HOW MUCH OF AN IMPACT does working more shifts per month have on hospitalist pay? According to our 2023 survey data, putting in more shifts (not surprisingly) makes a big difference. Except when it doesn’t.
This year’s survey data revealed two averages. One, mean pay for adult hospitalists in 2022 was $339,438. And two, adult hospitalists worked an average of 15 shifts per month.
At the same time, hospitalists who reported working 14 to 16 shifts a month earned a mean income of $329,539. That means that hospitalists who work the average number of monthly shifts—15—are earning slightly less than average pay.
That discrepancy is probably due to the fact that hospitalists who work more shifts per month than the average are making so much additional money that they’re inflating our mean compensation numbers for all adult hospitalists.
More shifts, more money
Hospitalists working 17 to 20 shifts per month, for example, reported an average pay of $366,867. That’s $37,000 more—or 11%—than hospitalists who pull only 14 to 16 monthly shifts.
And hospitalists working more than 20 shifts per month reported an average pay of $434,024, a whopping $104,000 increase—32%—over hospitalists who work only 14 to 16 shifts.
So who is working all those extra shifts and making all that extra money? Our survey data found that the type of group hospitalists work for are linked to differences in shifts worked per month.
Hospitalists in local groups, for example, reported working 15.8 shifts per month and making an average of $354,927. That’s a difference of $15,000, or a 5% bump up, from the average.
Hospitalists working in primary care/multispecialty groups reported even more shifts per month: 16.3 shifts. Those hospitalists earned an average of $359,994, a difference of more than $20,000 or 6% over average earnings.
(For more on pay differences for hospitalists by the type of employer they work for, see our online analysis.)
Other differences may also be factors. Maybe not surprisingly, hospitalists being paid based only on productivity work more shifts per month, reporting an average of 17. They also are paid more: an average of $403,957. That extra pay likely doesn’t come only from working more shifts, but the shift differential probably helps.
More shifts doesn’t always mean more money
Finally, our survey data point to some instances where working more shifts doesn’t necessarily earn hospitalists more money.
Regionally, for example, hospitalists in the Southwest report working an extra shift per month—an average of 16.1—than their colleagues elsewhere. But this is one instance in which working more shifts doesn’t correlate to higher pay.
Hospitalists in the Southwest, for example, report an average compensation of $341,176, which is not even $2,000 more—or basically the same—as average hospitalist pay.
Similarly, hospitalists who work seven-on/seven-off schedules work fewer shifts per month than their colleagues working other daytime shifts, but the seven-on/seven-offer crowd reports making more money.
Seven-on/seven-off hospitalists work 14.9 shifts per month and report an average income of $339,381. (That number is very close to mean pay for all adult hospitalists, which reflects how many hospitalists work seven-on/seven-off).
Hospitalists who work some other type of daytime schedule, by comparison, reported working 15.7 shifts a month, nearly one shift more than average. But their average compensation came in at $334,603. In their case, working an extra 0.7 monthly shifts doesn’t translate to earning any additional pay.
Look at more data on hospitalist pay at our 2023 Today’s Hospitalist Compensation & Career Survey coverage.
