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Hospitalist company starts psychiatric hospitalist program

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, August 29, 2007

A North Hollywood, CA-based hospitalist company has established a psychiatric hospitalist program at Houston-based St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, which is part of the Texas Medical Center. According to the company, IPC-The Hospitalist Company, the program may be the first of its kind in the country.

Jennifer Pate, MD, a hospitalist trained in psychiatry who will treat medical and surgical inpatients in the new psychiatric program at St. Luke's, is quoted in an August 16 IPC statement 16 as saying, "The hospital staff [and] my fellow IPC hospitalists call me in for a wide variety of patients ranging from a hip fracture patient with suicidal ideation, to a heart failure patient with impaired decision-making ability."

Pate added that providing such care helps patients transition successfully to the outpatient setting.

The statement cites statistics that 30% to 60% of adult inpatients suffer from significant psychological dysfunction secondary to their medical illness that would qualify for a psychiatric consultation.

For more information about IPC, go to www.hospitalist.com.

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