Northern Arizona Healthcare Scales Usage of Locum Tenens with Aya Healthcare

Northern Arizona Healthcare (NAH) operates two hospitals: Flagstaff Medical Center and Verde Valley Medical Center. While their initial usage of locum tenens was low, their physician recruiter worked with a handful of different agencies. Each agency had multiple contacts for different phases of the procurement process. There were issues with cancellations and the quality of the providers was inconsistent. “As the only physician recruiter responsible for permanent recruitment and locum tenens management, the process was inefficient and the poor quality of the providers reflected poorly on me,” says Megan Nordvedt, physician recruitment coordinator for Northern Arizona Healthcare.

Seeing how efficient and seamless the NAH travel nursing program was working with Aya Healthcare, Nordvedt started a pilot program using Aya Healthcare for a few locum tenens assignments. “From my initial interaction with Aya Healthcare, it was a night and day difference,” says Nordvedt. “With other agencies, it was very transactional. Tell me your needs and here are some candidates. My Aya Healthcare program manager took the time to understand my challenges, our healthcare system, culture and requirements to get a deeper awareness of our gaps and needs.”

The pilot program started with the management of two specialties. With that success, NAH now partners exclusively with Aya Healthcare to manage their locum tenens across 19 specialties. With an Aya Locums managed services program (MSP), Nordvedt has one contact to manage her growing locum tenens needs. The partnership centers on proactive, responsive communications. Nordvedt has complete transparency into the process and a continual feedback loop for program improvements.

Every component from submission and credentialing to onboarding has been transformed. The process is more efficient, creating less work for Nordvedt and the NAH team. The attention to detail on the placements has delivered high-quality physicians and CRNAs. Some locums converted into permanent positions at NAH.

Nordvedt shares, “Partnering with Aya Healthcare for locum tenens has made my job so much easier and positively impacted our healthcare system’s entire perception of locums. It’s a refreshing new model that has built confidence in our locum tenens program. We have been able to engage more departments to be inclusive of locums to continue services lines that would have been cancelled, allowing us to maintain patient volumes.”