Healthcare Insights
Top 20 hospitals billing locum tenens claims
With staffing shortages and high contract labor costs continuing to strain hospitals, locum tenens are more important than ever to help fill the gaps to meet patient care needs.
To identify facilities in which these temporary work assignments took place, locum tenens services are billed using the Q6 procedure modifier.
What is the Q6 procedure modifier?
The Q6 modifier is used when a physician is away for an extended period of time and arranges for a locum tenens or substitute physician to provide services to their patients in their place. The Q6 modifier allows for a maximum billing period of sixty continuous days, with the exception being when a physician is on active duty. Typically, locum tenens physicians are paid directly through a temp agency and the provider they are filling in for will be listed as the rendering provider when coding their claims.
Using data from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView and PhysicianView products, we analyzed hospitals by their use of the Q6 modifier to identify locum tenens claims. The following list shows the hospitals that billed the most locum tenens claims in 2024.
| Rank | Definitive ID | Hospital name | State | Number of beds | % of U.S. locum tenens claims | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1078 | Adventist Health Castle (FKA Castle Medical Center) | HI | 142 | 3.83% | Explore |
| 2 | 4687 | Saint Francis Hospital - Memphis | TN | 334 | 3.73% | Explore |
| 3 | 3629 | Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center | SC | 112 | 3.17% | Explore |
| 4 | 3207 | Miami Valley Hospital | OH | 899 | 3.09% | Explore |
| 5 | 3811 | Saint Francis Hospital - Bartlett | TN | 196 | 2.38% | Explore |
| 6 | 550184 | CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital - Medical Center | TX | 387 | 1.62% | Explore |
| 7 | 723 | Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center | CT | 413 | 1.48% | Explore |
| 8 | 626 | Kaweah Health Medical Center (FKA Kaweah Delta Medical Center) | CA | 430 | 1.27% | Explore |
| 9 | 958 | St Josephs Hospital | GA | 231 | 1.14% | Explore |
| 10 | 274137 | Jackson North Medical Center | FL | 382 | 1.08% | Explore |
| 11 | 1079 | Kuakini Medical Center (AKA Kuakini Health System) | HI | 170 | 1.06% | Explore |
| 12 | 3493 | Bryn Mawr Hospital | PA | 244 | 1.05% | Explore |
| 13 | 1713 | Pikeville Medical Center | KY | 328 | 1.04% | Explore |
| 14 | 3442 | Jefferson Hospital (FKA Jefferson Regional Medical Center) | PA | 285 | 0.98% | Explore |
| 15 | 1469 | Mercy Medical Center - Cedar Rapids | IA | 216 | 0.96% | Explore |
| 16 | 376 | Adventist Health White Memorial (FKA White Memorial Medical Center) | CA | 353 | 0.96% | Explore |
| 17 | 1556 | NMC Health Medical Center (FKA Newton Medical Center) | KS | 76 | 0.95% | Explore |
| 18 | 2734 | CHRISTUS Health Southern New Mexico (FKA Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center) | NM | 66 | 0.89% | Explore |
| 19 | 274136 | Jackson South Medical Center | FL | 262 | 0.88% | Explore |
| 20 | 943 | Atrium Health Navicent the Medical Center (FKA Medical Center of Central Georgia) | GA | 636 | 0.87% | Explore |
Fig. 1 Data is from Definitive Healthcare’s Atlas All-Payor Claims Dataset. Claims data is sourced from multiple medical claims clearinghouses in the United States and updated monthly. Accessed April 2025.
Which hospitals use the most locum tenens physicians?
The top hospital that billed the most locum tenens claims in 2024 is Adventist Health Castle in Hawaii, accounting for 3.83% of U.S. locum tenens claims during that year.
In second place is Saint Francis Hospital – Memphis in Tennessee. Only slightly behind first place, Saint Francis Hospital accounted for 3.73% of locum tenens claims billed in 2024.
Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center rounds out the top three. Located in South Carolina, the facility accounted for 3.17% of locum tenens claims billed.
What is a procedure modifier?
A procedure modifier is made up of two characters (can be letters, numbers, or a combination of the two) appended to a CPT or HCPCS code to provide additional information about the procedure on a claim.
Modifiers are typically used to provide additional clarity about what occurred during a patient encounter. While the Q6 modifier is one such example, there are many use cases for modifiers. Some of these include providing details about the anatomic location of the procedure, whether there was more than one provider performing the procedure, or if the service has both professional and technical components.
What is a locum provider?
A locum provider in healthcare is a medical professional—often a doctor, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant—who temporarily fills in for another provider. This can be due to vacations, medical leave, staffing shortages, or unfilled positions.
Locum providers can work for a few days, weeks, or even months, depending on the need. They're often hired through staffing agencies and may travel between different facilities or regions. The goal is to keep patient care running smoothly even when permanent staff aren't available.
What are the benefits of locum tenens?
Locum tenens offers clear benefits to both healthcare providers and facilities. For providers, it means greater flexibility in choosing when and where to work, often with higher pay and fewer administrative burdens. It also provides opportunities to travel and gain diverse clinical experiences.
For healthcare facilities, locum tenens ensures continuity of care during staffing gaps, helps manage workloads, and can be more cost-effective than hiring permanent staff. It also gives facilities a chance to evaluate potential permanent hires before committing.
Learn more
Healthcare Insights are developed with healthcare data from the Definitive Healthcare platform. Want even more insights? Start a free trial now and get access to the latest intelligence on hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers.
You might also be interested in...
