Numbers on locum tenens fill rates are difficult to find. But Staff Care publishes documents from time-to-time that have such information, and we will use their numbers here . Although the data is a few years old, one could assume they are similar today and similar for all locum tenens companies, not just Staff Care.

1. 2003 fill rate was 63% 2. 2004 fill rate was 58% 3. 2005 fill rate was 63%

So you can see that at best, a medical facility only gets the product/service they want about 2/3 of the time. The other 1/3 of the time they are just out of luck.

On the physician side, there isn’t a "fill rate," but a rather telling statistic about how physicians make sure they get temporary jobs they want. Physicians who want to work locum tenens sign up, on average, with two or three locum tenens companies.1

In reality, the medical facilities also sign up with two or three or seven or twelve locum tenens companies too. On each side, the theory is that the more locum tenens companies they sign up with, the better their chances of get the product/service they want.

Can you begin to see why locum tenens is the oddest industry on the planet? • Customer one is the product/service for customer two. • Customer two is the product/service for customer one. • A locum tenens company works with the same customer number one as all of the other locum tenens companies. • A locum tenens company works with the same customer number two as all of the other locum tenens companies. • Both customers one and two feel the need to sign up with multiple locum tenens companies to get their needs met.

So is it worth it? Of course. Most locum tenens companies have year over year growth rates. Physicians, or other medical providers, are in the driver’s seat, as they can work 100% of the time if they are willing to take assignments that may not meet 100% of their requirements for the perfect assignment. Medical facilities, although they don’t get their needs met more than 2/3 of the time, at least get that 2/3, which is better than getting no help at all. And the biggest winner in the entire spectrum of the locum tenens industry is the ultimate customer; the patient.

When locum tenens are in place at a facility, patients continue to get great care, facilities can continue to provide that patient with a continuity of care that they would otherwise not be able to provide, and the patients get the best, most qualified medical providers that the profession makes available.

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