Stop calling me! A guide to managing locum company solicitations

"If you contact me again, I'm calling my lawyer!"

That was a voicemail I received last night from a department chair after leaving my name and number with his assistant. Needless to say I was mortified.

You may be thinking, "what kind of person would sign up for a job that garners that kind of abuse?" When I left my career as a pharmacist to work as a locum recruiter, I had similar thoughts. But after many years at some of the most reputable staffing firms in the industry, I learned how to be a resource for hospitals and health systems instead of a nuisance... which was why I was so shocked to receive that voicemail yesterday. Luckily, those kind of responses are extremely rare - but they do still happen. And here's why:

During my tenure, the number of locum companies has increased over 800%. Businesses responded to the physician shortage crisis by opening locum tenens firms in an attempt to capitalize on the desperation felt by some healthcare facilities. Hospital in-house recruiters and executives experience this as an increase in solicitations from about 5 to over 45 per day! The days of friendly return calls and strategic conversations has been replaced by unanswered emails, deleted phone messages, and unhappy recruiters (both agency and in-house).

So how can you as a recruitment decision-maker continue to partner with trusted locum firms and weed out the noise? As the person on the other end of the phone, I've put together some tidbits that may be helpful in keeping both your relationships and your sanity.

DO:

Chat with us if we happen to catch you

Though it may be tempting to stonewall an unsolicited sales call, we usually only hope for 2-3 minutes of your time to find out how things work over there. The more information you give us about your recruitment workflow and preferred method of contact, the less we will call and ask you the same things over and over. We keep very good notes on what we learn, and do our best to comply with your processes and preferences.

Recognize if we've done our homework

Calls from a trustworthy firm should not be random. A good agency recruiter will have a reason for calling you. It could be a job posting we saw, a bit of news or recognition the hospital received, a press release about a new service line, or simply the fact that we've worked with you in the past. If an agency calls you with a legitimate reason, they've taken the time to learn about about you and your facility and saw an opportunity where our services have been useful to similar clients in the past. It might make sense to return that call and have a chat.

Find your favorites and talk to them often

Even if you rarely use locum clinicians, you will want to have a person to call should you urgently need direction. Find a contact at a firm you can partner with to get expert advice about any locum subject including billing, candidate pool, and rates. This agent will be someone who is willing to help you with your question regardless of whether or not it puts a dollar in their pocket. The right contact will be easy to reach by phone, email, or text, and will be eager to help. I have "clients" that have never used my services, but they know I am a trusted specialist in the locum world and can help answer most questions (if I don't know, I'll go find out). And if you do end up needing locums in the future, reward their loyalty with an exclusive contract!

Set your boundaries and enforce them

Promising to keep my information on file is nice, but how do I know you'll call me when you need someone? Have a specific folder where you keep your locum contacts, and keep note of the companies that have been around for a while. Let the people who call you know that you'd be okay with a follow up call in X weeks or months, then recognize the companies that comply. And if you're not the person we should be talking to, please let us know who is. It'll stop the calls to you and help the right contact establish partnerships.

DON'T:

Say "we don't use locums."

We know you do. Or rather you may have at some point - and it may not even have been you who arranged it. The demand for transparency in locum spend has increased over the years, but there was a time when any department could engage a firm with little to no recourse. A seasoned locum salesperson wants to understand both your needs at the department level and the chain of command we should follow in order to earn your business.

Google "Locum Tenens Companies"

My marketing department may hate me for this one, but entering the term into a search engine is going to give you a lot of ads. There's a better way. Clearlyrated.com will give you a list of the Best in Staffing winners year over year. These results come from the third-party survey company Inavero, and gives star ratings and testimonials from real clients. You can cross-reference this list with the list of firms who are members of the National Association of Locum Tenens Organizations (NALTO.org). Per their website, NALTO "...was established in 2001 to create and enforce strong industry standards and practices for our profession, stressing honesty, objectivity, integrity, and competency." If your chosen firm is a member, you're on the right track.

Treat us like vermin

I had a colleague who once said that you can tell a lot about a person's character by how they treat a telemarketer. Though I don't personally identify with that term, it's not a bad place to start. Everyone has a bad day once in a while, but we are just people just trying to do a job. In fact, many of us are very proud of both the customer service we provide and the service to the community your facility provides. You don't need to report me to your boss or threaten call your lawyer about me. A quick conversation will help us both understand how and when to interact so the partnership is mutually beneficial.

Assume we are too expensive to be an option

The sticker shock of locums is a real thing. It seems absurd sometimes to have to pay $2000+/day plus expenses for a clinician who isn't even going to stay with you. However, we are experts at training you how to bill for a locum and retain that revenue. By using MGMA and CMS data, as well as many other resources, we strive to present you with numbers that prove locums can actually boost revenue instead of drain it.

In Summary:

With the rise of clinician burnout and lack of access to healthcare as a whole, locums can be a "necessary evil," or part of a strategic plan to maintain a happy healthy community. We know we're not always fun to hear from, but with a little education and patience we can truly be more of an asset rather than a liability - I would not have stayed in this industry for 20+ years otherwise! With that... got any locum needs? ??