Published in the June 2015 issue of Today’s Hospitalist
HOW BIG ARE HOSPITALS where hospitalists work, and what kinds of competition do they face? According to the 2014 Today’s Hospitalist Compensation & Career Survey, most hospitalists work in larger hospitals, a trend that’s been true since the specialty began. But many hospitalists also work alongside at least one other group. Here’s a look at data from our most recent survey.
Bed size
About one-third of our respondents work in facilities with between 100 and 250 beds, and just over one-third work in hospitals with between 250 and 500 beds. Only 12% work in hospitals with 100 or fewer beds.
But those numbers shift depending on geography. 314 Hospitalists in the South, for example, tend to work at larger hospitals, where the average bed size is 354. In the Pacific region, by comparison, hospitalists report working in hospitals with an average size of 260.
Not surprisingly, hospitalists in universities and medical schools work in facilities with 516 beds on average. And for physicians who work for national hospitalist management companies, the average bed size of their hospitals is 248 beds.
Data also indicate some gender differences. Men tend to work at larger hospitals (an average of 322 beds), while women tend to work at smaller facilities (an average of 296 beds).
Hospitalist groups per hospital
Two-thirds of physicians (69%) report that there is only one hospitalist group in their facility. But 17% of respondents work in hospitals with two groups, while 14% report three or more.
The hospitals with the most competing groups can be found in the South and the Midwest, with 2.5 hospitalist groups working side by side. Hospitalists in the Pacific region, by comparison, report only 1.5 hospitalist groups per facility.
Finally, hospitalists say that on average, a total of 20 hospitalists work at their facility. That number includes all hospitalists, not just their own group members.
The number of total hospitalists per hospital is highest in the Pacific region, with an average of 23 hospitalists per facility. The number is lowest in the Midwest: an average of 18 hospitalists per hospital.
