Locum Tenens
Healthcare Headhunters recruits healthcare professionals for employers. No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
This is what we do all day: recruit healthcare professionals.
Cover a defined clinical gap with a locum clinician whose license, recent scope, privileges, access, and handoffs match the work.
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
What does an open seat cost you every week?
An open role costs you more than the recruiting fee. Someone covers the work, waits for care, or stops a service. We ask what is falling behind and who is carrying it. Use your own figures to compare the cost of waiting with the cost of hiring.
The seat is costing you every week.
Overtime, diverted patients, a stretched team and a schedule held together by favors.
The posting brought the wrong people.
Applicants arrive, but the person who has done this exact work is employed and not looking.
You are the one chasing.
Screening calls, no-shows and follow-ups land on the desk of someone with a facility to run.
What does this hire really come down to?
Locum tenens coverage can address a leave, vacancy, call gap, clinic backlog, or temporary increase in patient volume. You set the service, dates, setting, duties, and escalation path. We screen clinicians against that assignment while your organization completes credentialing, clinical assessment, and privilege decisions before patient care starts.
Define uncovered shifts: scheduled patients, rounds, admissions, consults, call, nights, or named procedures. State who handles out-of-scope patient escalation. A daytime consultant may not suit independent overnight admissions.
We ask about recent assignment duties, procedures, documentation, and work with nursing, pharmacy, and other services. Compare that history with current duties. Your medical staff leaders decide whether it supports privileges under review.
Set a clear arrival and departure plan. Your team decides when licensure review, privileges, orientation, prescribing permissions, and record access are complete. Before the last shift, name the person receiving pending results, unsigned notes, referrals, patient messages, and follow-up questions.
We arrange locum tenens, travel and contract coverage on request. Credentialing, licensing and malpractice coverage are confirmed per engagement before anyone starts.
What do we check before you see anyone?
Active license and stated credentials. We confirm the states where the clinician holds an active license and review the board status or state-specific certifications your department names. A license held elsewhere does not authorize practice at your site. Your organization verifies credentials and determines whether they meet its credentialing process.
- Recent clinical scope and procedure history. We ask what care the clinician provided recently, how often they performed requested procedures, and whether the work involved supervision or independent privileges. If your assignment includes procedures, your reviewers can compare case logs with the privileges being considered.
- Schedule, call, and role boundaries. We clarify clinic sessions, rounds, consults, admissions, nights, weekends, and call coverage. We also ask who manages refills, patient messages, referrals, and test results near the assignment end. These details expose gaps that a broad job description can miss.
- Work history and peer references. We review recent assignments and contact supervisors who saw the clinician work in similar hospital or practice settings. We ask about attendance, note completion, communication across departments, and adherence to local safety procedures. We seek concrete examples rather than general praise.
- Record access and site orientation. We ask who will provide electronic health record training, badge access, order-entry access, prescribing permissions, and after-hours technical support. A clinician may be clinically qualified yet unable to enter orders or sign notes. Confirm a first-shift contact before arrival.
- Malpractice arrangements and written terms. Before a clinician starts, the parties confirm malpractice arrangements, carrier information, and responsibility for tail coverage where applicable. We also discuss assignment dates, travel arrangements if applicable, cancellation terms, and authority for schedule changes. Written terms should reflect the coverage plan your leaders approved.
Where do we find them, and why would they move?
Sources include clinicians between permanent roles, taking extra work around existing schedules, or focused on temporary assignments. Some assess regions before permanent moves. Others prefer defined clinical work over department leadership or administration. Availability alone does not establish fit. We ask why the person is available, which dates they can maintain, and what might affect the proposed start or extension.
A clinician taking occasional assignments may suit a short call gap, while a clinician focused on locum work may fit a longer vacancy.
Which mistakes stall the search?
A common mistake is listing only a specialty, then learning the clinician does not perform a needed procedure, cover the stated call, or work in the planned setting. Another is publishing a first shift before credentialing, privileges, electronic record access, prescribing permissions, and site orientation are complete.
Leaving the departure handoff unnamed, so pending results, follow-up visits, patient messages, and unfinished documentation have no clear owner.
How would we run the search for this opening?
Tell us the dates, service line, setting, call pattern, procedures, and handoff duties. We present clinicians whose recent work fits the stated assignment. Set orientation, system access, schedule contacts, and escalation paths before the first shift. You assess clinical fit and complete your credentialing and privilege review.
Describe the coverage work
We ask what occurs on a normal shift, which decisions the clinician makes independently, and when another clinician must be contacted.
Review clinicians and terms
Licensing status, malpractice arrangements, and written terms are confirmed before patient coverage begins.
Prepare arrival and departure
As the assignment closes, identify who receives unfinished notes, results, referrals, and follow-up work. Remove access under your internal process after the assignment ends.
Can a clinician begin before full privileges are granted?
That decision belongs to your organization and its policies. Some assignments may involve limited duties or a supervision structure, while others cannot begin without full approval. Tell us the planned scope so we can discuss clinicians whose availability fits your process.
What work can a locum clinician cover?
Locum tenens is temporary clinical coverage for a defined assignment. It may cover a leave, vacancy, call schedule, clinic session, inpatient service, or another stated gap.
How long does credentialing take for a locum clinician?
Timing depends on license status, record retrieval, references, your medical staff review, and the privileges requested. We begin credential screening early, but your organization controls its process and final approval.
What if our coverage dates change?
Tell us when the coverage need changes. We can discuss an extension, shorter term, or schedule adjustment under the written terms.
How is locum tenens priced?
We arrange locum tenens, travel and contract coverage on request. Credentialing, licensing and malpractice coverage are confirmed per engagement before anyone starts. Permanent contingency placement is our core service, with no upfront fee and payment only if you hire.
What should you send us about this role?
Send us the role, where the person will work and what needs to change with this hire. We will ask about the work, not just the title. Share any license or schedule limits that could rule someone out before we begin the search.
Tell us what the clinician must cover, which license and privileges the work calls for, and when the gap begins.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
What do you get at each step of the search?
Our process for every search: calibrate the seat with you, map the market, research the real people, reach out to each one personally, qualify them in live conversation, then hand you a short list with a written brief on each person and support through the offer.
Search Calibration
You get an agreed brief: the work, reporting line, credentials, schedule, and offer you can make.
Market Mapping
You get a search aimed at relevant backgrounds, including people working now who have not applied.
Professional Contact Intelligence
We check appropriate ways to reach the people identified for your search. You do not have to chase them yourself.
Persistent Personalized Outreach
We explain your actual job and follow up with people who may consider a conversation.
Live Candidate Qualification
You see people we have spoken with about the work, interest, and practical fit, not an unread resume pile.
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You get a written brief and support through interviews and offer discussions. You make the hiring decision.
What if a candidate receives a counteroffer?
We ask why the person wants to move and discuss competing decisions before an offer. A counteroffer can still change their choice. Keep the duties and offer clear rather than assuming more money settles every concern. Tell us early if parts of your offer cannot change, so the candidate hears it from us first.
What are the replacement terms?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement. Ask us to walk through those terms before you sign, so you know how a replacement would work for your opening and who would start it.
What do we not do in a standard permanent search?
We do not bill standard contingency search by the hour or simply repost your job. Temporary coverage is a separate arrangement. Any retainer or different engagement must be agreed, not assumed. Tell us early if you need coverage while the permanent search runs.