Locums

[deathmerchant]

I know this has been discussed before, but I would appreciate some current, real world info on what people are actually getting and the workload/location or other relevant details about their gigs? I personally think the more we share and know, the better for all of us. I see a lot of neurologists/doctors being taken advantage of because they don't know their worth.
For eg, I am currently looking into an initial offer of 220/hr for first 10 hours, followed by 225/hr if I have to come in after hours. 1 week/month. This is a small/mid sized town in a community hospital in the midwest.

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[Telamir]

Depends on the gig and on overtime.

One is fixed 3,300/12 hours with 300 beeper fee and 275 OT in major city in a state no one wants to go to
Other is 2,250 for 0-8 with 250 beeper + 300 OT if covering general + stroke or
2,000 for 0-8 with 250 beeper + 250 OT if covering general OR stroke only. This one is small ish town in midwest.

All rates are 1.5X for major holidays.

 

[MC47]

What about outpatient locum rate?

 

[Telamir]

That’s typically in the 2200-2400 for 0-8 hours range and typically very little if any overtime is charged. Most folks are done by the 8 hour mark.

 

[MC47]

How many patients per 8 hours for that rate? my region still only paying 215-220 per hour only.

 

[Telamir]

That I don’t know. Never done outpatient locums. Juice didn’t seem worth the squeeze to me.

 

[Itsarainbow]

Average rate is anywhere from $225-350. Negotiate your rate. You have to remember that these companies are probably making twice that amount per hour off our backs.

 

[deathmerchant]

Depends on the gig and on overtime.

One is fixed 3,300/12 hours with 300 beeper fee and 275 OT in major city in a state no one wants to go to
Other is 2,250 for 0-8 with 250 beeper + 300 OT if covering general + stroke or
2,000 for 0-8 with 250 beeper + 250 OT if covering general OR stroke only. This one is small ish town in midwest.

All rates are 1.5X for major holidays.

Appreciate the response. Do you know how beeper call works? I’m guessing it’s only when you have to go in? Or does chart and image review plus decision making from home count?

 

[Telamir]

Beeper call I interpret it (and have thus far had no issues) as what you're paid to "be on call". If I get called/woken up and I have to review imaging, etc I usually tick an hour of OT.

If it's before I'm asleep I'll take a few calls before I charge an hour, but if I'm woken up even for 10 seconds I'll tick an hour.

 

[Neurogeneral]

I did outpatient locums for one year, but this was a local gig that I took on after resigning and being somewhat burnt out from my last full time job. I wanted to work only on a part time/recurring basis without any long term commitments and without having to travel. It paid only about $210 per hour but was very laid back work - seeing on average 5-6 patients per 8 hour work day. I was often done by 3:30 pm with lots of downtime during shifts.

I was able to land a more lucrative per diem EMG job - $3000 per day for 10 EMGs in one day but this has been only a few days per month as needed.

I have seen other outpatient locums jobs pay better - like $250 to $350 per hour in the Columbus and Cincinnati areas for instance. This is usually not onerous work either (10-14 patients per day).

Inpatient locums does pay better overall because the pay is for 10-12 hr shifts and the pay per hour is mildly better but you will obviously be working harder. One local inpatient facility was paying $225-250 per hour for 10 hour work days plus overtime as needed but the census was 20-25 patients daily and there was overnight call. So yeah, you get paid much more if you are willing to work for it.