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Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019
| Contributor Information
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
The Medscape Physician Compensation Report is the most comprehensive and widely used physician salary survey in the United States. This year's report represents almost 20,000 physicians in more than 30 specialties. Hospitalists who responded provided salary information, hours worked, time spent seeing patients, and what they find most rewarding and challenging about their jobs. (Note: Label values in charts are rounded, but rankings and calculations are based on raw data to avoid rounding errors.)
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
Survey respondents were asked to provide their compensation for patient care. For employed physicians, that includes salary, bonus, and profit-sharing contributions. For partners, it includes earnings after taxes and deductible business expenses before income taxes. Only full-time salaries are reported.
Hospitalists earn slightly more than non-hospitalist primary care physicians, according to this year's report.
As more baby boomers become senior citizens, certain specialties will experience more demand for medical services. "Those over age 65 make up 14% of our population, yet they are driving the vast majority of healthcare services and are accessing healthcare services in greater numbers," says Travis Singleton, senior vice president of Merritt Hawkins, a leading physician search/recruitment firm.
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
Four of every 10 hospitalists are women, a smaller representation compared with non-hospitalist primary care physicians. A 2017 study noted a difference in hospitalist care between men and women: Among Medicare patients, those 65 years and older had somewhat lower 30-day mortality and readmission rates when treated by a female hospitalist.[1]
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
There are similar percentages of Asian and white/Caucasian hospitalists. Compared with last year's report, there has been an increase in Asian hospitalists.
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
For the third consecutive year, more than half of all hospitalists are between the ages of 35 and 49. In fact, 78% of hospitalists are under the age of 50, compared with 49% of non-hospitalist primary care physicians.
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
Liability coverage; health, dental, and vision insurance; as well as a retirement plan with match are the most frequently provided benefits for hospitalists. Somewhat fewer hospitalists received long-term disability coverage compared with last year's report.
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
About three quarters of hospitalists said their benefits have remained the same, compared with 66% of non-hospitalist primary care providers. Only 11% say their benefits improved, while 13% say the benefits they are offered have gotten worse.
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
While about half of non-hospitalists feel fairly compensated, 65% of hospitalists said they are content with what they earn. This is the second straight year that more than half of hospitalists said they are happy with their compensation.
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
About half of hospitalists aim for promotion. These results have been similar for the past few years. In comparison, 34% of non-hospitalists say they are also seeking upward mobility in their job.
Alok S. Patel, MD, a pediatric hospitalist at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, says it's likely that his peers seeking promotion are in academic career tracks or full-time at an institution.
"I would suspect that many hospitalists who are part-time, in locums tenens roles, or in smaller community hospitals with a different leadership structure may not be actively seeking promotion," he says.
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
More female than male hospitalists are seeking promotion. This is a change from last year's report, where equal numbers of men and women hospitalists were seeking promotion. For non-hospitalists, the percentages are more aligned.
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
Mortgages account for the highest percentage of hospitalist debt, as they did in 2018 and 2017. Car loan payments and student loans are also high on the list. Graduate school tuition for a child, business loans, and alimony are at the bottom.
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
About 40% of hospitalists spend 46 or more hours with patients per week, compared with 17% of non-hospitalists. The majority of non-hospitalists (69%) spend 30-45 hours per week with patients versus only 42% of hospitalists.
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
Paperwork and administration is a growing burden for physicians in all specialties. Of physicians overall in this year's report, 38% spent 10-19 hours per week on paperwork and administrative tasks, and 36% spent 20 hours or more. Hospitalists appear to have more of those burdens than other physicians; 83% were saddled with 10 or more hours per week of paperwork and administrative chores.
Patel says he is not surprised at all by these numbers.
"Non-hospitalist PCPs have a high amount of patient notes to write, based on the high volume many are pushed to see in a day," he says. "Hospitalists not only have to write daily notes but also spend a lot of time documenting other types of notes, updating sign-out forms, placing orders, etc."
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
Our survey shows that 89% of hospitalists are either satisfied or very satisfied with their own job performance. "Doctors take great pride in what they do, even under difficult circumstances, and I would imagine that we all feel we do the best we can in spite of the challenges," says Carol Bernstein, MD, psychiatrist at NYU Langone Medical Center.
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
For hospitalists (30%) as for non-hospitalists (28%), having so many rules and regulations is the most challenging part of their job. Hospitalists found dealing with difficult patients much more taxing than did non-hospitalists (28% and 16%, respectively).
"The many rules and regulations can constrict our scope of practice and autonomy, which is a very real challenge and a contributor to burnout and job dissatisfaction," says Patel. "Moreover, 'difficult patients' can be viewed as challenging primarily because a time-consuming patient can easily derail an entire day's schedule."
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
More than a third of non-hospitalists found gratitude from and relationships with patients to be the most rewarding part of their jobs. A similar percentage of hospitalists (26%) cited that but ranked being good at what they do and finding answers as most rewarding overall.
"Hospitalists are the center of multidisciplinary teams, and complex diagnoses and the ability to utilize a myriad of resources to treat patients is part of the job appeal," says Patel. "I would guess that teaching would be higher [on the list] if hospitalists had more protected time to teach and instruct residents, students, and junior faculty."
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
Some 85% of hospitalists—and 74% of non-hospitalists—would choose to go into medicine again as a career if they had to make the choice.
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
Of the physicians who said they would choose medicine again, 79% overall said they would choose the same specialty, as did 80% of hospitalists.
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
For the purposes of this survey, results shown are for any physician who identified as a hospitalist when completing the Medscape physician compensation survey. The term "hospitalist" generally refers to physicians responsible for monitoring, coordinating, and optimizing the care of acutely ill patients in a hospital. Typically, hospitalists tend to be internists, family physicians, and pediatricians.
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
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Medscape Hospitalist Compensation Report 2019
Keith L. Martin | June 5, 2019 | Contributor Information
Medscape National Burnout, Depression & Suicide Report 2019
More than 15,000 physicians told Medscape how they feel about burnout, depression, and suicidal thoughts, and also how they attain happiness.Medscape Features Slideshows, January 2019
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Comments on Medscape are moderated and should be professional in tone and on topic. You must declare any conflicts of interest related to your comments and responses. Please see our Commenting Guide for further information. We reserve the right to remove posts at our sole discretion.
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Contributor Information
Keith L. Martin
Editorial Director
Medscape Business of Medicine
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References
Tsugawa Y, Jena AB, Figueroa JF, et al. Comparison of hospital mortality and readmission rates for Medicare patients treated by male vs. female physicians. JAMA Intern Med. 2017;177:206-213. Source
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