Our nation’s veterans served and sacrificed to protect our freedom. Now they deserve high-quality care, and the Veterans Health Administration provides that to millions of veterans each year.
As the largest health care system in the country, the VA operates thousands of hospitals, clinics, outpatient sites, and other healthcare organizations—offering endless career opportunities for locum tenens clinicians.
What are the benefits of joining the VA? We examine three big ones here.
Perfect for Any Stage in Your Career
Whether you are new to locum tenens work or new to practicing entirely, positions with the VA will help you expand your clinical skills and expose you to some of the most technologically advanced medical settings in the country. If you are a seasoned practitioner, federal facilities often come with room for growth and opportunities to teach. Based on your position and the length of the contract, you can expect a robust benefits package from VA work.
Streamlined Credentialing
As with other government locum tenens assignments, VA locum tenens work requires only one active, non-restricted state license to practice across the country. VetPro—the VA’s nationwide internal credentialing system—offers an online experience to cut down on the amount of paperwork involved. There will still be paperwork to complete, but working through an established locums firm can make the process easier.
Once your credentials are accepted, your path to future locum tenens assignments will be even smoother as each VA will utilize your VetPro file.
A Professional Gift
In an earlier post, we heard from a locum tenens clinician how there is always something to learn from our ex-military personnel. The opportunity to create connections with veteran patients is what sets VA locum tenens work apart.
Other government work can be similarly rewarding—both personally and professionally. Check out our complete guide to government locum tenens to learn more.
Getting Started Today
Working a government assignment through VISTA gives you access to our helpful credentialing team. They will complete as much of the pre-application as possible and organize required documents for your review and signatures, after which the facility will send you a second set of paperwork, applications, and instructions to go online to complete and submit through VetPro. Acting as a liaison between you and the facility, VISTA’s credentialing team makes sure the process runs as smoothly as possible.
If you’re ready to explore a government locum tenens assignment, visit our job board or contact us at 800-366-1884.
Editor's note: This post was originally published on July 1, 2020, and has been updated for accuracy and timeliness.
