Analysis of Today’s Hospitalist 2011 Compensation & Career Survey for the FTE Hospitalist in a multi-year contract
Today’s Hospitalist has published its 2011 Compensation & Career Survey Results and there are some interesting trends in regards to the full-time employed Hospitalist physician who has a multi-year contract.
First, mean annual compensation increased from $205,375 (2009) to $222,170 (2010), which is almost a $17,000 increase or 8.1% year increase. Prior years saw a minimal increase from 2008 to 2009, but 2007 to 2008 had a $13,304 increase or 7% increase. From 2007 to 2010, the increase was $31,247 or $10,415 per year. The year to year increase was close to 5.5% per year during the 2007 to 2010 time period.
So what does this mean to the full-time employees hospitalist? Most contracts are ‘evergreen’, meaning that they automatically renew at the end of the term which is usually a 2 year period. However, there is usually no cost of living index/inflation adjustment at the beginning of each year. Therefore, the full-time hospitalist who commits to a 2 year employment contract is losing out on a 5.5% yearly increase in compensation that the 2011 Compensation & Career Survey Results has shown is occurring within the industry. It would be wise when entering into a contract to commit only to a one year term or agree to a ‘cost of living’/market adjustment of 5% in compensation per year.
Second, the compensation range of greater than $250,000 in compensation saw increase of 9% in respondents from 17% (2009) to 26% (2010). Where did this gain come from? The compensation range of $150,000-$199,999 saw a decrease from 32% (2009) to 26% (2010). This is an alarming trend for the hospital management firms as how high can compensation go? There will come a point in time that the hospital facility will not be able to afford the operating expense of the national management firm at the current market increase in compensation.
Source:
http://www.todayshospitalist.com/survey/11_salary_survey/a02.php