There’s a increasing chance that the next time you undergo surgery, it will be by a locum tenens physician.

Because of rising overhead costs, combined with declining surgeon pay, more physicians are opting to become temporary doctors. They travel from hospital to hospital, and are paid a fixed rate, without worrying about office costs and struggling to stay open.

Numbers estimate that 1 in 20 general surgeons operate on this temporary basis, and this opens up a host of concerns. The first being the difficulty with follow-up. Surgeons are reluctant to follow another’s complications, but with so many working on a temporary basis, this is sometimes forced to be the case.

Furthermore, hospitals hiring on a temporary basis often incur greater costs, but when faced with the alternative of closing down, the costs are tolerable.

This scenario is another instance of how the downward pressure on physician salaries leads to the unintended consequence of exacerbating health costs.

On another note, the WSJ Health Blog points out that it’s actually primary care that’s most in demand on the locum tenens circuit. Having such a high proportion of temporary physicians in generalist practice certainly makes continuity of care difficult, however, with the dire shortage, I suppose that even a temporary doctor is better than none at all.

Update:
Jeffrey Parks doesn’t think the locum tenens model is for everyone, and indeed, is “a career paradigm of last resort.”