Staffing Consolidation Reshapes Physician Locum Tenens Landscape
Major acquisitions in healthcare staffing—including Barton Associates’ purchase of LocumsCollective and Knox Lane’s $437 million acquisition of Cross Country Healthcare—signal structural shifts in the locum tenens market. For physicians and APPs, consolidation brings professionalized infrastructure alongside new compensation constraints and reduced negotiating leverage.
Dermatology PhysEmp Salary Report: May 2026
Somewhere in Wisconsin, a dermatologist is being offered $850,000 a year to look at skin.
Cardiology PhysEmp Salary Report: May 2026
Somewhere in Prosser, Washington — a town better known for wine grapes than wire-guided catheters — a hospital is willing to pay a cardiologist up to $835,000 a year.
Cardiology-Noninvasive PhysEmp Salary Report: May 2026
Somewhere in Kentucky, a single hospital is willing to pay one Cardiology Noninvasive physician $900,000 per year to read echocardiograms and tell people their ejection fraction is fine.
Breast Surgery PhysEmp Salary Report: May 2026
Somewhere in Spokane, a hospital is willing to pay a breast surgeon up to $550,000 a year.
Cardiology-Interventional PhysEmp Salary Report: May 2026
Somewhere in Sterling, Illinois — a town most coastal physicians could not locate on a map without GPS and a strong coffee — a hospital is willing to pay an interventional cardiologist up to $990,000 to thread catheters through coronary arteries.
Anesthesia PhysEmp Salary Report: May 2026
Somewhere in Plattsburgh, New York — a town better known for its proximity to the Canadian border than its compensation packages — an anesthesiologist can earn $600 an hour.
Pulmonology PhysEmp Salary Report: May 2026
Somewhere in Oregon, a single Pulmonology listing is offering $600,000 a year.
Rheumatology PhysEmp Salary Report: May 2026
Somewhere in Alabama, a single Rheumatology listing is quietly offering $450,000 — a flat figure, no range, no negotiation theater.
Pulmonary-Critical-Care PhysEmp Salary Report: May 2026
A single posting in Kentucky — a state with exactly one Pulmonary Critical Care opening on the board — is paying $450,000 a year.