Is There a Doctor in Your Hospital?
A recent report by the California Health Care Foundation titled: "The Rise of the Hospitalists in California" examines the shift away from primary care directed physician hospital care toward a model in which hospital based physicians --called "hospitalists" provide care in the hospital and then discharge the patient back to the care of the primary physician.
Managed care is responsible for the growth of inpatient physicians. These physicians help reduce length of stays and care related costs that were once driven by the patient's physician. The problem is finding a source of funding to retain these hospitalists.
The report discusses the benefits for inpatients: these physicians are more available to patients when acute problems arise because they are there at the hospital; they are more specialized because they focus on the hospitalized patient.
Some hospitals are also utilizing hospitalists in quality and safety programs and as consultants for palliative, critical care and surgical care.
In 1999, the number of hospitalists was estimated at 3,500. In 2005, there were more than 20,000. At least 59 percent of California hospitals have hospitalists.
The report includes findings of a survey of "health care leaders" who strongly agree that hospitalists lead to improvements in the quality of patient care in the hospital and are a good return on investment for hospitals.
The "hospitalist" is a California word first coined at the UCSF medical center and media reports on Kaiser Permanente and Scripps Clinic.
Click here to download the complete report.
Managed care is responsible for the growth of inpatient physicians. These physicians help reduce length of stays and care related costs that were once driven by the patient's physician. The problem is finding a source of funding to retain these hospitalists.
The report discusses the benefits for inpatients: these physicians are more available to patients when acute problems arise because they are there at the hospital; they are more specialized because they focus on the hospitalized patient.
Some hospitals are also utilizing hospitalists in quality and safety programs and as consultants for palliative, critical care and surgical care.
In 1999, the number of hospitalists was estimated at 3,500. In 2005, there were more than 20,000. At least 59 percent of California hospitals have hospitalists.
The report includes findings of a survey of "health care leaders" who strongly agree that hospitalists lead to improvements in the quality of patient care in the hospital and are a good return on investment for hospitals.
The "hospitalist" is a California word first coined at the UCSF medical center and media reports on Kaiser Permanente and Scripps Clinic.
Click here to download the complete report.
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