Healthcare Practitioners
Hospitalists
Also called: Academic Hospitalist, Consultant Physician, Hospitalist, Hospitalist Medical Doctor (Hospitalist MD)
US median pay
$265,930
per year, 2025
Job growth 2025–35
+3.4%
about average or slower
Openings a year (US)
9,400
367,400 employed
Typical entry education
Doctoral or professional degree
Preparation 5/5 · Extensive preparation
What this job is
Provide inpatient care predominantly in settings such as medical wards, acute care units, intensive care units, rehabilitation centers, or emergency rooms. Manage and coordinate patient care throughout treatment.
What they do day to day
- Diagnose, treat, or provide continuous care to hospital inpatients.
- Prescribe medications or treatment regimens to hospital inpatients.
- Order or interpret the results of tests such as laboratory tests and radiographs (x-rays).
- Admit patients for hospital stays.
- Conduct discharge planning and discharge patients.
- Write patient discharge summaries and send them to primary care physicians.
- Refer patients to medical specialists, social services, or other professionals as appropriate.
- Direct, coordinate, or supervise the patient care activities of nursing or support staff.
- Attend inpatient consultations in areas of specialty.
- Communicate with patients' primary care physicians upon admission, when treatment plans change, or at discharge to maintain continuity and quality of care.
Skills and knowledge that matter most
Skills
- Social Perceptiveness4.1/5
- Judgment and Decision Making4.1/5
- Complex Problem Solving4.1/5
- Service Orientation4.0/5
- Coordination3.9/5
- Time Management3.2/5
- Persuasion3.2/5
- Instructing3.2/5
Knowledge
- Medicine and Dentistry5.0/5
- Biology4.6/5
- English Language4.6/5
- Psychology4.3/5
- Education and Training4.0/5
- Therapy and Counseling4.0/5
Importance rated by people working in the job (1 = not important, 5 = extremely important).
Education and preparation
Preparation level 5 of 5 — Extensive preparation. Usually a graduate degree (master's, PhD, MD, JD) and extensive experience.
Typical entry education (BLS): Doctoral or professional degree.
Highest education of people in this job:
- Post-doctoral training48%
- Doctoral degree40%
Who this job suits
Mostly Social
Helping, teaching and caring for people
Investigative
Ideas, research and solving problems
Conventional
Organising data, details and procedures
Based on the Holland (RIASEC) interest profile for this occupation.