“The portion of hospitalists paid via straight salary or based solely on production has been declining in the last few years,” says Dr. Nelson. “I think [a] low base and high productivity component is ideal, but [a] lower base does impede recruiting even if the total income is very attractive.”
IPC—The Hospitalist Company, one of the largest employers of hospitalists, uses the same combination of base salary and incentives for all physicians, regardless of their level of experience.
“We might change the salary figures slightly for different geographic areas, says Tim Lary, vice president of physician staffing for IPC, “but within our company, the average physician earns a little bit north of $200,000. A large portion earn over $300,000 because of our incentive plan.” That figure includes a base salary of approximately $150,000; the rest is comprised of incentives based on “typical counters” that hospitalists see, according to Lary, including productivity, quality indicators, and compliance.
Lary postulates that compensation is higher at a large organization like IPC because those employers have an infrastructure in place that ensures cost-effectiveness. “We have a 99.9% collection rate because we have a good central business office,” he says. “Small groups don’t have resources like that. We also do a great deal of training in proper coding techniques so that we can bill appropriately.”
A Grain of Salt
Before you barge in to your director’s office and ask for a raise, you should understand that the salaries summarized here have severe limitations and should be seen only as rough guidelines. There are major factors that can boost annual compensation, including:
- A heavy load of on-call, night, or weekend work;
- Employment in a geographic region with a shortage of physicians;
- Employment in a geographic region with higher physician incomes (such as the southeast);
- The type of practice you work for; and
- New practices recruiting hospitalists.
Also keep in mind that compensation totals include all bonuses and incentives received during the year.
Find Your Figure
Hospitalist income—particularly productivity-based income—is also directly affected by workload. Dr. Nelson suggests using the information in the SHM survey to find a rough guideline for productivity and compensation.
“Take the compensation figure from the survey for your region, production type, etc. and take the average production numbers from that same subgroup,” he says. “Then do the math to find the number of dollars per encounter or per RVU, and gauge your own numbers. If you have 25% more encounters, your income should be 25% higher than the average.”
The best rule of thumb for estimating what you should make, says Dr. Nelson, is to aim for five to 15% more than physicians working in traditional practice in your market. Unfortunately, information on what other doctors earn may not be readily available. Some sources (including a few listed in the sidebar to this article) provide information on all physician incomes, but is broken down by region at best. “You have to ask around,” says Dr. Nelson. “And if you’re interviewing, ask what they’re offering—then go and interview at a private practice and ask what they’re offering.”