As the former chief physician assistant (PA) at a large hospital system in the northeast, Marvin M. knows how difficult it can be to find and hire new, high-quality medical providers.
So when his cardiac ICU lost half of its advanced practice providers (APPs) in 2021, Marvin—a veteran PA himself who was responsible for coordinating staffing—knew exactly who to call for skilled locum tenens providers: Wellhart.
“That’s when I reached out to Bridget again, because she had done so well with the thoracic PA service,” Marvin said, referring to a previous, successful partnership with Wellhart. “Luckily, Bridget filled half of them because I just love working with Wellhart.”
It’s that personalized service and reputation for success that pulled Marvin back to Wellhart. While other locum tenens companies were sending him resumes for the open cardiac ICU positions, the quality of providers was unmatched when compared to Wellhart.
“The other providers, I’d get some that I’d read through their resumes, interview them, and find out they couldn’t even pass our credentialing process,” he said. “It wasn’t as smooth as what I had with Wellhart.”
An Onboarding Breeze
There’s a lot that goes into taking on locum tenens providers at a hospital—and for good reason. Patients come to expect a certain level of care, and for the ICU specifically, Marvin needed providers who he could trust were skilled in their area of expertise.
His highly-rated ICU did over 750 open heart surgeries a year, and the surgeons in the unit took maintaining that high bar of patient care seriously.
“They expect it from us, as full-time people, but they also expect it from the locums,” Marvin said. “We’ve had very good success with the people we’ve had here.”
Marvin said preserving this exceptional standard with locum tenens providers all starts with getting solid candidates.
“With Wellhart, it was great,” he said. “They gave me quality people to look at—clean resumes.”
Typically, Marvin said provider onboarding hits snags during the credentialing process. But not with Wellhart—Marvin said the company’s credentialing team took the reins, working one-on-one with the provider to ensure they’re ready to work.
“I knew [Wellhart’s] credentialing team by name,” Marvin said. “I dealt with some other companies that I couldn’t even get in the door with their candidates. Some of them failed during the credentialing process. That never happened with Wellhart.”
In the end, Marvin said that the turnaround time for bringing on a Wellhart locum tenens provider was about three months—a quick pace that he said is typically not the norm.
“I’ve had Wellhart get people credentialed within a two month period of time, which was phenomenal,” he said.
Comprehensive Support and Lasting Partnerships
Not only was the credentialing process a breeze, Marvin said Wellhart’s team was instrumental in handling payroll and any other need that came up during the partnership, whether that was provider travel, housing, or payroll.
“If I had any issues, or I needed staffing, I called one of Wellhart’s people,” he said, mentioning that his contact at the company, Bridget, would respond to his need right away. “[Wellhart] did a great job with that. And that’s why I enjoyed working with Wellhart.”
Ultimately, Marvin said he was very pleased with the locum tenens providers Wellhart placed in his cardiac ICU. The key to such a successful partnership? Wellhart’s ability to build a deep understanding of his staffing needs through active listening.
“They came here, and they were excellent providers,” he said. “They did a service, and we were very happy. And we were sorry to see some of them go.”
While Marvin has since retired, he said that some Wellhart locum tenens providers are still working at his former hospital.
“When I left, those providers were still working … and the person that’s in charge is taking care of them now,” he said. “We were finally hiring full-time staff—so our locums needs have decreased—but the majority of the people there are still Wellhart people.”
Struggling with staffing at your healthcare facility like Marvin? Wellhart can help you find highly-skilled locum tenens radiologists, anesthesiologists, hospitalists, certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs), and emergency medicine providers. Reach out to us today to get started!