I'm the medical director for a hospitalist program that employs 19 docs and 4 midlevels. We also have a number of part-time people and locums folks that work for us. A bunch of them do 7 onn/7off at one spot and work a week or a few days here and there for us. Quite a few of our full time docs work in other preactices when they are off. Our hospital is owned by a large company and has 5 hospitals within a few hours of here. They like having having us cross-credentialed to work at other facilities when the need arises- if we choose to do so. Our census varies from 120 to 180 or more, often within a week, so we have to be flexible with scheduling. However, not every hospital or system will allow this. There are some that think they own you and will prevent you from working anywhere else. Know this up front! It is true that a non-compete clause is not enforceable in a hospitalist situation because there are no damages when you work for a competitor. They don't lose any money because they aren't losing patients. But, they can tie you up with injunctions for so long that you will wish you never tried it.
The thing with true locums work, though, is that they pay for ALL the expenses. You just collect the money, but you will not be an employee. They will cover malpractice and you will be responsible for taxes, but they cover hotel, flights and rental car, and usually the expense of licensing you in other state if need be. Because of this, it's more costly for me and I try to use fewer locums and more part-time people. But, you can't always do that in every situation.
