July 8, 2025 • 10 mins
SEND US A TEXT MESSAGE!!! Let Drs. Nii & Renee know what you think about the show!
Send us a Voice Message - https://www.speakpipe.com/docsoutsidethebox
Have a question for the podcast?
Text us at 833-230-2860
If you’re thinking about launching your own locums medical staffing agency while still completing your healthcare education, this episode dives deep into the complexities and realities of starting a locum tenens agency. We offered practical advice drawn from years of experience in both clinical practice and business development.
FREE DOWNLOAD - 7 Considerations Before Starting Locum Tenens - https://darkos.lpages.co/7-considerations-before-locums
LINKS MENTIONED
Past episodes on starting a locums agency.
- https://youtu.be/z5W9yQQaizk
- https://youtu.be/GDCRSO-dY70
- https://youtu.be/Mqb1awTFthE
- https://youtu.be/qeH-ztylxHI
- https://youtu.be/u3c4J4qSIkg
- https://youtu.be/ZfvnDaU1GKE
- https://youtu.be/Fkvjnjisz0Q
- https://youtu.be/pNOE-xVG3hU
WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE!
Twitter: @drniidarko
Instagram: @docsoutsidethebox
Email: team@drniidarko.com
Merch: https://docs-outside-the-box.creator-spring.com
This episode is sponsored by
Set For Life Insurance. What the Darkos use for great disability insurance at a low cost!! Check them out at www.setforlifeinsurance.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
OK, guys, if you missed the last segment, we just
talked about how to protectyour peace without quitting your
job.
Dr Nee had a few choice wordsabout how to essentially stay
sane.
In this next segment we aregoing to be talking about let's
go to our next question.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
All right, our next question is from Ken.
They actually can actually sentus a text message through
Textiful or through our textthing, whatever you call it, I
forget what it is.
Anyway, it's a question about aphysician assistant locums
company which I'm like.
I'm surprised there's not oneout right now.
It says hi there is.
I'm currently a PA student atthe University of Washington.
(00:43):
I've been watching your videosand I want to create a locum
tenens agency.
I have a question what is thenetworking process like?
For instance, how do I connectwith hospitals to work with my
company, and what informationshould I have available before
even contacting the hospital?
Should I also have medicalprofessionals on standby before
(01:03):
contacting the hospital?
Dr, Renee, what say you?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
That's a tough one.
It's a tough one, I think youknow.
Certainly, networking atdifferent conferences will help
you and conferences will helpyou, you know, going to
conferences where you havephysicians, going to conferences
(01:30):
where you know your medical,your hospital administrators,
kind of frequent as well.
I'm not too familiar with those, but and then going even locums
conferences Right there are,there are some locums
conferences as well so that youcan learn the ropes because they
will, you know, do all kinds ofpresentations and things like
(01:52):
that, so you can kind of seewhat's going on and you know
kind of what the lay of the landis for locums.
At least start there, startgoing to some conferences.
As far as standby, yeah, youshould always have, you know, a
(02:14):
few friends who are down if yousay, listen, you know, I have a
hospital that I'd like you knowfor you guys to go to.
I'm in the works with thosepeople X, y and Z and that way
you can kind of use that, youknow, use that leverage, if you
will, for the hospital to sayhey, you're, you know, you're
somebody who we want to workwith because we need to cover so
(02:37):
much ground and you have abunch of people that come with
you.
You got three, four people thatcome with you, so we're going
to be able to cover our service.
I think that that's fine.
I think you have a good idea onthat one.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
For Ken.
I would want a little bit moreinformation.
The biggest thing I would wantfrom Ken is do you plan on doing
a residency, a physicianassistant residency, afterwards?
The reason why I asked thisquestion is because the majority
of physician assistants thereis no residency Like their first
job, or what they do on the jobis on the job training Right.
So if you want to go intotrauma, like it's going to take
(03:15):
several years before you reallyget up to speed as to what is
expected of you, what to do,your procedures, all those
different things.
With that being said, I thinkwhat you should really focus on
is really graduating first Rightand then making sure that
you're as trained as possible.
(03:39):
The way in which I would suggestthat you network with hospitals
or work with hospitals andconvince them to work with your
company, particularly in thissituation, is to show what you
can do.
First right, make sure that youhave a group of medical
professionals, particularlyother PAs, who are trained also,
because that's what I see iswhat a lot of hospitals are
looking for.
They're looking for a PA whothey can plug and patch right,
(03:59):
not a PA who they can plug andthen have to teach up and then
possibly that person may have toleave.
So, ken, I would say make surethat you get the best training
that you can get.
First, maybe put yourself outthere as a locum tenens.
After you get that training, goto different facilities,
different hospitals and say, hey, I actually have a group of
(04:19):
other PAs who work, you know,and are trained just as well as
me, and this is what we do.
And go from there, because I'mgoing to tell you right now it's
not as easy as just saying youhave a local attendance company.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
One of the things that you have to deal with, from
a perspective of being amedical professional, is dealing
with the cynicism that thehospital has with working with
you, and you may not understandwhat I mean, but what I mean by
this is, once they realize thatyou're a medical professional,
there's a bit of cynicism thatthe hospital will have with
working with you.
They may not take you seriously.
(04:51):
They may offer you cheap rates,they may offer you know, they
just may not be they give youthe runaround, they give you the
runaround, whereas if you wereyou know they just may not be
the runaround they give you therunaround, whereas if you were,
you know, an MBA, or if you had,or, excuse me, if you had
somebody who was literally justan MBA, just an MBA, or somebody
who, like you said, has noknowledge of medicine but comes
to them as a straight businessperspective, they'll take that
(05:15):
person way more seriously thanthey will with you.
So it's just something to keepin the back of your mind, is
that?
Listen, I get it that you're atthe University of Washington.
I would knock it out the park.
I would make sure you get thebest experience.
If possible, go ahead and do aresidency if you think you need
to, and then from there, that'show you start building your.
That's how you start networkingis you start basically going to
(05:38):
different hospitals and showingwhat you can do, and then you
start working as a locums right,and in essence, your agency is
just you, and then eventually,you start bringing more and more
and more and more people tocome in.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
That's what I would do, right.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
And then listen like guys we've.
We've answered this question,um, not this question
specifically, but we've answereda lot of questions about, uh,
people who are in residency,folks who are attendings, who
want to start their own locumscompany or locums agency.
That's the big in vogue thingright now, in my opinion.
Um and um.
(06:14):
We will put in the show notesall the other times where we've
answered this question and evengiven more detailed step-by-step
on what we did to start our ownlocums company and locum agency
.
So, ken, I appreciate youwriting in.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yeah, that was straightforward.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Yeah, I think that's pretty straightforward Because
we've answered this question alot.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, I mean we've answered this question a lot.
But yeah, I mean, it's always,you know, it's always kind of
interesting to me that peoplewant to start locum tenant
agencies, you know, and that'sthat says to me that they're
(06:56):
kind of out there feeling like,you know they can do it, they
can do it themselves, Right,Maybe they've worked with locum
locums companies and they feltlike you know what I could
probably do this for myself and,you know, maybe be more
efficient at it or, you know, bepaid more, right, Because once
(07:21):
you cut out the middleman, youget paid more.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So I think it's a good thing cut out the middleman
, you get paid more.
So I think it's a good thing.
Yeah, I think, as much as wetalk about locums anytime you
have something that's really newthat's coming out, there's
going to be times where you haveto be really careful about who
you work with, which agency youwork with, because I'll be
(07:46):
honest with you too, justbecause a doctor or just because
a PA is running a locums agencydoesn't mean that you won't get
ripped off right.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
You gotta be really careful Business is business
y'all, business is business.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Business is business and people or companies.
They're trying to maximizeprofits.
The key thing is going back to,you know, even that previous
question, which is we talkedabout redefining success.
It's almost like redefining,like redefining, like what's
important to you, redefining howyou're making money.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Right and just being really intentional with your
career, because if you're not,if you are not dictating a like
I want to be able to have thesetype of credentials, then I want
to be able to work at thesetype of hospitals and I don't
want to have debt and all thesedifferent things.
If I don't do some of thosethings, someone is going to be
like you say, someone is goingto be dictating your schedule.
(08:38):
These are things that you haveto keep in mind.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, yeah, well said .
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Especially because you voted me.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Well, you know, you say a lot of really like you're
very good at saying, at thesesayings and stuff.
I have to give you props forthat, thank, you Arcees?
Arcees.
All right, dr Renee.
Is there anything else you wantto add on this episode?
Speaker 1 (09:10):
What kind of spider would make your feet tingle at
the bottom?
That's what I want to know, yousure?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
there's a spider.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Listen, look, I got these two bite marks right here.
I don't know Work husband Imean't know Work husband.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I mean that's what you want to say.
What's the test for syphilis?
Somebody write that in.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
RPR VDRL.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Is that a swab, or is that blood draw?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Blood draw.
Then you start doing titers,titers, titers, titers.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Anyway, this ain't a medical show.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
This really ain't.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
But, guys, we do this to you Everybody who's watching
on YouTube and listening onDSPs.
We heart you too.
We love you.
Thank you for listening.
Remember you could always leaveus a voicemail, leave us a DM
and you might get your questionor your voicemail played on the
show, and we always appreciatey'all.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Send us a video y'all working out.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yeah, we're going to catch you guys.
We're going to catch you guyson the next.
I was going to say somethingbad.
We're going to catch you guyson the next episode of Docs
Outside the Box, y'all Peace.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Bye.
OK, guys, if you missed the last segment, we just
talked about how to protectyour peace without quitting your
job.
Dr Nee had a few choice wordsabout how to essentially stay
sane.
In this next segment we aregoing to be talking about let's
go to our next question.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
All right, our next question is from Ken.
They actually can actually sentus a text message through
Textiful or through our textthing, whatever you call it, I
forget what it is.
Anyway, it's a question about aphysician assistant locums
company which I'm like.
I'm surprised there's not oneout right now.
It says hi there is.
I'm currently a PA student atthe University of Washington.
(00:43):
I've been watching your videosand I want to create a locum
tenens agency.
I have a question what is thenetworking process like?
For instance, how do I connectwith hospitals to work with my
company, and what informationshould I have available before
even contacting the hospital?
Should I also have medicalprofessionals on standby before
(01:03):
contacting the hospital?
Dr, Renee, what say you?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
That's a tough one.
It's a tough one, I think youknow.
Certainly, networking atdifferent conferences will help
you and conferences will helpyou, you know, going to
conferences where you havephysicians, going to conferences
(01:30):
where you know your medical,your hospital administrators,
kind of frequent as well.
I'm not too familiar with those, but and then going even locums
conferences Right there are,there are some locums
conferences as well so that youcan learn the ropes because they
will, you know, do all kinds ofpresentations and things like
(01:52):
that, so you can kind of seewhat's going on and you know
kind of what the lay of the landis for locums.
At least start there, startgoing to some conferences.
As far as standby, yeah, youshould always have, you know, a
(02:14):
few friends who are down if yousay, listen, you know, I have a
hospital that I'd like you knowfor you guys to go to.
I'm in the works with thosepeople X, y and Z and that way
you can kind of use that, youknow, use that leverage, if you
will, for the hospital to sayhey, you're, you know, you're
somebody who we want to workwith because we need to cover so
(02:37):
much ground and you have abunch of people that come with
you.
You got three, four people thatcome with you, so we're going
to be able to cover our service.
I think that that's fine.
I think you have a good idea onthat one.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
For Ken.
I would want a little bit moreinformation.
The biggest thing I would wantfrom Ken is do you plan on doing
a residency, a physicianassistant residency, afterwards?
The reason why I asked thisquestion is because the majority
of physician assistants thereis no residency Like their first
job, or what they do on the jobis on the job training Right.
So if you want to go intotrauma, like it's going to take
(03:15):
several years before you reallyget up to speed as to what is
expected of you, what to do,your procedures, all those
different things.
With that being said, I thinkwhat you should really focus on
is really graduating first Rightand then making sure that
you're as trained as possible.
(03:39):
The way in which I would suggestthat you network with hospitals
or work with hospitals andconvince them to work with your
company, particularly in thissituation, is to show what you
can do.
First right, make sure that youhave a group of medical
professionals, particularlyother PAs, who are trained also,
because that's what I see iswhat a lot of hospitals are
looking for.
They're looking for a PA whothey can plug and patch right,
(03:59):
not a PA who they can plug andthen have to teach up and then
possibly that person may have toleave.
So, ken, I would say make surethat you get the best training
that you can get.
First, maybe put yourself outthere as a locum tenens.
After you get that training, goto different facilities,
different hospitals and say, hey, I actually have a group of
(04:19):
other PAs who work, you know,and are trained just as well as
me, and this is what we do.
And go from there, because I'mgoing to tell you right now it's
not as easy as just saying youhave a local attendance company.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
One of the things that you have to deal with, from
a perspective of being amedical professional, is dealing
with the cynicism that thehospital has with working with
you, and you may not understandwhat I mean, but what I mean by
this is, once they realize thatyou're a medical professional,
there's a bit of cynicism thatthe hospital will have with
working with you.
They may not take you seriously.
(04:51):
They may offer you cheap rates,they may offer you know, they
just may not be they give youthe runaround, they give you the
runaround, whereas if you wereyou know they just may not be
the runaround they give you therunaround, whereas if you were,
you know, an MBA, or if you had,or, excuse me, if you had
somebody who was literally justan MBA, just an MBA, or somebody
who, like you said, has noknowledge of medicine but comes
to them as a straight businessperspective, they'll take that
(05:15):
person way more seriously thanthey will with you.
So it's just something to keepin the back of your mind, is
that?
Listen, I get it that you're atthe University of Washington.
I would knock it out the park.
I would make sure you get thebest experience.
If possible, go ahead and do aresidency if you think you need
to, and then from there, that'show you start building your.
That's how you start networkingis you start basically going to
(05:38):
different hospitals and showingwhat you can do, and then you
start working as a locums right,and in essence, your agency is
just you, and then eventually,you start bringing more and more
and more and more people tocome in.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
That's what I would do, right.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
And then listen like guys we've.
We've answered this question,um, not this question
specifically, but we've answereda lot of questions about, uh,
people who are in residency,folks who are attendings, who
want to start their own locumscompany or locums agency.
That's the big in vogue thingright now, in my opinion.
Um and um.
(06:14):
We will put in the show notesall the other times where we've
answered this question and evengiven more detailed step-by-step
on what we did to start our ownlocums company and locum agency
.
So, ken, I appreciate youwriting in.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yeah, that was straightforward.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Yeah, I think that's pretty straightforward Because
we've answered this question alot.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, I mean we've answered this question a lot.
But yeah, I mean, it's always,you know, it's always kind of
interesting to me that peoplewant to start locum tenant
agencies, you know, and that'sthat says to me that they're
(06:56):
kind of out there feeling like,you know they can do it, they
can do it themselves, Right,Maybe they've worked with locum
locums companies and they feltlike you know what I could
probably do this for myself and,you know, maybe be more
efficient at it or, you know, bepaid more, right, Because once
(07:21):
you cut out the middleman, youget paid more.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So I think it's a good thing cut out the middleman
, you get paid more.
So I think it's a good thing.
Yeah, I think, as much as wetalk about locums anytime you
have something that's really newthat's coming out, there's
going to be times where you haveto be really careful about who
you work with, which agency youwork with, because I'll be
(07:46):
honest with you too, justbecause a doctor or just because
a PA is running a locums agencydoesn't mean that you won't get
ripped off right.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
You gotta be really careful Business is business
y'all, business is business.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Business is business and people or companies.
They're trying to maximizeprofits.
The key thing is going back to,you know, even that previous
question, which is we talkedabout redefining success.
It's almost like redefining,like redefining, like what's
important to you, redefining howyou're making money.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Right and just being really intentional with your
career, because if you're not,if you are not dictating a like
I want to be able to have thesetype of credentials, then I want
to be able to work at thesetype of hospitals and I don't
want to have debt and all thesedifferent things.
If I don't do some of thosethings, someone is going to be
like you say, someone is goingto be dictating your schedule.
(08:38):
These are things that you haveto keep in mind.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, yeah, well said .
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Especially because you voted me.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Well, you know, you say a lot of really like you're
very good at saying, at thesesayings and stuff.
I have to give you props forthat, thank, you Arcees?
Arcees.
All right, dr Renee.
Is there anything else you wantto add on this episode?
Speaker 1 (09:10):
What kind of spider would make your feet tingle at
the bottom?
That's what I want to know, yousure?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
there's a spider.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Listen, look, I got these two bite marks right here.
I don't know Work husband Imean't know Work husband.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I mean that's what you want to say.
What's the test for syphilis?
Somebody write that in.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
RPR VDRL.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Is that a swab, or is that blood draw?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Blood draw.
Then you start doing titers,titers, titers, titers.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Anyway, this ain't a medical show.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
This really ain't.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
But, guys, we do this to you Everybody who's watching
on YouTube and listening onDSPs.
We heart you too.
We love you.
Thank you for listening.
Remember you could always leaveus a voicemail, leave us a DM
and you might get your questionor your voicemail played on the
show, and we always appreciatey'all.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Send us a video y'all working out.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yeah, we're going to catch you guys.
We're going to catch you guyson the next.
I was going to say somethingbad.
We're going to catch you guyson the next episode of Docs
Outside the Box, y'all Peace.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Bye.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.