Locum Tenens
Locum tenens refers to physicians or advanced practitioners who fill temporary staffing gaps, covering for absent providers or bridging vacancies. Facilities, including surgery centers, use locum arrangements to maintain coverage, manage demand surges, and avoid service interruptions during recruitment.
What is locum tenens?
Locum tenens describes physicians, certified registered nurse anesthetists, or advanced practice providers who step in on a temporary basis to fill staffing gaps. The Latin phrase means "to hold the place," and that is essentially the role: a credentialed clinician covers shifts, cases, or an open position for a defined stretch of time rather than holding a permanent appointment.
These clinicians are typically engaged through staffing agencies or direct short-term contracts. Assignments can last a single day or extend across many months while a facility recruits a permanent hire, covers a parental or medical leave, or absorbs a seasonal spike in volume.
Why does locum tenens matter for surgery centers?
Ambulatory surgery centers depend on a tight roster of surgeons, anesthesia providers, and nurses to keep their block schedules full. When a key provider is suddenly unavailable, cases can be cancelled, which directly erodes revenue and frustrates referring physicians. Locum coverage lets a center protect its schedule and avoid those interruptions.
There is a revenue-cycle dimension as well. Locum providers must be properly credentialed and enrolled with payers, and their services are often billed under specific reciprocal-billing or substitute-physician rules. Getting that enrollment and claim modifier handling right is essential, because mistakes can lead to denials even when the care itself was delivered cleanly.
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