Is it feasible to work part-time as a hospitalist in a primary care specialty?

[PS2summerdays]

I'm considering working part-time for several years after residency. I'm curious about what this would mean for me. Ideally, I'd like to work with a hospital system. I live in the largest city on the East Coast and there are dozens of hospitals here.

As a part-time employee (working 20-30 hours), would I still get any benefits? Is this type of schedule possible for primary care specialties? I understand that there must be a massive pay-cut when working so few hours. But how low does it go? Are we talking residency-level salary or something a little above that?

I know that joining a practice or something like that is an option, but I am not sure how I feel about that just yet. Thanks everyone.

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[Karrde]

The specifics are going to vary tremendously from group to group. I work for one of the largest groups in the country on the west coast as a hospitalist. To get benefits you have to work 0.6FTE or greater. There are people who work less, some as little as a shift a month, but these are basically independent contractor positions and they do not get benefits. I am not quite as familiar with the primary care schedules but I know many of them are not working full time. Pay is prorated; if you work 0.6FTE you make 60% of what someone working 1.0 FTE does. (FTE = full time equivalent = # of hours it takes to be full time, it can vary from month to month for me). If you are working only part time that may also influence things like seniority/pensions/benefit scaling etc.

As to how hard it is to actually get a part time position that will be incredibly variable as well. Some years we have specifically been attempting to hire part time people. It's usually harder to do since most out of residency want full time.

 

[PS2summerdays]

Thank you - especially for explaining what "FTE" is. 🙂

The specifics are going to vary tremendously from group to group. I work for one of the largest groups in the country on the west coast as a hospitalist. To get benefits you have to work 0.6FTE or greater. There are people who work less, some as little as a shift a month, but these are basically independent contractor positions and they do not get benefits. I am not quite as familiar with the primary care schedules but I know many of them are not working full time. Pay is prorated; if you work 0.6FTE you make 60% of what someone working 1.0 FTE does. (FTE = full time equivalent = # of hours it takes to be full time, it can vary from month to month for me). If you are working only part time that may also influence things like seniority/pensions/benefit scaling etc.

As to how hard it is to actually get a part time position that will be incredibly variable as well. Some years we have specifically been attempting to hire part time people. It's usually harder to do since most out of residency want full time.

Thank you - especially for explaining what FTE is.

 

[Raryn]

It's feasible to work part time as a hospitalist doing locums just about anywhere, though the pay will vary. Usually for a locums physician it's something per hour (I've seen anywhere from 120-250 in big cities-very rural areas, but there's probably #s even more extreme) or per shift (multiple the hourly rate x 10-12). And locums generally gets no benefits, though you can just buy them for cash if needed.