Late Career Pediatric Hospitalists: Programmatic Support for Retirement

Background: Physicians are working to older ages, lending experience and knowledge that benefits patient care and education. As the field of PHM matures and hospitalists reach retirement age, awareness about the need to support this transition has increased. The objective of this study is to define the current benefits available to support late-career pediatric hospitalists (LCPH) over age 50 in the transition towards retirement.

Methods: This observational mixed-methods study used an anonymous cross-sectional survey sent to the American Academy of Pediatric Hospital Medicine Division Chief listserv from May-June 2020. The survey questions (Yes/No, multiple choice, open-ended) captured program information related to size, location, employer type, and support benefits for LCPH. The Fisher exact test examined the association of program characteristics with benefits for LCPH. Using constant comparative methods, responses to open-ended questions were iteratively coded to identify themes.

Results: Surveys were completed by directors of 47 programs including 43 (91%) with members age 50-64 and 13 (28%) with members age 65+. Among the total 982 hospitalists, 117 (12%) were age 50-64 and 16 (1.6%) were age 65+. Thirty-two (68%) programs provided financial planning, but only 10 (21%) offered non-financial retirement counseling. Post-retirement health and academic benefits were provided by 9 (19%) and 14 (30%) programs, respectively. Medical school employers were more likely to provide both health (p=0.002) and academic (p=0.035) benefits (Table). Of note, 11-19 (24%-40%) programs responded “I don’t know” to questions regarding access to health/academic benefits or non-financial retirement counseling. Lack of knowledge about available benefits was highlighted by responses to the open-ended request for additional information. The theme of ‘not yet considered’ emerged; “PHM is much younger than our other divisions, so these issues have … not (come up) since our group became its own official division” and “the 3 physicians who are in the 50+ age range just reached that milestone… We are now starting to consider this issue.”

Conclusion: As the pediatric hospitalist workforce ages, retirement concerns for LCPH will grow in prominence. Further consideration is required to develop and implement strategies that will adequately support LCPH during the transition through retirement. Increased awareness and augmentation of both financial and non-financial pre- and post-retirement benefits may assist programs in guiding LCPH members through this process.