Society of Hospital Medicine Releases 2020 State of Hospital Medicine Report

Biennial Report Provides Extensive Insight into Evolving Trends in Hospital Medicine Group Configuration, COVID-19 Addendum to Come

The Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) recently released the 2020 State of Hospital Medicine (SoHM) Report, the latest version in its series of biennial reports on national and regional trends in hospital medicine. Data included in the SoHM Report encompasses hospitalist compensation and production in addition to practice demographics, staffing levels, turnover, staff growth and financial support. This data assists practice administrators, HMG leaders, hospital executives, consultants and researchers in benchmarking their HMGs against others to inform management decisions on staffing, compensation and more.

“With changes in the healthcare setting being more widespread than ever, the 2020 SoHM Report is a vital resource for any practice leader, scheduler, job seeker or hospital executive making decisions affecting staffing,” notes Eric E. Howell, MD, MHM, Chief Executive Officer of SHM. “The latest version of the Report has key data to help hospital medicine groups provide exceptional patient care and support hospitalist job satisfaction, and we look forward to a COVID-19-specific addendum to the Report later this year.”

The SoHM Report is derived from a survey that is distributed to hospital medicine groups (HMGs) every other year. SHM’s Practice Analysis Committee discusses and reviews topics surveyed, develops the questions and releases the survey to the hospital medicine community. The committee and SHM staff analyze the results and produce the Report.

In addition to topics covered in previous versions, the 2020 Report includes brand-new questions specifically dedicated to pediatric hospital medicine groups, expanded information on NP/PA roles and data on diversity in hospital medicine physician leadership. A follow-up addendum focused on data about the impact of COVID-19 on hospital medicine will be published separately as a supplement available to only purchasers of the Report.

Two key highlights from the 2020 Report include:

• A median of 11 percent of hospitalists jobs remain unfilled: Maintaining a full staffing complement continued to be a challenge for many HMGs nationwide. Half of HMGs serving children only, half of HMGs serving both adults and children and close to three-quarters of HMGs serving adults only reported having unfilled positions in their HMGs during at least a portion of the year. 

• Increased pediatric HMG participation: 2020 Survey participation showed a nearly threefold increase from 2018 in the number of HMGs that serve pediatric patients only (pediatric HMGs), although adult HMGs serving adult patients continue to comprise the majority of respondents. 

The 2020 SoHM Report is available in print only, a bundle of print and digital or digital only. The digital version is fully responsive and accessible on both desktop and mobile devices. For more information and to purchase the 2020 State of Hospital Medicine Report, visit hospitalmedicine.org/sohm.