Among these alternatives are temporary staffing agencies for doctors, which have become one of the fastest growing health care trends this decade.
Known in the industry as "locum tenens"--Latin for "holding the place of"-- these agencies send some doctors traveling from city to city to work in clinics. The agencies may also place temporary doctors for certain specialties that suffer from physician shortages or place them in facilities and practices that have temporary needs due to vacation or maternity absences. The physicians working on a temporary basis include primary care physicians and specialists who are needed in rural areas.
These temporary doctors also help fill gaps at nonmedical facilities, such as correctional facilities or hotels. In fact, there are some staffing agencies that specialize just in supplying doctors to hotel chains. So if you get sick while staying at a hotel and the hotel sends a doctor to treat you, it's a good chance that doctor came from one of these temp agencies.
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