Strongly considering going into IM, but want to go with my eyes wide open. Also want to be in California
What is the typical (i.e. median) salary for an IM hospitalist who just finished residency at Kaiser Permanente in Nor Cal?
Is it different in SoCal?
And what is the typical IM hospitalist salary at an academic hospital (e.g. Stanford, UCLA)?
How does one even begin to answer these questions?
Strongly considering going into IM…
If you’re still in med school, just calm down and consider your choices. Go into a specialty because you like it and because you can see yourself doing it for 40+ years, but please not for the money. Any doctor in any specialty will have a decent salary (at least top 5% of income earners in the US). But if you don’t like what you do, it doesn’t matter if you make 250K or 500K, you will hate life.
What is the typical (i.e. median) salary for an IM hospitalist who just finished residency at Kaiser Permanente in Nor Cal?
First of all, you don’t get to choose where you go to residency. There are ways to improve your chances at attending residency at a certain location, but there’s no guarantees when it comes to residency applications especially in a competitive area like Cali. Second, your salary won’t depend on where you attend residency. A hospitalist is a hospitalist is a hospitalist whether they come from residency in the middle of nowhere Arkansas, cali, or Harvard/MGH. Last, If you need the median salary for any specialty, this information is actually public and googlable. Check the medscape yearly physician compensation report. Although, it does not always paint the full picture, but this is a good starting point.
what is the typical IM hospitalist salary at an academic hospital (e.g. Stanford, UCLA)?
Unless someone works at these places, difficult to give you any details. Salaries not only vary by location, but also by number of hours worked vs RVU based, whether you do procedures or not, your patient volume, the physician’s efficiency, etc… Two Hospitalists’ salaries at the same hospital may vary vastly based on these factors and others.