Hospitalists
In short: today's best AI models could do about 47% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 48% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The conversations, in-person and hands-on work, about 52% of the time, stays with people.
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.
$265,930 a year (for the broader BLS group this job sits in).
Reviewed on October 18, 2026: what each task is made of, and what handing it over would ask.
A typical 40-hour week
- AI could take on0 h
- A person checks AI's work19 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people21 h
Hospitalists, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 0 hours, 19 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 21 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Diagnose and treat inpatients (about 3 h, a person checks); Prescribe inpatient medications (about 3 h, a person checks); Order and read tests (about 2 h, a person checks).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 34%
- 14%
- 7%
- 35%
- 11%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
What handing it over would take, now
The 47% within reach splits by what a model would need. The dates, pace and reliability follow the controls above. Estimates.
of the working time. The material can be handed to a model and the result handed back.
of the working time. The model has to be connected to the system the work lives in.
is conversation short enough by length. This site leaves conversation with people, so it is not in the total.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 2%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 39%. Today's estimate: 47%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 14 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0073% to 0.0032% (released February and March 2025); none to 0.0042% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0073% | 567 of 708 | 1 of 14 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0032% | 623 of 703 | 1 of 14 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | none | n/a | 0 of 14 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0074% | 522 of 672 | 1 of 14 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.0042% | 589 of 677 | 1 of 14 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 14 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 14 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 46% of this job's working time as physical work. For 0% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere. 0.00 of 3.
- Not physical 54%
- No robot shown 46%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
What changes for the people in this job
From the task-by-task review, by the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five. It says which parts of the work stay with people and which change, not whether anyone keeps a job: that depends on decisions no data set can see.
What stays with people
52% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Diagnose and treat inpatients, the hands-on work, 19%
- Direct a hospital unit, the conversation, 7%
- Direct the care team, the in-person work, 7%
- Train residents and students, the in-person work, 6%
- Attend consultations, the in-person work, 5%
- Plan and carry out discharges, the in-person work, 3%
What becomes checking the machine
47% of the working time: desk work a model could do by then, in tasks where a mistake costs something or a licensed person signs. A person checks it.
- Diagnose and treat inpatients, a licensed person signs, 8%
- Prescribe inpatient medications, a licensed person signs, 6%
- Order and read tests, a licensed person signs, 6%
- Plan and carry out discharges, a licensed person signs, 5%
- Direct a hospital unit, severe if wrong, 5%
- Write discharge summaries, a licensed person signs, 4%
What to learn
- Judgment where errors are severe. Some tasks are severe if wrong. Knowing when not to trust an output matters more there than speed.
- Signing off under your license. Some tasks need a licensed, certified or sworn person to do or sign them. The license, and the judgment it stands for, stays with the person.
- Reviewing work you did not do yourself. The tasks under What becomes checking the machine, where a mistake costs something, stay a person's to check or sign: spotting what a draft gets wrong is a skill of its own.
- Handling protected records. Much of the work touches protected personal records: knowing what may be shared with a model, and how, is part of the job.
- The conversations. About 42% of the time is conversation and in-person work, which this site leaves with people: listening, explaining, persuading, calming.
Your own version of this job: read it against your job description. The headline is free; the full personal report, every task with its timeline and what to learn, is $19 (a sample).
The tasks
Sorted by . 14 tasks from .
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diagnose, treat, or provide continuous care to hospital inpatients.Rounds at the bedside, examining and treating, with the record read and written.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 26% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Hands-on 40%, documents 30%, in person 30% | 30%Desk part half by now |
| Direct the operations of short stay or specialty units.Managing the unit in conversation on the floor and in meetings, with reports read and written.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 12% | 3.3 h50 min to 6.7 h | Documents 40%, conversation 30%, in person 30% | 37%Desk part half by now |
| Conduct discharge planning and discharge patients.Discharge talk with the patient, the plan written and the orders entered.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 9% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | In person 40%, documents 30%, systems 30% | 60%Desk part half by now |
| Direct, coordinate, or supervise the patient care activities of nursing or support staff.Directing nurses and staff on the ward, with orders written.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 8% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | In person 80%, documents 20% | 20%Desk part half by now |
| Train or supervise medical students, residents, or other health professionals.Teaching on the ward over real patients, with some written feedback.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 7% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | In person 80%, documents 20% | 20%Desk part half by now |
| Admit patients for hospital stays.The admission interview and exam, with the history and orders entered.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | In person 40%, documents 30%, systems 30% | 60%Desk part half by now |
| Prescribe medications or treatment regimens to hospital inpatients.Deciding the regimen and entering the orders.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | Systems 70%, documents 30% | 100%Half by now |
| Attend inpatient consultations in areas of specialty.Seeing the patient on the ward at a colleague's request, with the note written.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | In person 80%, documents 20% | 20%Desk part half by now |
| Order or interpret the results of tests such as laboratory tests and radiographs (x-rays).Orders entered and results read in the record.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 6% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Documents 60%, systems 40% | 100%Half by now |
| Direct or support quality improvement projects or safety programs.Meetings and the written analyses behind improvement projects.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 2.5 h50 min to 1 work day | Documents 60%, conversation 40% | 55%Desk part half by now |
| Write patient discharge summaries and send them to primary care physicians.Writing the summary and sending it to the primary care physician.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 4% | 25 min13 min to 1.1 h | Documents 80%, systems 20% | 100%Half by now |
| Refer patients to medical specialists, social services, or other professionals as appropriate.Referral orders entered in the record, with a call where needed.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 3% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Systems 60%, documents 20%, conversation 20% | 80%Desk part half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach. Made of: how the task's time splits among five kinds of doing. Only the documents and systems parts can count as within reach, so a task that is 30% documents can be at most 30% within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Hospitalists is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 47% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 48% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Hospitalists come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Diagnose and treat inpatients (30% of the task's time now); Prescribe inpatient medications (100% of the task's time now); and Order and read tests (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Hospitalists stay with people?
- Every task has a desk part, so each can come partly within reach; the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of each task stay with people, about 52% of the working time.
- What should Hospitalists learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are judgment where errors are severe; signing off under your license; and reviewing work you did not do yourself. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 52% of the working time stays with people, 47% becomes checking a model's work and 0% could be handed over with lighter checks. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Hospitalists?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 3%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Hospitalists?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 46% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 0% of the working time. Its index is 0.00 of 3. A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 14 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, reviewed one task at a time on October 18, 2026 for what each is made of (documents, business systems, conversation, in person, hands-on), and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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