Recruiting a rheumatologist.

What does a rheumatologist earn?

No BLS series measures rheumatology on its own; rheumatologists sit inside the broad group named above. Treat that group's figures as context for physicians generally, not as a rheumatology benchmark.

Practices pay a salary that becomes a share of production, and partners often share income from an infusion suite and in-office imaging such as musculoskeletal ultrasound. Candidates comparing offers ask how infusion income is credited and whether the practice employs advanced practice clinicians for follow-up visits.

Where do rheumatologists look for jobs?

Where new hires come from

Most new hires finish a fellowship after residency

Who employs them

Independent rheumatology practices, multispecialty groups, health system specialty clinics and academic medical centers.

Who you compete with for candidates

Academic centers offering research and focused clinics, and large groups with established infusion suites and support staff.

Rheumatology fellows train after internal medicine or pediatrics residency, and each class is small. Practices that maintain ties with a fellowship program, through teaching or rotations, hear first which fellows want to practice in their region.

Practicing rheumatologists rarely look for new jobs unless a group changes hands or their call or support changes. Telehealth follow-ups have made part-remote schedules possible, and some candidates ask for them.

Every board’s listing, with its posting lengths and how CV access is sold, is in the job board directory; what a physician job posting costs compares them.

The locum agency directory has each agency’s states, malpractice coverage and physician pay where it states them.

What does an open rheumatology position cost?

What the calculator has for rheumatology

• Revenue one physician brings in: no published figure, so you supply the annual revenue one physician in the specialty brings your organization
• Locum pay: $190 to $230 an hour (estimate, Locumstory (CHG Healthcare), 2025)
• First-year pay: no published figure, so you supply the first-year pay you expect to offer
• Contingency agency fee: 20 to 30% of first-year pay (estimate, MedStaff Nationwide, 2026)

Rheumatology has no revenue figure in the calculator; put in your own collections, counting the infusion suite. The waiting list is the visible cost, along with primary care physicians managing inflammatory disease they would rather refer.

Locum rheumatologists are paid $190 to $230 (estimate, Locumstory (CHG Healthcare), 2025) an hour, and few are available, so most practices let the waiting list grow while they search. That growing list is the cost the calculator cannot see.

Open the calculator with rheumatology chosen

Which recruiting channels work for rheumatology?

With so few candidates, relationships with fellowship programs matter more than any posting, and an offer that shows clinic support and a manageable new patient load stands out.

Questions to ask

• How long do new patients wait for a first visit?
• How is infusion and imaging income shared with the physician?
• Which follow-up visits can advanced practice clinicians handle?
• What first-year pay will you offer?

Which rules bite rheumatology recruiting?

Infused biologic drugs make up a large part of rheumatology revenue, and the self-referral law treats outpatient prescription drugs as designated health services.

Every federal rule this site cites, grouped by what a practice or recruiter is doing, is on the federal rules page. For the contract itself (pay models, tail coverage, restrictive covenants), read the physician employment contract, clause by clause. These notes describe the rules and cite them; they are not legal advice for a particular offer or contract.