Hospitalist physician salaries steady; average practice size balloons

Dec. 6, 2012 - PRLog -- New data from the nation’s largest survey of hospitalists finds that in the last year, the growth of hospitalist pay has stalled, raising questions about whether pay for the nation’s fastest growing specialty has peaked or is merely cooling off temporarily.

In addition to publishing survey results in the printed magazine, Today’s Hospitalist has published almost 100 charts online at www.todayshospitalist.com. These charts break down data from the survey by type of hospitalist (adult vs. pediatric patients), type of employer (hospital vs. private group), geographic location, and many more categories.

According to data from the 2012 Today’s Hospitalist Compensation & Career Survey, full-time adult hospitalists reported earning a mean of about $235,000, showing little change from 2011. Full-time pediatric hospitalists reported a 7% drop in compensation, which is a stark contrast to the 7% gains they reported in last year’s survey.

Despite a slowing of compensation for individuals in the specialty, hospitalist groups continued to grow rapidly, with group size now averaging 16.5 FTE physicians. This is more than a 50% increase from the 2010 average size of 10.6 FTEs.

The fifth annual Today’s Hospitalist Compensation & Career Survey includes responses from 1,000 hospitalist physicians on more than 70 questions, ranging from salary and incentives to shift length, patient volume, and career satisfaction. Results from the survey are being published this month in a special issue of Today’s Hospitalist magazine.

As with compensation, hospitalists reported no appreciable increases in productivity. Both adult and pediatric hospitalists reported patient volume comparable to or slightly below 2011 levels.

And as the specialty matures and workloads stabilize, physicians report high levels of career satisfaction (only 9% said they were unsatisfied). Typical adult hospitalists have been in their current job for 6.4 years and plan to continue in their current job for another eight years.

“This year’s survey results seem to indicate that hospitalist pay overall is flat, but those numbers underestimate the role that hospitalists play in health care today,” said Edward Doyle, Editor and Publisher of Today’s Hospitalist magazine. “Hospitalists hold the key to so many of the clinical and quality of care initiatives that will affect the reimbursement of hospitals. As hospital leaders increasingly understand the role their hospitalists play in capturing revenue from these initiatives, I would expect hospitalist pay to increase.”

Today’s Hospitalist reaches more than 30,000 hospitalists every month. The magazine features articles on clinical topics, business trends, and career issues for hospitalists.

For more information, contact Edward Doyle at edoyle@todayshospitalist.com.

http://todayshospitalist.com/