Medical Staff

Letter from the editor: Post-SHM ’09 blog roundup

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, May 19, 2009

The Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) 2009 Annual Meeting wrapped up on Sunday in Chicago. The SHM meeting this year saw a record numbers of registrants—about 2,250 attendees. SHM marked the meeting’s 10-year anniversary with the induction of SHM fellows and the introduction of the new SHM president Scott Flanders, MD, FHM.

HospitalistLeadership.com was there to cover the event live. The hot topics in hospitalist leadership and practice management revolved around balancing administrative and clinical duties, understanding the nurse practitioner/physician assistant role, physician-hospital communication, and of course, demonstrating the value of a hospitalist program.

Thanks to all those to whom we interviewed and met!

Among the highlights were the following blog posts:

Is there a glass ceiling between hospitalists and the C-suite?
The majority of CEOs are not physicians, said SHM President Patrick J. Cawley, MD, FHM, CMO at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, on Friday morning at a session titled, “Hospital of the Future: Hospitalists in the C-Suite.”…Read more here.

Do practice leaders need an MBA in business?
Do you need an MBA to be a leader and understand the financials? Not necessarily. Although an MBA has changed his life, not all hospitalist leaders need to invest the time and money into taking the same path, said Scott F. Enderby, DO, MMM, of East Bay Physicians Medical Group in Berkeley, CA. on Friday morning. “But they do need to understand the proverbial bottom line, that is, the excess of revenue over expenses…Read more here.

Understand practice finances
All practices should view hospital medicine as a business, said Scott F. Enderby, DO, MMM, of East Bay Physicians Medical Group in Berkeley, CA, on Friday morning at a session titled, “What Every Hospitalist Should Know About Practice Finances.” Regardless of your status as a for-profit or non-profit organization, you should be concerned about the financial operations of your practice. “Absolutely, without a doubt,” said Enderby about staying financially informed…Read more here.

Do hospitalist administrators need to clock clinic time?
The three hospitalist leaders on the SHM panel for the session, “Hospitalists in the C-suite,” had different answers to the question, “Do administrators need to do clinical work?”
In the case of Michael Ruhlen, MD, MHCM, FHM, vice president and chief medical officer for Carolinas Medical Center, his role does not include clinical time. He decided to stop practicing pediatrics to fully commit to his other administrative duties, although the two other administrators on the panel still practice medicine...Read more here.

How to tweet your way to physician recruitment
Social networking Web sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter, play an increasingly important role in recruiting physicians, said Inpatient Management Inc. (IMI), CEO, principal, and founder Kirk Mathews, MBA, on Friday morning at an SHM session.

“It’s a force to be reckoned with,” said fellow Tweeter Mathews...Read more here.

Keep a lookout on the daily blog for more coverage following the SHM seminar.

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