HCPro.com: Hospitalist Management Advisor

This monthly newsletter offers the latest and greatest in hospitalist management strategies and techniques. You'll learn directly from other successful hospitalist programs what works and what doesn't. You'll also receive tips and information on the topics that matter most to your professional success.

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May 2008 (Volume 4, Issue 5)	view entire issue

Facing a shortage, your program must be creative and selective
In 1996, when hospital medicine was in its infancy, there were approximately 1,000 hospitalists in the United States. Today, according to estimates from the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM), there are more than 20,000. SHM estimates that the need for hospitalists will continue to grow and could exceed 40,000 during the next five years. "No other specialty in the history of American medicine has grown at this rate," says Eric Siegal, MD, regional medical director at Cogent Healthcare in Brentwood, TN.

Strategic planning is essential to keep your hospitalist program on the cutting edge
When hospitalist programs started popping up around the country back in the mid-1990s, the thought was that they would make hospitals more efficient by always having on-site physicians who could attend to patients and intimately understand the hospital's processes. But as hospitalist programs mature, they need to be more than a service that fills in for private practice physicians, says Sylvia Cheney McKean, MD, FACP, medical director of Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospitalist Service in Boston.

Are you prepared for value-based purchasing?
In a move that the healthcare world has been anticipating for quite some time, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its plans for value-based purchasing (VBP) in late 2007, and hospitalist programs must be prepared to demonstrate their value in this evolving pay-for-performance environment. Although CMS has yet to finalize some of the details of VBP-particularly regarding payment-it's clear that CMS is expecting hospitals to meet standards that go beyond proper documentation alone.

Hospitalist programs at rural hospitals face uphill climb
It's no secret-rural hospitals have always struggled to compete with larger metropolitan hospitals for patients and clinical staff members. Hospitalist programs in these settings are the most recent to suffer. Hospital medicine has become so important to quality patient care that rural hospitals should fight to keep these programs afloat, says Kenneth G. Simone, DO, founder and president of Hospitalist and Practice Solutions in Brewer, ME.

Other recently-published articles from Hospitalist Management Advisor:

Real estate slump can affect hospitalist shortage

Patient-physician ratio affects LOS, study says

Transitioning from family medicine to hospital medicine

Finding the right ratio of physicians and patients is essential for efficiency

Don’t just use job descriptions for recruitment

Avoiding hospitalist burnout starts with the right approach

Define your needs, prepare a process, and sell your hospitalist program’s strengths

Is a family medicine practitioner the right fit for your hospitalist program?

Hospitalist programs at rural hospitals face uphill climb

Are you prepared for value-based purchasing?

Strategic planning is essential to keep your hospitalist program on the cutting edge

Facing a shortage, your program must be creative and selective

Creative solutions and familiar faces boost hospitalist program launch-and keep it running

Increase quality by tweaking existing practices, relationships

Steps to define your hospitalist program’s contribution

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