Running a check on a locum clinician and being able to show that you ran it are two separate jobs. A license can be looked up in minutes. If nobody saved the result with a date, the file has nothing to show for it a year later.
This checklist covers the records side of a locum file at an urgent care: what to keep, how to record each check, and how to test whether the file is complete. Which checks to run for each role is covered in urgent care locum credentialing.
This is general information, not legal advice. State law, your payer contracts and any accreditation your clinic holds set the rules for your files. Confirm your own requirements with your attorney, your state agencies and your accreditor.
What each record in a locum file should show
Every check in the file should answer five questions:
- What was checked
- Where the answer came from
- The date of the check
- The result
- Who at your clinic did it
A photocopy of a license card answers none of them. A saved copy of the issuing board's lookup page, with the date on it, answers the first four. Add the name of the person who ran it and the record is complete.
The urgent care locum file checklist
Not every line applies to every role. A medical assistant's file and a physician's file share some lines and not others. Where a line doesn't apply, write "not applicable" and don't leave it blank. A blank line can't tell a later reader whether the item was skipped or wasn't required.
Identity and role
- Full name as it appears on the license or certification
- Clinician type, and the role they'll work at your clinic
- National Provider Identifier, for roles that have one
License and registrations
- A dated record of the license lookup with the issuing board, showing status, expiration date and any public action
- For clinicians who'll prescribe controlled substances: a record of their DEA registration and its expiration date, and any separate state registration your state requires
- A copy of any supervisory or collaborative agreement your state requires for the role
Screening and history
- A dated federal exclusion screening result
- Whatever history check your written policy calls for, with its date
Malpractice coverage
- A certificate of insurance, or a written statement of who carries the coverage for the shift, with the limits, the policy type and the policy dates
Qualifications your policy requires
- Each certification your policy requires for the role, with its expiration date
- Work history and references, if your policy asks for them
Your clinic's decision
- Who approved the clinician, on what date, and under which version of your policy
- What the clinician is expected to do at your clinic
- Anything the clinician has said they don't do
Shift records
- A dated acknowledgment that the clinician received your orientation and policies
- The dates EMR access was issued and removed
- Hours worked and hours approved, for each shift
- Any complaint or incident tied to a shift, handled through the same process you use for permanent staff
Record what a staffing source checked for you
An agency or a marketplace may run some checks before you see the clinician. For each line in the file, note whether your clinic ran the check or relied on the staffing source. Where you relied on the source, ask for the documentation and keep it in your file.
Your agreement with the source should say who screens the clinician, how often, and what proof you receive. Whether your clinic may rely on another party's check, and for which items, is a question for your attorney or compliance lead.
Track expirations in the locum file
A file that was complete in the spring can be out of date by the fall. Licenses, registrations, certifications and insurance policies each expire on their own schedule.
List every dated item for every clinician in one place, with the expiration date beside it. Name one person to review the list on a fixed schedule. Check it again each time you rebook a clinician, and rerun the exclusion screening at the same time.
Retention and access for locum records
How long you keep a locum file is set by your state, your payer contracts and any accreditor. Ask your attorney for the period that applies to your clinic, and write it into your policy. Keep the files of clinicians who no longer work with you until that period ends.
Store the files in one place with limited access. They hold license numbers and other personal information, so decide who can open them and record that decision as well.
Test the locum file checklist on a past shift
Pick a locum clinician who worked at your clinic last quarter. Give the file to someone who wasn't involved in the booking and ask them to answer four questions from the file alone:
- Was the license active on the date of the shift?
- Was the exclusion screening run before the shift?
- Who approved this clinician, and when?
- Who carried the malpractice coverage for that shift?
Each question they can't answer points to a record your process doesn't produce yet. Add it to the checklist, and assign the step to a named person.
The same test works for the shift itself. A quality checklist for locum shifts covers what to record before, during and after a shift.
Questions for your state and your accreditor
This checklist gives you a structure. It doesn't tell you what your clinic is required to hold. Take these questions to your attorney, your state agencies and your accreditor if you have one:
- Which checks are required for each clinician type you use?
- Does a check have to come from the original source, or can you accept a copy from the clinician or a staffing source?
- How often does each check have to be repeated?
- How long do the records have to be kept?
- Do locum clinicians go through the same performance review as permanent staff?
If your urgent care is accredited or is a department of a hospital, those standards define your file, and this checklist is only a starting list to compare against them.
Rediworks is a self-service marketplace for urgent care locum shifts. Clinicians upload their documents once to a credential wallet, and you post the clinician type, dates and shift details you need. Sign up to post shifts.