A BIG MAJORITY of hospitalists say they have the primary responsibility for treating the physical health of patients hospitalized with serious mental illness and substance use disorders. But many fewer—just over half—say they have adequate resources to do so.
The most recent Today’s Hospitalist survey asked hospitalists four questions about their treatment of patients with both conditions. Just under 80% (78.4%) said they have the primary responsibility for treating physical health problems of inpatients with serious mental illness. Only 55.1%, however, said they have enough resources.
It was a similar situation with patients with substance use disorder. While 88% of adult hospitalists said they are responsible for treating those patients’ physical health issues, only 59.6% said they had enough resources to get the job done.
Here are some other differences that emerged in the data when we asked hospitalists about how they care for inpatients with serious mental illness and substance use disorder.
Pediatric hospitalists
More pediatric hospitalists said they have the primary responsibility for caring for hospitalized patients with serious mental illness: 89.2% (compared to 78.4% of adult hospitalists). But fewer pediatric hospitalists reported being primarily responsible for caring for inpatients with substance use disorders: 78.4% (compared to 88% of adult hospitalists).
The number of pediatric hospitalists who said they have adequate resources to treat both types of patients in the hospital was lower than for adult hospitalists. Only 43.2% said they’re equipped to treat patients with serious mental illness (compared to 55.1% of adult hospitalists), while 37.8% agreed they had the resources to treat substance use disorder patients. That’s compared to 59.6% of adult hospitalists.
National hospitalist management companies
Some differences surfaced when we compared responses from hospitalists working for different types of groups. Physicians in national hospitalist management companies were a little less likely to report being primarily responsible for the care of patients with both serious mental illness and substance use disorder.
About two-thirds of hospitalists (66.7%) in this group said they had primary responsibility for the care of patients with serious mental health illness, compared to 78.4% of all adult hospitalists. And 72.5% of physicians working in national hospitalist management companies said they were primarily responsible for patients with substance use disorder, compared to 88% of all adult hospitalists.
When asked if they had adequate resources to treat both patient groups, the responses of hospitalists working at national management companies more or less matched those of all adult hospitalists.
Four questions about hospitalists and mental health illness/substance abuse disorder
1. Hospitalists have the primary responsibility to treat physical health conditions among patients with serious mental illness.
• Agree: 78.4%
• Disagree: 21.6%
2. Hospitalists have the primary responsibility to treat physical health conditions among patients with substance use disorders.
• Agree: 88.0%
• Disagree: 12.0%
3. I have adequate resources to treat physical health conditions among hospitalized patients with serious mental illness.
• Agree: 55.1%
• Disagree: 44.9%
4. I have adequate resources to treat physical health conditions among hospitalized patients with substance use disorders.
• Agree: 59.6%
• Disagree: 40.4%
VIEW DATA ON HOSPITALIST PAY from both the 2024 and the 2023 Today’s Hospitalist Compensation & Career Surveys. Our annual surveys examine how hospitalist compensation is affected by factors such as the type of patients hospitalists treat, the number of shifts they work, the number of patients they see per shift and more.
