hourly pay for locum hospitalist

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
R

robertnadan

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2015
Messages
64
Reaction score
0
Hey guys. Does anyone know average hourly pay for locum hospitalist?
Members don't see this ad.
 
Agree. 120-150

Should be more for nights

Make sure they cover your malpractice WITH TAIL or it's not worth it
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I have three locum gigs. all nights. all requiring ICU coverage, vent management and procedures. admissions very from 3-4, 8-10 and 12-16. Rates are 160, 175 and 200.
 
jdh71 said:
Agree. 120-150

Should be more for nights

Make sure they cover your malpractice WITH TAIL or it's not worth it
Click to expand...
That's pretty much the going rate range here (CA) for no procedures, closed ICU... days closer to the lower end of this range, nights closer to the higher end.
 
jdh71 said:
Agree. 120-150

Should be more for nights

Make sure they cover your malpractice WITH TAIL or it's not worth it
Click to expand...

could you explain what with tail means? is it coverage even after you stop working for them?
 
ChessMaster3000 said:
could you explain what with tail means? is it coverage even after you stop working for them?
Click to expand...

Yes. A claim based insurance is one where they cover malpractice only during the coverage period, unless you purchase a tail which extends the coverage period.

You can also get an occurrences insurance which will cover any occurrence of malpractice that occurs while you have their insurance.

Ie claims made = as long as you still have us we will pay, occurrences= as long as it occurred while you were covered we will pay
 
dyeguy21 said:
Yes. A claim based insurance is one where they cover malpractice only during the coverage period, unless you purchase a tail which extends the coverage period.

You can also get an occurrences insurance which will cover any occurrence of malpractice that occurs while you have their insurance.

Ie claims made = as long as you still have us we will pay, occurrences= as long as it occurred while you were covered we will pay
Click to expand...
Makes sense--but then what is the difference between claims w/ tail vs occurrence? Am I missing something?
 
ChessMaster3000 said:
Makes sense--but then what is the difference between claims w/ tail vs occurrence? Am I missing something?
Click to expand...

The price.

A claims with tail can cost less as the tail is a defined length of time. Occurence on average will cost more because it offers unlimited-time coverage as long as the offense occurred while you were under their plan.

So:
Claims with 2 year tail: Someone sues you 1.5 years post you're covered, 2.1 years post you're not
Occurrence: You can be sued until the end of the statue and it will always be covered (covered for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc. years)
 
what can I expect in a city like Champaign IL, with no ICU coverage and no procedures?
 
robertnadan said:
what can I expect in a city like Champaign IL, with no ICU coverage and no procedures?
Click to expand...
You could just ask the recruiters themselves. There are so many of them you will not have a hard time getting some concrete numbers out of them.

Here in the Southwest region, with ICU coverage it's $150-$180 per hr is what Ive been getting. Without ICU would probably be around $115-$130
 
The best I ever got was 230 an hour the night before july 4th at the VA. Caught them desperate. It was an easy 12 hours too.
 
I am looking for a locum position with no ICU coverage and no procedures. What is the best way to find something like this? Location is not important to me
 
Members don't see this ad :)
My locums hospitalist rate is $120 an hour though. No night differential. Covers ICU though no procedures required if I don't want to do them (though I do them). Definitely seeing that I am getting low balled and that I need to explore a little bit more or at least try to renegotiate.
 
I am doing locum hospitalist job in the last 3 years in California, the rate is low 110-125/h for day shifts and 125-150 for night shifts.
 
Been doing locum hospitalist gigs past 3 years in the Mid Atlantic region... usual rates in Maryland( with notoriously low physician salaries ) are minimum $150-160/hr dayshifts & $170-180/hr for nights, $200/hr for nights with ICU coverage. Quite possible to get additional $10-20/hr on these rates depending on years of experience, hospital need & location( the more remote the higher the rate ). I've received calls from smaller locums agencies regarding gigs in the Midwest & the initial rate offered was $190/hr for dayshifts. It's all about what you can negotiate & remember no amount is too high ...doesn't hurt to try. The key is avoiding the bigger locums agencies( higher overhead with higher middleman costs, hence lower rates offered to the physicians ).
 
i didn't realize hospitalists coverage of ICU is so common. Do people not want CC trained to cover ICUs...?
 
waterbottle10 said:
i didn't realize hospitalists coverage of ICU is so common. Do people not want CC trained to cover ICUs...?
Click to expand...
Of course they want CC trained people to work there, they just don't want to PAY CC trained people to cover the ICUs.

I have privileges at 7 different hospitals. 3 of them have open ICUs with CCM as consultants. Three of the others have house-staff coverage 24/7 and CCM attendings during the day (and on-call at night). The Level 1 trauma center has 24/7 house-staff coverage and 24/7 CCM attending coverage. These hospitals are all within a 30 minute drive of each other.
 
waterbottle10 said:
i didn't realize hospitalists coverage of ICU is so common. Do people not want CC trained to cover ICUs...?
Click to expand...
There's not enough trained intensivists to cover the 1,000,001 tiny little hospitals that might have 4-6 bed ICUs in this country. Or even the moderate sized ICUs 24/7 (rather than just during daylight hours). Only the largest academic ICUs have in house intensivists 24/7, and even they often just have residents do it.
 
VicAnthony said:
Been doing locum hospitalist gigs past 3 years in the Mid Atlantic region... usual rates in Maryland( with notoriously low physician salaries ) are minimum $150-160/hr dayshifts & $170-180/hr for nights, $200/hr for nights with ICU coverage. Quite possible to get additional $10-20/hr on these rates depending on years of experience, hospital need & location( the more remote the higher the rate ). I've received calls from smaller locums agencies regarding gigs in the Midwest & the initial rate offered was $190/hr for dayshifts. It's all about what you can negotiate & remember no amount is too high ...doesn't hurt to try. The key is avoiding the bigger locums agencies( higher overhead with higher middleman costs, hence lower rates offered to the physicians ).
Click to expand...

Vic -- What locum agencies would you recommend? I have recently been looking into this for hospitalist work, but mostly was looking at the bigger firms like StaffCare, etc.
 
Army Doctor said:
$180-200 per hour in Northern California.
Much lower in Southern California
Click to expand...

Damn, that's right about at EM hourly rates. And this is in California? Impressive. Does anyone feel there is a bubble in hospitalist medicine right now?
 
Can anyone comment on the locum hospitalist hourly rate in Louisville, Kentucky or surrounding areas ?
 
DaTruMD said:
Wow.
Click to expand...
And this is at a large academic institution in a city not some rural community place where they proly make more.

Furthermore, they are considered working '40hrs' per wk with 3 tweleve hr shifts; anything over the 3 shifts, in which all reach and surpass, they get paied at 140/hr. Many PAs make more than FM, Peds, and many IM 'DOCTORS'.

Tell ur kids going through med school is for fools.
 
Well if you went to Medical school for the sole reason of making money, that's foolish. On the flip side if you went into finance, you'd be disappointed that job security is lacking. I wouldn't trade this path for anything.
 
chessknt87 said:
EM hourly rates are north of 300 so not really close.
Click to expand...

Eh, not really. Average EM rate is probably in the low 200s. A lot less if you're in a "desirable" location. Some places pay more. Very few pay 300. Of course, there are jobs that do. And people like to talk about them.
 
needachange2017 said:
Surgical PAs make 140/hr for moonlighting shifts at my institution in the northeast.

Really make you wonder what all the years of training 'doctors' go through is for.....
Click to expand...

How is this possible? Do they bring in any particular skillset that is lacking among RNs, surgical techs, moonlighting residents, etc? I don't think PAs enjoy any particular licensing benefits over random Joe in the street that would artificially boost their compensation, so I find it hard to understand how they can get paid that much for holding the retractors. You'd think they could find warm bodies to do it for less.
 
Brahnold Bloodaxe said:
How is this possible? Do they bring in any particular skillset that is lacking among RNs, surgical techs, moonlighting residents, etc? I don't think PAs enjoy any particular licensing benefits over random Joe in the street that would artificially boost their compensation, so I find it hard to understand how they can get paid that much for holding the retractors. You'd think they could find warm bodies to do it for less.
Click to expand...
You do realize that surgical PAs do more just 'hold retractors' right?

They round on pts, they are the ones that answer majority of pages, they sometime may do consults pending attending level of comfort, they put in chest tubes and other minor procedures on the floor, and theyre the ones that closes the patient majority of the time at the end of the surgical case.

Believe me, I dont think they deserve $140/hr for anything over 40hrs. Residents, such as myself, do everything they do, but work 80+hrs without being paid like they are.

Im actually angry that they make more than majority of primary care DOCTOR for 1/3 the training.
 
needachange2017 said:
You do realize that surgical PAs do more just 'hold retractors' right?

They round on pts, they are the ones that answer majority of pages, they sometime may do consults pending attending level of comfort, they put in chest tubes and other minor procedures on the floor, and theyre the ones that closes the patient majority of the time at the end of the surgical case.

Believe me, I dont think they deserve $140/hr for anything over 40hrs. Residents, such as myself, do everything they do, but work 80+hrs without being paid like they are.

Im actually angry that they make more than majority of primary care DOCTOR for 1/3 the training.
Click to expand...

Full disclosure, I'm pre-clinical so have very little idea what surgical PAs do. Still, the question stands: what particular market forces are driving their hourly rates into the stratosphere? What exactly creates a situation where a PA makes more money, both in absolute terms and in hourly rates, than a physician? I don't get it. If there exists a demand for a warm body at an hourly rate that is higher than what a physician commonly earns, I would expect there to be plenty of physicians willing and able to fulfill that demand, so why are PAs chosen to be that warm body instead? It makes a complete mockery of the medical profession that physician assistants are chosen preferentially ahead of physicians for the more lucrative aspects of medicine.
 
Last edited:
Brahnold Bloodaxe said:
Full disclosure, I'm pre-clinical so have very little idea what surgical PAs do. Still, the question stands: what particular market forces are driving their hourly rates into the stratosphere? What exactly creates a situation where a PA makes more money, both in absolute terms and in hourly rates, than a physician? I don't get it. If there exists a demand for a warm body at an hourly rate that is higher than what a physician commonly earns, I would expect there to be plenty of physicians willing and able to fulfill that demand, so why are PAs chosen to be that warm body instead? It makes a complete mockery of the medical profession that physician assistants are chosen preferentially ahead of physicians for the more lucrative aspects of medicine.
Click to expand...
Because they'd have to pay physicians $200+/h to do it. And they won't. Those are the market forces at play.

My group pays me $175/h to sit and cover an infusion unit if there's nobody else to do it (not actually seeing patients mind you, just being a warm body in case things go sideways). They pay the PA/NPs (and fellows if they're interested...most aren't) $95/h for the same thing.
 
Brahnold Bloodaxe said:
Full disclosure, I'm pre-clinical so have very little idea what surgical PAs do. Still, the question stands: what particular market forces are driving their hourly rates into the stratosphere? What exactly creates a situation where a PA makes more money, both in absolute terms and in hourly rates, than a physician? I don't get it. If there exists a demand for a warm body at an hourly rate that is higher than what a physician commonly earns, I would expect there to be plenty of physicians willing and able to fulfill that demand, so why are PAs chosen to be that warm body instead? It makes a complete mockery of the medical profession that physician assistants are chosen preferentially ahead of physicians for the more lucrative aspects of medicine.
Click to expand...
Cause instead of seeing pts and writing FU notes, answer apges in the middle of the night, and other scut work, they rather pay PAs at 140/hr to do it.
 
needachange2017 said:
Cause instead of seeing pts and writing FU notes, answer apges in the middle of the night, and other scut work, they rather pay PAs at 140/hr to do it.
Click to expand...

A surgeon makes money in the OR. If he or she can minimize their duties outside of the OR, their is a significant financial incentive.
 
when you guys cover the ICU do you have to manage the vent?
 
robertnadan said:
Hey guys. Does anyone know average hourly pay for locum hospitalist?
Click to expand...

It ranges from $150-$200. The factors that can increase the pay rate - rural area, open-ICU, nights. Location is another one since some states have higher pay rates in general, e.g. you tend to get better rates in the Midwest and the Southern states. You can also check out this post for more info.


goodolchap said:
when you guys cover the ICU do you have to manage the vent?
Click to expand...

Most of my locum gigs have semi-open ICU setup, which means hospitalists manage ICU patient as long as he or she's not intubated, e.g. septic patient on pressors, severe DKA etc. Some facilities will require vent management and lines but I usually avoid them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

glorifiedresident
Is Locums Hospitalist work every desirable?
Replies
1
Views
1K
DrMetal
DrMetal
Meerkatology
Telemedicine a possibility for an IM hospitalist?
Replies
15
Views
1K
HemeOncHopeful19
H
K
Florida hospitalist salary
Replies
9
Views
4K
Splenda88
S
chicandtoughness
Hospitalist to outpatient?
Replies
9
Views
3K
gutonc
gutonc
D
FM Boarded Hospitalist - looking to do Critical Care
Replies
42
Views
2K
kacelius
K
Top