Quest is now part of VeloSource, bringing trusted locum tenens expertise into a broader model for health systems and providers.
For years, health systems have known us as a dependable source for locum tenens coverage: a partner to call when a specialty gap opened up, a shift needed filling, or a search dragged on longer than expected. That reputation was built through provider relationships, specialty knowledge, and responsive support when coverage needs were urgent, and it isn’t going anywhere.
Quest is now part of VeloSource. One brand carries forward the same team, service, and standards. Syncx, our workforce technology platform, continues on as the intelligence layer behind everything we do. And the positioning behind all of it is shifting from a locum tenens staffing agency to a technology-enabled physician workforce solutions partner.
The reason is practical. Physician staffing decisions now involve open shifts, internal resources, outside vendors, utilization, spend, credentialing, applicant tracking, and permanent hiring activity. Health systems need a clearer view of those moving parts. Providers need clear communication, assignment fit, and support that keeps the process moving. VeloSource brings those pieces together: staffing expertise, workforce intelligence, and responsive execution under one name.
Here’s why that shift matters and what it means for the health systems and providers we work with.
Healthcare’s New Financial Reality
Hospital finance leaders are navigating one of the tightest operating environments in recent memory. Kaufman Hall reported that hospitals closed 2025 with an adjusted year-to-date operating margin of just 1.3%, and the American Hospital Association found total hospital expenses grew 7.5% that same year. Revenue just isn’t keeping pace with cost.
Much of what drives that cost pressure sits outside a hospital’s control: payer behavior, reimbursement policy, drug and supply pricing, patient demand. But workforce spend is different. It’s one of the largest line items in a hospital’s budget and one of the few levers leaders can actually manage if they can see it clearly.
That’s the catch. Many health systems still can’t answer a basic question: where exactly is the physician staffing budget going? Which vendors are performing? When is a locum truly necessary, and when could an internal resource cover the same need? Without that visibility, labor spend gets managed reactively, one open shift at a time, rather than as a coordinated workforce strategy.
VeloSource addresses this directly through Syncx, our workforce intelligence platform, providing health system leaders with a single connected view of spend, utilization, and vendor performance, rather than piecing it together across six disconnected systems.
A Workforce Shortage That Isn’t Going Away
The AAMC projects a U.S. physician shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036, and clinician burnout continues to strain retention and coverage. Flexible staffing models, locums, float pools, and vendor panels aren’t optional anymore. They’re how health systems protect access and continuity of care. Demand is only growing: the healthcare staffing market itself is projected to reach $143.23 billion by 2033, according to Grand View Research.
But flexibility without structure creates its own problems: fragmented vendors, inconsistent rates, administrative drag, and more reliance on outside locums than a system may actually need. VeloSource helps health systems use locum tenens more strategically, filling real gaps without building unnecessary long-term dependency.
The Clinician Side of the Challenge
Workforce solutions can’t only solve the buyer’s problem. Physicians, CRNAs, and advanced practice providers are increasingly choosing locum tenens as a deliberate career strategy for flexibility, compensation, burnout relief, and control over how and where they work. If a staffing partner can’t deliver a strong provider experience, transparent communication, assignment fit, and credentialing support without adding friction, the health system’s coverage story falls apart, too.
Technology Is Becoming the Operational Layer
As staffing complexity grows, health systems increasingly expect their workforce partners to bring more than a candidate pipeline. They want centralized visibility into sourcing, scheduling, credentialing, compliance, vendor coordination, and spend in one place, instead of scattered across spreadsheets, emails, and disconnected vendor portals.
Technology only matters, though, if it changes the operating picture. A platform that adds dashboards without changing how staffing decisions actually get made is not solving the underlying problem. The bar is higher: workforce technology needs to help leaders move from fragmented, reactive staffing to a managed model in which labor decisions are easier to see, compare, and improve.
How VeloSource Solves It
Health systems and providers shouldn’t have to manage staffing expertise, workforce technology, and day-to-day execution as three separate problems. VeloSource brings those capabilities together into one connected approach, built to manage physician workforce needs more deliberately and effectively.
Physician Workforce Expertise: Specialty recruiting, locum tenens, permanent placement, temp-to-perm, provider matching, and clinical workforce knowledge.
Responsive Execution: Dedicated account support, vendor coordination, scheduling and credentialing support, clear communication, and operational follow-through.
None of this is one-size-fits-all. The approach is configured around each health system’s current structure, resources, workforce priorities, and desired level of program ownership.
What It Looks Like in Practice
For CFOs, CMOs, and workforce operations leaders, this shift moves the conversation with VeloSource from “can you fill this opening?” to “can you help us understand and manage our physician workforce?” That means clearer reporting on spend and utilization, sharper guidance on when locums make sense (and when they don’t), and one accountable partner across staffing, technology, and vendor coordination, rather than a fragmented set of point solutions.
UPMC used this model to reduce costs while expanding internal flexible capacity. BJC HealthCare deployed 59 CRNAs and 15 physicians in under six months to support a rapid expansion of anesthesia services. OSF HealthCare cut the provider presentation-to-interview time from 15 days to 6 days.
For physicians, APPs, and CRNAs, the promise is simpler, and just as important: nothing about how VeloSource treats providers is becoming more automated or less personal. If anything, the goal is the opposite. Technology should absorb the administrative friction around credentialing, scheduling, and paperwork, freeing up recruiters and account teams to focus on what providers actually need: transparent expectations, assignment fit, and a responsive point of contact whenever something changes. Locum tenens is increasingly a deliberate career strategy, tied to flexibility, control, and burnout relief, not just a stopgap between jobs, and VeloSource’s model is built around that reality.
The Work Behind the Results
Health systems need a partner who can show up for the budget, coverage, and provider conversations all at once and back them up with results. That’s what VeloSource is built to do: proven staffing expertise, workforce intelligence that gives leaders a real answer rather than a guess, and account teams who follow through after placement.
The VeloSource name now reflects the full scope of the work: helping health systems protect coverage, improve workforce visibility, and make more informed physician staffing decisions. For providers, it reflects the same commitment to responsive support, clear expectations, and assignments that fit.
One name. A smarter way to solve physician staffing. This is VeloSource.
Ready to see where your workforce spend, coverage, and vendor performance actually stand? Schedule a Workforce Optimization Review with our team.
Sources
1. Kaufman Hall. (2026, February 10). Hospitals face the 2026 “new normal”: Rising expenses and shifts in revenue mix. https://www.kaufmanhall.com/news/hospitals-face-2026-new-normal-rising-expenses-and-shifts-revenue-mix
2. American Hospital Association. (2026, March 11). New AHA report: Hospitals face increased challenges and financial pressures as they care for patients. https://www.aha.org/press-releases/2026-03-11-new-aha-report-hospitals-face-increased-challenges-and-financial-pressures-they-care-patients
3. Association of American Medical Colleges. Addressing the physician workforce shortage. https://www.aamc.org/advocacy-policy/addressing-physician-workforce-shortage
4. National Academy of Medicine. Action collaborative on clinician well-being and resilience. https://nam.edu/our-work/programs/clinician-resilience-and-well-being/
5. Grand View Research. (2026). Healthcare staffing market to reach $143.23 billion by 2033. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-healthcare-staffing-market
6. Weatherby Healthcare. (2026). 2026 locum tenens physician report: An industry outlook. https://weatherbyhealthcare.com/locum-tenens/resources/physicians-in-locums-report
