About Locum Tenens Academy
The Operational Manual
the System Never Provided
LTA exists to close the gap between clinical training and independent career competence — for physicians, advanced practice providers, and the teams who support them.
Who We Are
Built From the Inside Out
Every framework, checklist, and curriculum module at LTA was written by a clinician who lived it — not a consultant who studied it from the outside.
Our Mission
To equip healthcare professionals with the operational knowledge, contractual literacy, and strategic frameworks needed to build sustainable, independent careers — on their own terms.
Our Vision
A healthcare workforce that negotiates from knowledge, understands the regulatory environment they practice in, and exercises genuine professional autonomy — not because the system gave it to them, but because they earned it through education.
Our Promise
Everything LTA publishes is rooted in real contracts, real negotiations, and real outcomes. No theoretical frameworks divorced from practice. No agency-scripted talking points. Clinician-to-clinician, without filters.
The Gap We Close
Medical Training Prepares You
for the Clinical. Not the Business.
Residency teaches you how to manage a patient. It does not teach you how to read a hospital contract, calculate fair market value for a medical directorship, decode an agency fee disclosure, or structure your first multi-state locum practice. Those gaps have consequences — financial, legal, and professional.
Contract Literacy
The termination clause. The non-compete radius. The indemnification carve-out. The exclusivity provision. Most clinicians sign contracts without knowing what these terms actually require of them — or what they're waiving.
Compensation Intelligence
Fair market value isn't a negotiating tactic — it's a federal compliance standard. Knowing what your specialty's work is worth, and how to document it, is no longer optional for physicians taking director roles, call coverage agreements, or co-management arrangements.
Agency Literacy
Staffing agencies are not neutral intermediaries. They are businesses with their own margin targets, preferred facilities, and contract language that shapes the entire deal structure before you ever see a number. LTA teaches you how they work.
Independent Practice Operations
Multi-state licensing. Credentialing timelines. Malpractice tail coverage. Entity structure. These are not administrative details — they are the infrastructure of an independent career. LTA walks you through each one.
What Makes LTA Different
The LTA Standard
Primary Source Content
Every LTA curriculum module is built from actual contracts, real regulatory citations, and firsthand operational experience — not secondary summaries or repackaged CME slides.
Specialty-Specific Tracks
Physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and CRNAs each operate under different legal frameworks, compensation models, and scope constraints. LTA addresses each one directly — not generically.
Accredited CE / CME
Companion workbooks for each track carry accredited continuing education credits — CNE for NPs and CRNAs, AAPA Category 1 CME for PAs — so professional development and career education happen together.
Recruiter Certification
The Certified Physician Alignment Representative (CPAR) program extends LTA's standards to the staffing pipeline — ensuring that recruiters who work with LTA-trained clinicians are operating from the same framework.
Where This Came From
A Surgeon Who Made
the Transition Himself
William A. Cooper, MD, MBA
Founder & Program Director
Locum Tenens Academy was founded by Dr. William A. Cooper, MD, MBA — a board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon with more than 30 years of clinical experience, 35 years of U.S. Army service as a Colonel, and a record that includes building one of the nation's top cardiac programs from the ground up.
Dr. Cooper didn't transition to locum practice because he had to. He transitioned because he chose to — and discovered, as most physicians do, that no one hands you a manual. The credentialing delays, the contract clauses written in the facility's favor, the agency dynamics, the multi-state licensing complexity, the fair market value compliance framework — none of it was explained during training. All of it had to be learned in real time, at real cost.
The Beyond Locums Series — and the curriculum that became LTA — grew from that experience. The goal was never to write a career memoir. It was to build the operational resource that should have existed from the beginning, for every clinician making the same transition.
"The system was never designed to explain itself to clinicians. Locum Tenens Academy was built to do exactly that."
— Dr. William A. Cooper, MD, MBA · Founder, Locum Tenens Academy
Who We Serve
Built for Every
Independent Clinician
LTA's curriculum spans the full scope of the independent healthcare workforce — from attending physicians to advanced practice providers to the recruiters who place them.
Physicians
The Beyond Locums Series covers the full physician locum journey — from the regulatory environment and FMV compliance to agency dynamics, contract structure, multi-state licensing, and building a sustainable independent model.
Explore the Series →Advanced Practice Providers
Dedicated tracks for Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, and CRNAs — each addressing scope-of-practice law, vetting frameworks, compensation models, and credentialing realities specific to their credential and practice setting.
View AP Tracks →Healthcare Recruiters
The CPAR program — Certified Physician Alignment Representative — gives recruiters the clinical, contractual, and regulatory literacy to serve clinicians effectively, build durable placements, and differentiate themselves in a crowded market.
Learn About CPAR →Ready to Learn
What the System Didn't Teach?
Schedule a free consultation to discuss your specialty, your goals, and which LTA program or resource is the right starting point for where you are right now.