best way to avoid making a costly mistake.

Hospitals across the country are seeking qualified locum tenens physicians to provide coverage in their Emergency Departments (EDs).  If you’re thinking about the benefits of a temporary ED assignment, be sure to talk with All Medical Personnel’s locum tenens staffing professionals at the American College of Emergency Physicians’ Scientific Assembly on October 8-11 in Denver.

Many emergency physicians can benefit from a change of pace in their career plans.  That’s why temporary or long-term locum tenens placements are increasingly popular among emergency physicians as well as other healthcare professionals.  After all, emergency medicine is a field with high demands - emotionally, physically and professionally - with correspondingly high rewards.

For emergency physicians, the major advantages of locum tenens include:

• Flexibility.  You can choose to work in a different facility in your home community or gain a fresh experience in a different geographic location. You can also pick a temporary assignment that lasts for a few days or weeks, or choose an extended engagement of several months or longer.
• Variety.  You have a chance to practice your emergency room skills in a new clinical setting and serve a different patient population.  For instance, if seniors constitute the majority of patients at your current ED, you might consider a locum tenens assignment in a community dominated by working-age parents with young children.
• Career-family balance.  A locum tenens assignment can also help you find a healthy balance between career and family responsibilities.  For instance, it can be difficult for two healthcare professionals to find jobs in the same location.  A locum tenens placement can provide a temporary solution for one spouse or partner while the other searches for a new career position.

For more than 20 years, All Medical Personnel has been finding for physicians and other healthcare professionals.  Look for booth #1935 at the exhibit hall of the upcoming ACEP Scientific Assembly, which will feature a host of continuing education sessions and networking events.  For more information on the conference, go to http://www.acep.org/sa/

All Medical Personnel has been a leader in promoting sound locum tenens business practices. After all, a physician accepting temporary employment wants to be sure the new position is a good fit.  That’s why the staffing company must deliver high quality service and build a relationship based on honesty, integrity and mutual respect.

All Medical Personnel is proud to be an active member of the National Association of Locum Tenens Organizations (NALTO). That membership is a clear differentiator in today’s staffing industry for several reasons:

• A strong code of ethical standards.  All NALTO company members must adhere to a written code of ethics that covers relationships between clients, physician providers, and other locum tenens firms.

• High standards of practice.  NALTO members must adhere to high standards of business practice that include performance issues.

• Commitment to fair treatment.  NALTO exists to ensure physicians and healthcare facilities receive fair treatment from locum tenens staffing firms.

If you are considering locum tenens employment, be aware that All Medical Personnel is dedicated to serving the physicians we place as well as the clients we represent.  That means our recruitment representatives will be available to answer your questions and help you through every step of the locum tenens process.  Our team will take care of all the details of the placement, such as licensure, credentialing and hospital privileges, so you’re ready to go to work in the new position.  We also assist with travel, housing and transportation arrangements.

Having All Medical Personnel on your side simplifies the locum tenens process and makes it easier to focus on the important aspects of delivering quality patient care in a new setting.  Please feel free to contact our Locum Tenens Division if we can assist you in your employment plans.  1-877-AMP-LOCUM

For the most part, physicians have been late arrivals to the field of social media.  They recognize the power of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube in connecting individuals with each other and creating online communities, but are not sure how to integrate social media into their practices.

Therefore, here are several suggestions for using social media to market a practice, strengthen patient relationships and improve staff productivity.

• Create a Facebook page and invite current patients to “like” your practice. That’s the first step toward building a community on the world’s largest social media site.
• Use Twitter to publicize your professional activities. If you’re giving a presentation or are receiving an award, send out a tweet. It can build awareness of your services and create interest in the community - and it only takes a minute or two of your time.
• Develop a series of YouTube videos. Why not have someone video you as you talk about your practice or your approach to patient care.  Video is also an excellent way to explain diagnostic, medical and surgical treatment procedures – especially for patients with limited reading and writing skills.
• Post FAQs about common procedures. You can save staff time and improve patient compliance by preparing step-by-step instructions or responses to FAQs (frequently asked questions). Post them on Facebook, YouTube and other social media locations, as well as your website.
• Consider writing a blog.  Consider having someone in your office prepare a monthly, semimonthly or weekly blog about your practice. You could talk about trends in healthcare, such as the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on healthcare reform.  Another approach is to personalize the professionals in your office, providing insights into their experiences and backgrounds.

All these steps can help you get in touch with patients and the community in today’s digital and social world.