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Specialty Billing

What is Locum Tenens Billing?

Quick answer

A Medicare billing arrangement that allows a practice to bill for services performed by a temporary substitute physician under the regular physician's NPI, using modifier Q6, while the regular physician is unavailable.

Written & reviewed by the Unlimited Systems Revenue Cycle TeamLast reviewed May 2026

Key takeaways

  • Locum Tenens Billing is a specialty billing concept in healthcare revenue cycle management.
  • A Medicare billing arrangement that allows a practice to bill for services performed by a temporary substitute physician under the regular physician's NPI, using modifier Q6, while the regular physician is unavailable.
  • Generic billing platforms often miss these nuances

Where Locum Tenens Billing fits in the revenue cycle

Locum Tenens Billing sits within the specialty-specific layer of the revenue cycle. It is a specialty billing concept, a rule or workflow that applies to a particular clinical specialty's claims.

You'll encounter Locum Tenens Billing on payer communications, billing reports, and in conversations between front-office, coding, and accounts-receivable teams.

Why Locum Tenens Billing matters for your practice

Specialty practices live and die by rules that generic billing systems were never built to handle, drug waste billing, global surgical periods, infusion scheduling, and more. Mastering specialty-specific terminology is what separates practices that capture every earned dollar from those that quietly leak revenue.

  • Applies specialty-specific rules to coding and billing
  • Generic billing platforms often miss these nuances
  • Directly tied to revenue capture in specialty practices
  • Examples span oncology, infusion, surgery, and more

Locum Tenens Billing in practice

Knowing what Locum Tenens Billing means is only useful if it changes what your team does. In a modern revenue cycle, that means catching issues related to specialty Billing earlier, documenting and coding them correctly, and using technology to flag exceptions automatically rather than discovering them after a claim is denied.

This is exactly where a specialty-built revenue cycle platform earns its keep: by encoding the rules behind terms like Locum Tenens Billing directly into the workflow, so clean claims go out the first time and your team works by exception instead of chasing problems after the fact.

Locum Tenens Billing: frequently asked questions

What is Locum Tenens Billing?

A Medicare billing arrangement that allows a practice to bill for services performed by a temporary substitute physician under the regular physician's NPI, using modifier Q6, while the regular physician is unavailable.

What does Locum Tenens Billing mean in medical billing?

In medical billing, Locum Tenens Billing falls under Specialty Billing. It is a specialty billing concept, a rule or workflow that applies to a particular clinical specialty's claims.

Why is Locum Tenens Billing important in the revenue cycle?

Specialty practices live and die by rules that generic billing systems were never built to handle, drug waste billing, global surgical periods, infusion scheduling, and more. Mastering specialty-specific terminology is what separates practices that capture every earned dollar from those that quietly leak revenue.

Authoritative sources

For the most current rules and requirements, consult the primary sources that govern this area of healthcare billing:

Unlimited Systems Revenue Cycle Team
RCM & medical billing specialists

Unlimited Systems has built specialty revenue cycle technology for healthcare providers for two decades. This glossary is maintained by our in-house team of billing, coding, and reimbursement specialists.

Put Locum Tenens Billing to work in your practice

See how the Unlimited Systems platform automates clean claims, denial management, eligibility verification, and more across your revenue cycle.

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