Locum Pay Guide is an independent resource built for physicians and advanced practice providers navigating the locum tenens market. We exist because the information you need to negotiate confidently — real pay rates by specialty, honest agency comparisons, and straightforward contract guidance — is almost impossible to find from a source that isn’t trying to recruit you.
Every major locum tenens resource is funded by the agencies that place you. We’re not. No agency partnerships, no recruiting incentives, no conflict of interest. Just accurate, transparent data to help you make better decisions about your career and your income.
Why This Site Exists
The locum tenens information landscape has a structural problem. The agencies that profit from the gap between what hospitals pay and what physicians receive are also the primary producers of educational content about locum pay, contract terms, and agency selection. Locumstory.com — one of the most widely cited locum tenens information resources — is owned and operated by CHG Healthcare, the same company that owns CompHealth and Weatherby Healthcare, two of the largest locum tenens placement agencies in the country. Physicians reading “independent” guidance on Locumstory may not know they are reading content produced by a company with a direct financial interest in their placement decisions.
Locum Pay Guide was built to fill the gap that conflict of interest creates. Every guide on this site is produced without agency funding, without placement incentives, and without the editorial compromises that come from depending on the industry you cover for revenue.
How We Build Our Guides
Every article on Locum Pay Guide goes through a multi-step research and verification process before publication. We research regulatory data, licensing timelines, tax law, and scope of practice rules from primary sources — state medical board publications, legislative text, official agency disclosures, and specialty society compensation surveys. Where primary sources are unavailable or ambiguous, we flag uncertainty explicitly rather than filling gaps with unverified estimates.
We use a three-tier accuracy classification for all data points. Green-flagged content is stable, well-sourced information that does not require external verification before publication. Yellow-flagged content — specific rate figures, current tax law, recent regulatory changes — is verified against external sources before we publish it. Red-flagged content — highly specific current market conditions, recent legislative developments — is pulled from current sources and cross-checked before it appears on the site. When we cannot verify a figure to our standard, we say so explicitly rather than presenting an estimate as fact.
Rate data is sourced from specialty society surveys, compensation reports from Doximity and Medscape, and current job posting data from major placement platforms. Where agency surveys are used, we disclose the agency source and the inherent conflict of interest in that sourcing. We do not present agency-sourced rate data as neutral market benchmarks without disclosure.
Conflicts of Interest and How We Handle Them
We disclose all actual and potential conflicts of interest on this page and within individual articles where relevant. Current conflicts and disclosures:
Agency relationships: This site has no financial relationship with any locum tenens agency. We do not accept advertising, sponsored content, placement fees, or any other compensation from staffing agencies. Agency reviews on this site are produced without agency input or review prior to publication.
Affiliate relationships: This site does not currently have active affiliate relationships. Our monetization roadmap includes future affiliate partnerships with non-agency services relevant to locum physicians — malpractice insurance providers, CPA services, physician mortgage lenders, and similar. When those relationships are established, they will be disclosed prominently in relevant articles and on this page. Affiliate relationships will not influence editorial content or ratings.
Display advertising: This site does not currently run display advertising. Display ads through an independent network such as Mediavine or Raptive are planned once traffic reaches the qualifying threshold. Ad placements will not influence editorial content.
Locumstory and CHG Healthcare: As noted above, Locumstory.com is a CHG Healthcare brand. CHG also owns CompHealth, Weatherby Healthcare, and other staffing brands. We cover CHG-owned agencies as we cover all agencies — without compensation and without editorial input from the agency. Our disclosure of the Locumstory ownership relationship is a factual editorial statement, not a commercial position.
How We Update Our Content
Locum tenens pay rates, state licensing timelines, tax law, and scope of practice rules change. We are committed to updating articles when the underlying data changes materially. Rate tables are scheduled for quarterly review. Regulatory and legislative content is updated when we become aware of material changes — state non-compete law amendments, IMLC membership changes, scope of practice legislation, and similar developments are incorporated as they occur rather than on a fixed schedule.
Articles display their original publication date. When significant updates are made, we note the update date and summarize what changed. We do not silently update articles without disclosure.
What This Site Does Not Do
We do not rank agencies on a star rating system designed to drive affiliate clicks. We do not produce “best agency” lists funded by placement fees. We do not present agency marketing copy as independent analysis. We do not publish rate figures we cannot source. We do not accept payment to feature, promote, or positively characterize any agency, product, or service.
Contact
For questions, corrections, or feedback on any article, reach us at contact@locumpayguide.com. We read every message. If you have identified an error in any guide, we want to know — corrections are made promptly and disclosed in the article.