Hospitalist groups: Who’s working nights?

Published in the August 2016 issue of Today’s Hospitalist

How do hospitalist programs cover nights?
Hospitalists rotate: 41.5%
Nocturnists: 36.3%
Primarily nocturnists, with some hospitalist rotation: 21%
Moonlighters: 10%
Nonphysicians (NPs, PAs): 8.4%
Physicians take beeper call: 7.7%
Residents: 6.2%

•  Hospitalist groups in the Northeast are the least likely to have their physicians rotate nights (22.5%). Hospitalist groups in the Mountain states are mostly likely to have their physicians rotate nights (62.5%).
• Moonlighters are most popular at universities/medical schools (22.5% use them), and least popular with local hospitalist groups (4%).
• Beeper call is most popular at smaller groups, with 17.6% of groups with four or less hospitalists using the strategy to cover nights. Only 2.6% of groups with more than 15 hospitalists use beeper call to cover nights.

Source: 2015 Today’s Hospitalist Compensation & Career Survey. All data are for full-time hospitalists who treat adults.