Vlad Dzhashi, MD
While working locum tenens, you can make significantly more money compared to a permanent hospitalist. However, when you’re first starting out, it is hard to find accurate locum tenens salary numbers.
And even if you come across recruiter emails or online job postings with locum tenens positions and the pay rate is listed, you can only guess if what they offer you is a starting point, the best rate they can give you, or somewhere in between.
That’s why it is better to know the numbers and consider the factors that affect the pay one way or the other in order to negotiate with either the facility directly or through one of the best locum tenens companies.
My locum tenens salary experience
Information provided here is based on personal experience, as well as experience of many of my colleagues.
I also screen a lot of emails and talk with multiple recruiters on the regular basis, which helps me better understand market conditions.
- If you've ever worked locum tenens as a hospitalist, please share your experience below.
Please keep in mind that hospitalists were consistently making more year after year (until about a few years ago), so locum tenens pay rates may change over time as well.
Hospitalist locum hourly rate: can hospitalist locums get $200/hr?
Now, I have to say that the possible hospitalist locum hourly rate is quite wide. Some aggressive recruiters can start negotiation with 130/hr, and on the other end, physicians skilled at negotiation can end up getting 200+/hr or even more.
Think about it: with 15 shifts a month on average, you can make as little as $280K/year with 130/hr or as much as 430K/year at 200/hr.
You can check out the Locum tenens salary calculator to see how even a small increase in the locum pay rate can make a big difference.
What affects locum tenens hospitalist hourly rate?
Intrinsic factors that affect the locum tenens hospitalist hourly rate include facility location, as well the shift type. Although eventually, it all boils down to supply vs. demand.
From lower to higher pay rate:
1 – Location: Urban vs rural area
2 – Type of shift: Daytime vs Swing vs Night
3 – ICU set up – closed ICU vs open ICU.
4 – Government vs private facility
So at the low end of the spectrum (e.g. prestigious tertiary center in the big city), pay could be as little as $130/hr.
At the high end of the spectrum, e.g. night shifts at a rural hospital in South Dakota with ICU coverage, pay could be as much as $200+/hr.
There are always exceptions, and the pay can be even higher at a facility that is desperate to fill a position.
Although, these “gigs” tend to be short-lived and won’t affect your bottom line significantly. Whether you want to work at the “desperate” hospital or not is a different story; it depends on the hospitalist lifestyle you’re after
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- No stress
Locum tenens hospitalist pay in different US regions.
Now, there are also regional variations, and that’s why I strongly encourage you to talk to your colleagues who are currently working locum tenens in your region/state to see what their locums hospitalist salary experience has been.
From what I’ve encountered, the highest pay rates I was offered were consistently in the Southwest region; the lowest were in the Northeast.
Again, a rural NY job with open ICU will definitely command higher pay compared to a downtown tertiary center in Minneapolis with no ICU or procedure requirements.
Another important exception is government facilities (VA, Indian Tribal Health, etc). From my observation, they tend to pay 10-30% less and the credentialing process is longer. On the upside, you can have any state license and work in all 50 states’ government-run hospitals and clinics.
Average pay for locum tenens hospitalist across the US
The overallaverage pay for a locum tenens hospitalist is around $160/hr for the day rounding shifts. I’ve personally never accepted anything less than $150/hr. However, if you are offered $130/hr for a very comfortable job at the hospital across the street, I would say, go for it. I’ve just never been that lucky.
Finally, when planning your locum tenens job location and target hospitalist salary, consider the state income tax burden (don’t forget to use my locum tenens tax calculator), e.g., given the same pay rate while working in CA or NY, hospitalists will have a lower bottom line compared to no income tax states like WA, FL, and TX.
If you’re interested in information about other specialities, please check out my guides that reveal pay-rates, pros and cons, demand for specialties and other crucial data here:
Great website/blog!! Been doing full time locums for about 6 months now, and I felt like there was no sites dedicated to my specific specialty. Your site is awesome, and helped me reinforce some of the thoughts ive been having, and has given me a bunch of great new ideas to pursue.
thanks so much.
Dr.Maj, Hi!
I’m glad that my site’s been helpful.
What is your specialty?
What states are your working?
Hi Locumsguy,
I’m currently a 2nd yr IM resident who is curious about doing locums full time. I’m interested in learning more about your experience. Tried to download the special report but wasn’t able to.
Paul, Hi!
Did you use the link at the end of the post? You need to enter your email to download the file.
Please let me know if it hasn’t worked, I’ll email it to you.
Thanks.
Does your education/training affect your pay for locums? In other words, if you trained at a prestigious IM residency, can you get a better hourly pay than someone who trained at a community hospital?
Zach,
Great question!
Anecdotally, I worked with a few hospitalists trained at Yale and Harvard and they were paid the same.
I suspect that being a prestigious residency graduate might get you locums job at prestigious hospitals more easily. But as I mentioned in my post, these facilities don’t pay that well.
On the other hand, if you apply to work at a small rural hospital, they may get excited about getting a Harvard graduate, but how much you get paid is a matter of negotiating as well as staying away from “popular” metro areas and high tax states.
The great thing about locum tenens is that any physician can make a lot more than in a permanent role.
Hi LocumGuy,
Thank you for this blog! I plan on doing a few months of locum before joining a private practice. Can you give me insight on locum positions for subspecialists (specifically GI)? This will be my first locum gig and I’m completely clueless as to what is decent pay for a GI physician. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!
FitnessDoc,
I sent you an email.
Does the information in your blog regarding salary change for a Family Medicine boarded physician? I know that as Family Medicine, I will have less opportunities for hospitalist work in major cities, but will the same information apply to hospitals in more rural areas?
Thank you for the information!
Collin,
I don’t think there’s any difference in salary or pay rates.
I am an Ob/Gyn with 16 years experience and have been doing locums exclusively for the last 2 years.
I am working locums 10 days a month in a rural farming town population of 10,000. Currently, I fly 2 1/2 hours and then drive an additional 2 1/2 hours to get to the location. These are recurring shifts monthly with same the company and at the same hospital.
I am working in the office and taking call 24 hours a day the entire time I am at this location.
What should I expect my pay rate to be?
I look forward to hearing your comments.
Thank you,
Nancy
Hi, Nancy!
As far as I know, Ob/Gyn pays anywhere from 1K-2K per day (take it with a grain of salt as I am not a practicing ObGyn doc and I know the numbers just based on what I’ve heard and seen online), depending on the area and how busy you are. I’d say if you provide 24 hour coverage you should be closer to 2k.
How much are you getting paid now? What state are you in?
Vlad.
Do you recommend doing an extra year of senior residency/ general internal medicine fellowship , before going right into the hospitalist job just after finishing IM residency ?
It depends on what you want to do after residency. If you plan on going into fellowship, being a chief resident may help you. Otherwise, I’d rather go straight into the job market.
200hr is still possible in Midwest rural hospitals.
Just as update I found a contract for 200/hr day shifts. We Manage pts in floor and icu but no procedures. 15-18pts (not a critical access hospital) but a smaller location in a rural setting with limited sub-specialist support and not stellar EMR. Night pays more but not sure of the going rate and nights do require procedures