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Q&A with IPC's Adam Singer, MD: Hospitalist programs must take new direction to stay viable

Medical Staff Briefing, February 1, 2009

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HLA spoke with Adam Singer, MD, CEO of IPC The Hospitalist Company and Modern Healthcare's 2008 Physician Entrepreneur of the Year.

Q: What do you perceive to be some of the major challenges the hospitalist industry faces?

A: The staffing model the hospitalist industry has most frequently adopted cannot support hospitalist medicine for long. Many hospitalist groups are creating staffing models in which the doctors only work half-time, essentially. They are scheduling doctors for seven days on and seven days off, and they are working shifts measured in hours. Where else would you see doctors work like that? In certain respects, I don't think the seven days on/ seven days off schedule is in the best interest of patients. It constrains your ability to be a true hospitalist because a hospitalist, by definition, must engage with the hospital to drive the delivery system, which is difficult when you are only at the hospital every other week. But because of the work force shortage, doctors can dictate that they are only going to work a certain number of days per month. Doctors are being paid more than $200,000 per year to work, in effect, part-time, and that is not financially viable. If you pay doctors more money than they generate, you are under water. Would any business do well paying out more money than it takes in? Hospitalist programs need to encourage doctors to see enough patients to pay for themselves and stop relying on hospital subsidies.

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Medical Staff Briefing.

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