News and briefs: Hospitalists salaries on the rise

The national mean adult hospitalist salary hit nearly $230,000, a rise of 6% from last year, according to the 2011 Today's Hospitalist Compensation & Career Survey. This growth is outpacing the growth of many physicians’ salaries; however experts warn it could come with a growth in expectations. Today’s Hospitalist reports that hospitalists will have to prove their value by increasing productivity and meeting new quality targets, all while dealing with competition from the hospital’s medical staff members.

The aforementioned survey provides data to support this idea. Compared to 2010, in 2011 fewer hospitalists were paid only by a base salary. The percentage of respondents being paid 100% salary fell from 38% to 34%.

According to the 2011 survey, hospitalists paid a combination of fixed salary and productivity earn more on average ($230,046) than colleagues collecting only a straight salary ($195,985). The highest-paid group, however, are hospitalists whose pay is based 100% on productivity ($277,045).

“What's going to keep the pressure on the market is the expanding role of hospitalists,” Martin Buser, MPH, a founding partner of Hospitalist Management Resources LLC, a national hospitalist consulting firm, tells Today’s Hospitalist. “This expanding role at some point will reach a saturation point, and things will probably slow down. But I don't see it yet.”