The locum tenens market needed a smarter way to match
The US locum tenens market is worth over $4 billion annually. Hospitals, clinics and medical groups regularly need temporary physician coverage — for leave, surges in patient volume, rural coverage gaps or specialist shortfalls. It's a massive, well-funded market with a surprisingly broken process at its core.
Doctor Locums was founded by a team with deep roots in US physician staffing. They had watched the industry operate on phone calls, fax machines and Excel spreadsheets for years. Facilities spent days finding coverage. Physicians spent hours chasing opportunities that matched their specialty and schedule. The match quality was inconsistent. The process was exhausting for everyone.
Their vision: an intelligent platform that knows every physician's specialty, credentials, availability and location preferences — and matches them to the right temporary assignment automatically, with full credential verification built in from day one.
Five reasons the existing process was broken
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Facilities had no visibility over available physicians
When a hospital needed locum cover, the process was calling multiple staffing agencies, waiting for them to search their databases, then waiting again for physician responses. A 48–72 hour process for something genuinely urgent.
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Physicians had no central place to find locum opportunities
Locum physicians were registered with multiple agencies and had to check each one separately for opportunities. Most assignments came through personal networks — meaning qualified physicians missed roles they would have taken.
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Credential verification was manual and duplicated everywhere
Every facility required their own credential verification — state medical licence, DEA registration, board certification, malpractice insurance, CME records. Physicians submitted the same documents to dozens of facilities. Facilities checked the same credentials repeatedly. Enormous wasted effort on both sides.
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Match quality was inconsistent
Generic staffing platforms matched on availability alone. A cardiologist sent to cover a rural emergency department. A paediatrician matched to an adult ICU. Poor matches frustrated facilities, damaged physician relationships and created patient safety concerns.
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No transparent rate or payment infrastructure
Rates were negotiated separately for every assignment. Payment terms varied by facility. Physicians never knew exactly what they'd earn or when. The lack of transparency was a major friction point for physician adoption.
An intelligent two-sided platform — purpose-built for physician staffing
We built the complete Doctor Locums platform from scratch — physician profiles with full credential management, facility dashboards, an AI-powered matching engine, transparent rate structures, integrated payments and a compliance framework meeting US healthcare credentialing standards.
How the AI Matching Engine Works
AI Matching Engine
Scores every available physician against 12 variables: specialty match, sub-specialty, state licence, DEA registration, location proximity, availability, rate alignment, facility history, patient population experience, board certification status, malpractice history and preference matching.
Physician Profile & Credential Vault
Each physician builds a complete profile once — state licences, DEA certificates, board certifications, CME records, malpractice insurance, CV. All stored securely, verified by the platform, shared instantly with any facility that makes an offer. No resubmitting the same documents repeatedly.
Facility Dashboard
Post assignments, review matched physician profiles, view full credential status, compare rates, message candidates and confirm bookings — all in one dashboard. Built for credentialing coordinators and medical staff offices managing multiple temporary positions simultaneously.
Physician Web & Mobile App
Physicians browse matched assignments, view full facility details including EMR system, patient volume and team structure, set their rate preferences, confirm availability and manage their active assignments from both web and mobile.
Transparent Rate Engine
Facilities set their rate range when posting. Physicians set their minimum rate in preferences. The platform only surfaces matches where rates align — eliminating the back-and-forth negotiation that frustrated both sides in the old process.
Multi-Specialty Support
Built to handle the full complexity of physician specialties — not just GP coverage. Emergency medicine, internal medicine, hospitalist, cardiology, radiology, psychiatry, paediatrics and more, each with specialty-specific credential requirements handled automatically.
Assignment Management
Once confirmed, the platform manages the full assignment lifecycle — onboarding documents, EMR access requests, accommodation coordination, timesheet capture, and post-assignment completion sign-off. Both sides know exactly what happens and when.
Integrated Payments
Physicians paid within 5–7 days of completed assignment. Facilities invoiced automatically with itemised breakdowns. No paper invoices, no payment delays, no disputes over hours. Full payment history accessible to both parties at any time.
Built for the full breadth of physician staffing
Most locum platforms were built for general practice coverage. Doctor Locums was designed from the ground up to handle complex specialty matching — with credential requirements, typical assignment lengths and rate structures specific to each specialty.
| Specialty | Credential Requirements | Avg Assignment | Supported |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emergency Medicine | ABEM/AOBEM + ACLS/BLS | 1–4 weeks | ✓ |
| Internal Medicine / Hospitalist | ABIM + State Licence | 2–8 weeks | ✓ |
| Psychiatry | ABPN + DEA Schedule II | 4–13 weeks | ✓ |
| Radiology (Teleradiology) | ABR + State Multi-Licence | Ongoing | ✓ |
| Paediatrics | ABP + PALS | 2–8 weeks | ✓ |
| Family Medicine | ABFM + DEA | 4–26 weeks | ✓ |
| Cardiology | ABIM Cardiology + Echo | 2–12 weeks | ✓ |
From concept to live intelligent platform in 20 weeks
Discovery & Credentialing Research
Three weeks mapping the full complexity of US physician credentialing — state-by-state licence requirements, DEA registration rules, NPDB checks, specialty board certifications. Getting this right was non-negotiable before writing a line of code.
Weeks 1–3AI Matching Architecture
Designed and built the matching engine before the frontend. Defined the 12 matching variables, scoring weights and ranking algorithm. Tested with synthetic physician and facility data until match quality met the team's standards.
Weeks 4–7Credential Vault & Verification System
Built the secure document storage, verification workflow and expiry tracking system. Integrated with NPDB for primary source verification on malpractice history. HIPAA-compliant infrastructure throughout.
Weeks 6–10Dual Portal Build
Physician web and mobile app built in parallel with the facility dashboard. Fortnightly reviews with the Doctor Locums team, two locum physicians and one facility credentialing coordinator giving real feedback on every sprint.
Weeks 8–18Pilot & Refinement
Live pilot with 5 facilities and 25 physicians across 3 specialties. Real assignments, real credentials, real payments. Refinements made over 4 weeks before full platform launch.
Weeks 18–20What changed once the platform went live
Faster role filling
What previously took 48–72 hours of calls and emails now takes under 3 hours on average from posting to confirmed physician. Urgent coverage gaps no longer require emergency scrambles.
Richer matching quality
The AI engine considers 12 variables per match — not just availability. Specialty alignment, sub-specialty experience and facility-type history mean physicians are placed in roles that genuinely suit them, not just roles that are nearby.
Credentials submitted, used everywhere
Physicians upload their credentials once. The platform verifies them and shares them securely with any facility making an offer. The average physician used to submit the same documents 8–12 times per year. Now it happens once.
Faster physician payment
Physicians previously waited 2–4 weeks for payment from traditional agencies. Automated payment via the platform means they're paid within 5–7 days of assignment completion — a major driver of physician adoption.
"The credentialing piece alone was worth the entire investment. Our physicians used to spend hours uploading the same documents to every new facility. Now they do it once, it's verified, and it goes wherever it needs to go. And the matching quality — we're not sending emergency physicians to cover GP surgeries anymore. The AI actually understands what a specialist needs in an assignment."
Built for compliance, scale and intelligent matching
Healthcare credentialing requires the highest standard of data security, audit logging and compliance architecture. Every technical decision was made with HIPAA compliance and SOC 2 readiness in mind.