Making the Most of Locum Support: New Resources Available

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By Tasha Krongard, Project Manager II, Partnership’s Quality Improvement Team

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

– John C. Maxwell, American author and orator

Locum providers – a provider who fills in for another provider in their absence – can be a valuable resource for addressing a variety of challenges including provider shortages, appointment backlogs, and access constraints, but simply adding capacity is not always enough.

A recent pilot demonstrated that the success of locum provider assignments begins with organizational readiness, clear goals, and the operational support needed to put that capacity to effective use.

Working alongside participating organizations, we explored how locum providers can be strategically deployed to support preventive care goals and improve patient access. The pilot generated several practical lessons that have been translated into a set of implementation resources now available on Partnership’s website, noted below.

Key Lessons Learned

  • Start by defining the problem. One of the most important questions organizations can ask is: What problem are we trying to solve? In some cases, lower preventive care rates may stem from provider capacity constraints. In others, the root causes may be scheduling processes, outreach challenges, patient engagement barriers, or workflow inefficiencies. Understanding the underlying issue helps determine whether a locum provider is the best solution and how to leverage that resource most effectively.
  • Define success before the assignment begins. Organizations that establish clear goals and expectations upfront are better positioned to measure impact and make course corrections along the way. Whether the objective is increasing preventive visits, reducing appointment backlogs, or improving access, clearly defined outcomes matter.
  • Assign ownership and accountability. Locum-based interventions are most successful when a specific individual is responsible for achieving the intended outcomes. This person should have the authority to make operational decisions, coordinate across teams, monitor progress, and address barriers as they arise. Treat the locum assignment as a strategic initiative with clear ownership and accountability.

Explore the Toolkit

To help organizations explore locum-based interventions, we have developed a collection of implementation tools linked below. We encourage you to explore the resources and adapt them to your organization’s needs.