10 Things You Won’t Miss when You Work a Locum Tenens Assignment (continued)

In our series on the top ten things you WON’T miss when you work a locum assignment, here are numbers 5 and 6…

5. Being the boss –Never underestimate the stress that comes with being the boss! If your office staff reports to you, you’re well aware of the difficulties of keeping all the balls in the air to keep the office work flow flowing.  Not to mention hiring, firing and figuring out what to do when someone calls in sick or just doesn’t show up at all. There’s really never a dull moment when you’re the boss!  When you’re the locum, you may not get to call the shots during your assignment, but because you work for yourself, you’re really the boss anyway!

6.  Meetings, meetings, meetings – No matter where you work, you’re probably required to attend meetings on a regular basis. Have you ever stopped to think how much time per day is spent in meetings? If you are a locum, you are rarely required to participate in meetings unless you are on a long-term assignment. Let’s face it, a meeting-free day means you get to see patients, get stuff done, and move on to the after work activities you enjoy the most.

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How to negotiate locum pay

When negotiating locum pay always keep these things in mind as they will give you leverage as to who needs who the most.

Firstly is there a shortage of locums:

1. Shortage in your area
2. Time of the year/day of the week eg. Holidays
3. Low volume of locums as a whole in your profession

How quick:

1. How soon do they require a locum
2. How far away are you from the job.
3. The number of days you can do.

Your Qualifications

1. Do you have better qualifications then the rest
2. Can you have someone who can vouch for your quality of work
3. Have you got the number of years behind you for this type of work

The Company

1. Does this company typically pay well
2. If they require longer hours/shorter lunch
3. Does nobody want to work for them

When negotiating the locum fees remember to calculate how much this will cost for you are you going to pay extra for mileage/accommodation to help them out? Will the parking be expensive? Will it take you 4 hours to get to (time is money).

Timescale is the most important factor for negotiating your locum pay, the sooner they need you the more room for negotiation. But remember that if you are too expensive they will just cancel the clinic. Ring back to see if they have found anyone cheaper (compromise)

Always sell your self eg. I have been qualified 10 yrs with a master’s degree and have exceptional communication skills that will guarantee people coming back.

Never negotiate with negativity, although your fee is sacred to you would you rather be sitting at home in anger or feel happy you did your best to compromise.

Ten Things You Won’t Miss when You Work a Locum Tenens Assignment

If you work locum tenens assignments on a regular basis, you know the freedom that comes along with the locum lifestyle. If you are new to locums or haven’t worked locums in awhile let me take this opportunity to remind you of the top 10 things you will NOT miss when you work locums:

1. Low or no reimbursement – When you work a locum assignment, you won’t have to worry about getting reimbursed for your work. You won’t have to wonder how much the insurance company or Medicare will pay you for seeing that patient. Because locums are paid by the hour, day or by the shift, you simply turn in your timesheet or invoice and you get paid in full. In fact, locums are paid well overall, and if you are willing to take call, or work weekends, holidays or the night shift, your paycheck will really look attractive.

Locum Assignment

2. High practice operating costs– The hard costs of running your own practice today just keep skyrocketing: staff salaries, office rent, utilities, phones, technology, malpractice insurance, lab costs, office equipment, you name it. Add to that the fact that reimbursements are down and sometimes there isn’t much left at the end of the month. Locums don’t have to stress about whether or not they can pay their staff or whether they can keep the office lights on. Locums just go to work, see patients and collect a paycheck.

 

3. Costly malpractice insurance – As we all know, the cost of malpractice insurance keeps on rising. Depending on your specialty and where you live, it can be one of the largest costs a physician takes on. Physicians who work locum assignments must have malpractice insurance too, but the cost of the coverage is usually paid for by the staffing agency placing the physician in the assignment. If a locum decides not to work through an agency, there are daily-rate malpractice insurance options where coverage is available for only the days worked, making it a lot more cost-effective.

4. Office staff or hospital politics – If you’ve been part of a medical office or hospital staff, you know just how crazy the internal politics can be. There are other physicians jockeying for position, hassles from hospital administration, and departmental issues that are always cropping up. As a locum, you have the luxury of not being drawn in to all the hoopla going on around you. At the end of the day, you can go home to a “politics-free” zone.

Coming on November 5th… more things you won’t miss when you work a locum assignment.