NOT ALL HOSPITALIST groups pay their physicians extra based on their years of experience, but compensation differentials and retention (or “loyalty) bonuses can be used by groups to reward hospitalists’ years of experience or tenure.
And according to two groups we spoke with, the bar for what counts as “experienced” keeps dropping as groups try to make themselves competitive when recruiting new hospitalists.
Two pay levels based on experience
The hospitalist group at Riverside Regional Health System in Newport News, Va., for example, has historically maintained two levels of base hospitalist salary: one for physicians with less than five years of experience as a hospitalist and the other for those with five-plus years. The difference between those two base salaries used to be $10,000 a year.
This year, however, the group made some changes to that formula. It continues to have two different base amounts, but the difference between them now is only $5,000.
“We used to wait as long as five years for doctors to reach the higher base tier, but doctors aren’t willing to wait that long.”
James Leyhane, MD
Crouse Hospital
And “we changed the first category from up to five years of experience as a hospitalist to having up to three years of experience at Riverside,” said medical director Hardik Vora, MD. “The second category is being three or more years within our group.”
The group lowered the threshold for the higher base salary from five to three years, Dr. Vora explains, to make their group more attractive to doctors coming right out of residency. That is “where we get most of our recruits.” The tweaks resulted in the first of the two base tiers getting about a 7% raise while the second received about a 5% raise.
Group members also receive a retention incentive after they have been with the organization for at least three years. The annual retention incentive amount—which ranges between $5,000 and $10,000—is also based on clinicians’ years with the organization.
Retention bonuses in Syracuse
At Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, N.Y., where hospitalists are also bonused on retention, hospitalist medical director James Leyhane, MD, says he and his colleagues have continued over the years to tweak the base salary they’re paid, compressing the time threshold of experience down.
While members’ base salaries used to be bumped up after two years on the job, that’s been shortened to only one year—with the difference between those two bases just under 7.5%.
“We used to wait as long as five years for doctors to reach the higher base tier, but doctors aren’t willing to wait that long,” Dr. Leyhane points out. Up until about five years ago, he adds, it took about 10 years to reach the higher tier. “We reduced it to five about four years ago, and now our base is increased after one year.”
In addition, after physicians are with the group for five years, he adds, “we add a small amount to your annual salary, which is our loyalty and retention bonus. It’s basically about $1,000 a year for every year you work here after year five.”
Does it make sense to reward hospitalist experience and years worked in a group?
A dive into the 2023 Society of Hospital Medicine State of Hospital Medicine Report finds that groups are almost evenly divided in terms of using compensation differentials for years of service: Forty-seven percent of groups reported offering different comp rates based on service, while 53% do not.
But those percentages vary widely depending on region and employer model. In Eastern programs, 76% offer compensation differentials—but only 34% of groups in the South. In terms of employment model, 63% of academic groups and 53% of hospital-employed groups have comp differentials for service years, but such differentials are available in only 17% of private local groups.
Related articles:
Hospitalist compensation continues its steady rise, survey shows
Hospitalist pay incentives: a look at bonuses and risk
Paying hospitalists for experience: a look at retention bonuses
Hoping for a big pay raise? This may not be the year
Phyllis Maguire has been Executive Editor of Today’s Hospitalist since 2006. Based in Bucks County, Pa., her health care interests are hospital medicine and long-term care options. She also likes zydeco, hiking, and reading memoirs and romances.
