Medical Staff

Smaller base salary means more overall compensation and productivity

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, September 14, 2010

Hospitalists who receive lower base salaries are more productive and ultimately receive higher overall compensation, according to the State of Hospital Medicine: 2010 Report Based on 2009 Data report. The survey is a joint effort between the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) and the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) and replaces SHM’s biannual report of hospitalist data.

Researchers surveyed 443 hospital medicine groups and 4,211 hospitalists. They found that, supplemented with incentives, hospitalists performed more work and earned higher compensation even if they had a lower fixed based salary. Researchers found the following:

  • Adult hospitalists whose fixed base salary is 50% or less of their compensation reported the highest median work of 5,407 relative value units (wRVUs)
  • Those whose base salary is 51-70% of their compensation performed a median of 4,591 wRVUs
  • Those whose base salary is 71-90% of their compensation performed a median of 3,859 wRVUs
  • Those whose base salary is 91-100% of their compensation performed a median of 3,571 wRVUs.

"The compensation methodology has evolved from a straight base salary to base salary plus incentive, based on production and quality metrics," said Jeffrey B. Milburn, MBA, CMPE, of MGMA’s Healthcare Consulting Group in a Sept. 9 press release.

The median compensation is $215,000 for internal medicine hospitalists, slightly higher than $218,066 for family practice hospitalists, and more than $160,038 for pediatric hospitalists.

"This new data will prove tremendously helpful to hospitalists and healthcare executives alike," said William "Tex" Landis, MD, FHM, chair of SHM's practice analysis committee. "While it is important to keep in mind that wRVUs cannot measure every work effort, this survey data will definitely support better decisions about how hospitalist practices are resourced…”

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