You have a shift to cover and a rate to put on it. A published pay table won't give you that rate. A national range covers many regions, settings and kinds of shift, and your shift is one clinic on one day.
You can set a competitive urgent care locum rate from numbers you already have. This post covers where to start, how to adjust the rate by shift, and how to tell when it's too low.
Why a quoted bill rate isn't the locum rate
A rate quoted by a staffing agency is a bill rate. It's what you pay the agency, and it includes the agency's fee. It isn't what the clinician receives, so it doesn't tell you what rate will bring a clinician to your shift.
Keep two numbers apart when you budget: the rate the clinician is paid, and the total you're billed for the shift. Before you post a shift through any agency or platform, ask what you'll be billed on top of the clinician's rate. Our post on urgent care staffing agency contracts covers the contract terms that change that total.
Start the locum rate from your permanent pay
The clinician reading your listing is comparing it with a permanent job. You can run the same comparison from your side.
- Take what you pay a permanent clinician in that role for a year, and add what you spend on their benefits.
- Divide by the hours they work in a year, leaving out their paid time off.
The result is what an hour of that clinician's work costs you. A locum clinician usually funds their own health insurance and retirement and isn't paid for time off. A locum rate at or below that hourly figure asks them to do the same work for less than your permanent staff, so treat the figure as your floor.
Run it once for each role you staff with locums. A physician shift, an NP or PA shift, an RN shift and an MA shift each have their own floor.
Adjust the locum rate for the shift
One rate for every shift overpays for the shifts that are easy to fill and underpays for the hard ones. Decide which conditions raise the rate at your clinic, and write the rule down so every posting follows it. The conditions to decide on:
- Evenings, weekends and holidays. These are the hours a clinician gives up something else to work.
- Short notice. A clinician who takes tomorrow's shift is rearranging their week for you.
- Single coverage. Being the only provider on site is a harder shift than working beside a second one.
- High-volume days. Your own visit data shows which days those are.
- Added services. A shift that includes occupational health visits needs a clinician with that experience, and fewer clinicians have it.
A written rule also keeps you consistent. A clinician who worked a Saturday at one rate and sees the next Saturday posted lower will notice.
Use your fill history to test the locum rate
Your own postings are the best evidence of whether a rate is competitive where you are. Keep a simple record for each shift you post: the role, the day and time, the rate, how far ahead you posted it, and whether it filled.
After a few months the record shows which kinds of shift fill at your current rate and which don't. Raise the rate on the kinds that don't, one step at a time, and keep recording. You're looking for the lowest rate at which each kind of shift fills reliably.
Rule out the listing before you blame the rate. A shift with no stated volume, no mention of single coverage or no rule for which hours are paid can go unfilled at a fair rate. What locum clinicians look for in an urgent care shift lists what the listing needs to say.
On Rediworks, the rate on your posting is the maximum for that shift, and each clinician names their own rate when they apply.
Compare the locum rate with the cost of an open shift
The ceiling on a rate is what it costs you to leave the shift uncovered. That cost is the visits you don't see, the overtime you pay permanent staff to stretch, or the hours you close.
Work out that figure for your clinic with the worksheet in what an unfilled urgent care shift costs. Then compare it with the extra you'd pay to fill the shift. If raising the rate costs less across the whole shift than leaving it open, the higher rate is the cheaper choice.
What changes the value of your locum rate
A clinician doesn't weigh the rate alone. Three terms change what your rate is worth to them.
Paid hours. If the clinic closes at 8 and charting runs until 9, a 10-hour shift is 11 hours of work. An unpaid eleventh hour cuts the real hourly rate by about a tenth, and the clinician will price your next shift with that in mind.
Cancellation terms. A clinician who holds a day for you has turned down other work. State how much notice you give and what you pay if you give less.
How soon you approve hours. On Rediworks, the clinician is paid after you approve the shift's hours, so a late approval delays their pay.
Which role covers the shift
The role you post changes the rate more than any adjustment above. Which roles can cover a given shift at your clinic depends on your state's supervision and collaboration rules and on what your medical director decides. That isn't a pricing decision. Settle it with your medical director and your counsel first, then set the rate for the role they approve.
When to change your locum rate
Change a rate when the evidence changes: a kind of shift that used to fill stops filling, a clinician who covered regularly stops applying, or your permanent pay goes up and moves the floor. Go through your fill record on a set schedule so you see these changes within a few weeks.
A good rate won't solve every coverage problem. If you need a clinician brought in from another region with travel and housing arranged, a traditional agency with a recruiter handles that.
Rediworks is a self-service marketplace for urgent care shifts. You post the shift with its rate, and clinicians see the rate before they apply. Sign up to post shifts.