One of the reasons I started up my website, ObGynHospitalist.com, was to connect with other ob.gyn. hospitalists that I knew were out there. I wanted to know if they were experiencing the same challenges I was, what their program model looked like, if they were part time or full time, and what their pay and benefits were.
As the website membership grew, it was a logical step to ask members these questions directly.
The first Salary and Employment Survey was sent out in 2011 and had 106 respondents. This year, our third survey had 313 respondents and allowed us to clearly see consistent trends, particularly in ob.gyn. hospitalists’ experience levels, the types of shifts we work, and overall pay and benefits for both part time and full timers.
So, what does a typical ob.gyn. hospitalist look like? Our survey tells us that they are mostly male, between 40 and 59 years old, and are at least 6 years post residency.
Most ob.gyn. hospitalists work in hospitals that average more than 1,000 births per year, with most (45%) working in hospitals with 2,001-3,000 deliveries per year and 19% who work in hospitals with more than 4,000 births per year.
Most describe their primary practice activity as obstetrics with emergency department coverage including emergency gynecologic surgery and inpatient gynecologic consultations. They work full time and have had no change in their employment status over the last 12 months.
The most common full-time work schedule is exclusively 24-hour shifts. Those full-time hospitalists who don’t work 24-hour shifts mostly work 12-hour shifts and are happy with this arrangement.
Ob.gyn. hospitalists are "very satisfied" with their career, variety of work, management, recognition, and professional relationships.
Most work with other ob.gyns. and maternal-fetal medicine physicians only rather than with family practitioners or midwives. Half work as perinatology extenders doing some or most of their deliveries and half use perinatologists only as a consultant, like a private practitioner would.
The majority have ob.gyn. physicians sign out to them, and a third supervise midwives.
Most full-time and part-time hospitalists are hospital employees and are almost evenly split between receiving an hourly gross wage and a salary.
The most common full-time hourly rate (41% in 2012 and 34% in 2013) is $101-$110/hour; 4.5% earn more than $140/hour. Most part-time hospitalists earn less per hour than do full-time hospitalists, with an hourly rate of $91-$100/hour.
The most common full-time salary range (31%) is between $224,000 and $249,000; 4.7% earned between $325,000 and $349,999. The most common part-time salary range is less than $150,000. About 40% of full-time salaried physicians receive incentive compensation based on quality, not production.
A third of respondents stated that they need more physicians in their hospitalist program and that they do not have an adequate emergency backup call system in place. This is an important area for safety, and all programs should address the solution of emergency backup for the hospitalist.
It’s exciting to have this information, not only to know what experience our fellow ob.gyn. hospitalists around the country have, but also it’s interesting to know how other programs are structured, what responsibilities are commonplace, and how our salary and benefits compare with our general ob.gyn. colleagues. The 2013 report can be viewed at ObGynHospitalist.com/news, where you can also find previous survey reports, too.
Dr. Olson is an ob.gyn. hospitalist in Bellingham, Wash.; founding president of the Society of OB/GYN Hospitalists; and founder of ObGynHospitalist.com. He is a consultant for ob.gyn. hospitalist programs.