Paging Dr. Freelance
Source: Stat News
Hospitals’ use of contract doctors soars amid physician shortage
Dr. Colin Zhu thought about starting a family practice. But the 33-year osteopathic physician realized all the management, paperwork, and financial overhead might distract him from what he enjoyed most: seeing patients.
So Zhu went freelance.
The practice is known in the industry as “locum tenens” (Latin for “to hold a place”) — working shorter, contract gigs instead of taking a full-time job. That choice used to come with a stigma; patient data suggested freelance doctors weren’t as skilled as those with more stable careers. Today, though, the skills gap seems to have closed as more and more doctors opt for the flexibility of contract work — and more and more hospitals, desperate to fill staffing shortages, bring them on board.