The physician shortage continues to pose significant challenges in the healthcare space, particularly in rural areas. Locum physicians have the ability to make a difference, not just by filling a staffing gap—but by transforming patient care in communities that need it most. When locum tenens providers arrive in underserved rural communities, patients who have been waiting are finally able to book appointments. Their impact is felt not just in metrics, but in moments: the relief on a patient’s face when they finally get seen, and the gratitude they express when they’re able to get a diagnosis and a treatment plan. Here’s how locum physicians are making an impact in rural communities across the country.
How do locum providers help keep rural hospitals open?
Locum providers are making an impact in rural hospitals by covering crucial staffing gaps that might otherwise cause hospitals to divert their patients. For rural hospitals, a single physician absence—due to vacation, illness, or an early retirement—can easily become a gap in service lines. A locum physician can be the difference between a patient getting immediate access to care or traveling two hours to see the nearest specialist. Locums often serve as the catalyst that allows rural hospitals to keep their ER doors open. One locum physician put it this way:
“At these smaller hospitals, they might only have one or two doctors, so when your doctor is on vacation or they get sick, what do you do? There’s no other doctor down the street that you can call. When a hospital doesn’t have a doctor in the ER, they end up closing down.”
For rural hospitals operating on thin margins, locum providers aren’t just filling shifts: they’re keeping departments open for patients in that community.
How do locum physicians impact patient wait times?
When locum providers step in at rural hospitals, patients who’ve been waiting for months finally get seen—and wait times start to drop.
This is especially true of specialist services, like oncology, urology, and gastroenterology. Without specialists on staff, backlogs for patient care get longer and longer, preventing patients from accessing screening and treatment that could make a difference in their prognosis.
“There’s a need for urologists everywhere, but in Chicagoland, you have a bunch of choices,” said urologist Dr. Fenwa Milhouse. “But in a lot of other places, where they don’t have a full-time urologist, patients are so grateful to be taken care of, because they’ve been on the waitlist for months and months.”
One of the benefits of practicing in communities with limited access to specialist care is that patients are deeply appreciative of physicians who step in to fill those gaps. Locums cardiologist Dr. Marc Atzenhoefer experienced that firsthand, practicing in rural South Dakota. “The clinic I supported happened to be a critical access facility, which means it would require a 3-4 hour drive to get to another hospital that offers specialty care, and that’s just not feasible for a lot of these patients,” says Dr. Atzenhoefer. “Once, when it was foggy, we had to fly past our small town and land in another because our intended destination didn’t have radar to support the landing. A grateful patient, who’d had a bypass the previous year, picked us up in his truck. He drove our whole team to the clinic, where twenty patients were eagerly waiting—some hadn’t seen a heart doctor in fifteen years. It was really touching.”
How do locums practitioners set themselves up for success while on a rural assignment?
Rural locums assignments can require additional flexibility and adaptability on the part of physicians, as the hospital may have different resources available than what providers are used to.
“[Working in a rural hospital] helped me rediscover the art of the physical examination, which is a dying art,” said Dr. Atzenhoefer. “The people who trained me, and are retired now, always reinforced the need for it, and I was always thinking, why, I’ll just order an echo? But in South Dakota, I didn’t have an echo, so I had to rely on the physical exam. I caught a critical aortic stenosis just by using my ears. That’s not something I knew I could do until I had the opportunity.”
Though rural hospitals may lack certain resources, the value they bring to their community is immeasurable. Many physicians report a huge sense of fulfillment about being able to provide crucial services to patients who might otherwise have to go without care.
“Having a locums cardiologist in these communities makes a huge difference, because we know what happens when somebody has critical aortic stenosis,” said Dr. Atzenhoefer. “We know their mortality rate is 50% within one year. So if there’s no one in these critical access areas listening to hearts and picking up on that murmur, identifying what it is, and getting them the care they need, then they are looking at two years of life, tops.”
What makes rural work fulfilling for locum providers?
Rural locums offers a great sense of fulfillment for providers when they see the difference their presence brings to a community. Sometimes it’s a heartfelt thank you from a patient, other times it’s treating a patient who has waited months for an appointment and giving a diagnosis before a case turns critical.
“The feedback I get most from physicians is that it’s rewarding to go to a place that really needs coverage. The patients are happier there. The nursing staff is happier, and the rest of the physician staff is happier,” says Tim Moses, Senior Consultant at Hayes Locums.
Take it from locum providers:
“I found the smaller rural hospitals to be the most rewarding. They require you to use everything in your toolkit—there’s no specialist right down the hall to send your surgical or cardiac cases to. That’s what got me interested in locums in the first place: You have to make it work, so you make it work.
A friend of mine used to say, ‘You find the best and the worst at the end of the road,’ and I’ve found that to be true. Some of the neatest people I’ve ever met are the farmers and the ranchers…When they come to see a doctor, there’s a really good reason for doing that. And they’re so grateful to get help.”–Dr. Terry Jones
“I’ve realized even more the importance of CRNAs when I’m working in underserved areas. A lot of people don’t move back to rural areas once they leave. You have providers who go get their education, and more often than not, they stay in cities. That means rural areas struggle to get sufficient healthcare of any kind. If it weren’t for CRNAs and locums, underserved areas would not have enough help. The providers who work at rural hospitals would burn out, and it would start to impact the quality of care. Without CRNAs looking out for rural America, it would be difficult for them to get access to good-quality anesthesia.” –Rebecca Van Leeuwen, CRNA
“Locums is a great way to feel like you’re doing work that matters. Because these are places that really need a urologist. I came from a practice where I was really busy, and I didn’t feel like I was able to spend as much time with patients as I would have wanted,” said Dr. Milhouse. “In locums, it’s less busy, even though there’s a bigger need, so I get to spend more time talking to people. Especially in a small town, it makes you feel part of the community…it’s very fulfilling.” –Dr. Fenwa Milhouse
For locum providers, rural assignments offer something rare in today’s medical landscape: the opportunity to feel uniquely appreciated. The physician shortage in rural America isn’t going away–but for providers willing to serve these communities, even temporarily, it’s an opportunity to not only deliver quality care, but to find fulfillment in making a real difference.
