The Hospitalist

Cover Story: ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Budget Cuts Threaten Doctor-Aid Programs

As new programs to promote recruitment, training, and placement of more PCPs move forward, others are threatened with funding decreases or elimination

Audio File: ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Elbert Huang discusses primary care's role in providing access and value

Dr. Huang, associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, suggests medical schools aren't selecting students that best meet society's needs

Article: Workforce Shortages, Increased Patient Populations, and Funding Woes Pressure U.S. Primary-Care System

The primary-care workforce has been on a downward slide that is sounding alarm bells throughout the country.

Article: Most Adverse Events at Hospitals Still Go Unreported

Hospitalists can help by fixing broken systems, creating safe-to-report work environments.

Article: Southern California Hospitals Find BOOST Tools Helpful

Most hospitals realize immediate readmissions reductions.

Article: Estimating End-of-Life for Hospitalized Patients

Vetted prediction tools can help estimate end-of-life, but clear and empathetic discussions with dying patients and their families are more important.

Article: Videoconferencing in Medical Settings Takes Off

Advanced video technology in medical settings is more acceptable and affordable, but hurdles remain.

Article: Replenishing the Primary Care Physician Pipeline

A recent survey of nearly 1,000 students from three medical schools found that just 15% planned to become primary-care physicians, including 11.2% of first-year students.

Audio File: ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Vineet Arora discusses primary-care workforce challenges

Dr. Arora outlines the factors to consider to entice medical students to choose a primary-care career

Cover Story: ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: L.A. Care Health Plan's Z. Joseph Wanski discusses efforts to prevent 30-day readmissions

Dr. Wanski, a hospitalist, endocrinologist, and medical director of the L.A. Health Care Plan, chats about Southern California hospitalists' efforts to prevent avoidable 30-day readmissions

Key Clinical Question: What Is the Optimal Therapy for Acute DVT?

VTE, including lower- and upperextremity DVT and pulmonary embolism, is one of the most common and preventable hospital diseases.

In the Literature: ITL: Physician Reviews of HM-Relevant Research

Neutral head position safe for internal jugular vein cannulation; thrombolysis decreases mortality in unstable patients with acute PE; rectal indomethacin decreases incidence of post-ERCP pancreatitis; CHADS2-VASc and HAS-BLED as predictors in afib patients; no readmission, mortality decreases with self-supported COPD management; Medicare Premier P4P initiatives do not decrease mortality; in-hospital rate of DVT/PE after hip and knee arthroplasty; sodium chloride prevents contrast-induced nephropathy.

Pediatric HM Literature: Collaboration Prevents Identification Band Errors

Can a quality-improvement collaborative decrease patient  ID band errors?

Society Pages: The Academic Hospitalist Academy Helps Researchers Get Ahead

The course focuses on the unique environment, challenges, and opportunities for academic hospitalists.

Society Pages: Ready to Reduce Your Hospital's Readmissions?

Submit your Project BOOST application before Sept. 1.

Society Pages: Adult Hospital Medicine Boot Camp Offers PAs, NPs Advanced Training

The education-focused “boot camp” immerses clinicians an intensive internal-medicine review of commonly encountered diagnoses and diseases in hospitalized adult patients.

Society Pages: Recoding: SHM’s Popular Coding Series Returns

CODE-H gathers the foremost experts in hospital coding to help HM groups capture revenue and maintain compliance.

Society Pages: Survey Insights: Better Understand CPT Coding Intensity

Ways to benchmark your group’s coding performance against other similar groups.

On the Move: Hospitalists On the Move

Movers and shakers in hospital medicine; new business moves.

Public Policy: Established Performance Metrics Help CMS Expand Its Value-Based Purchasing Program

CMS is marching toward a value-based payment modifier program that will adjust physician reimbursement based on the relative quality and efficiency of care they provide.

Billing & Coding: Know Surgical Package Requirements before Billing Postoperative Care

With the growth of HM programs and the admission/attending role expansion, involvement in surgical cases comes under scrutiny for medical necessity.

HM Debate: Should Pediatric HM Pursue Subspecialty Certification, Required Fellowship Training?

Two hospitalists argue both sides of the issue.

Innovations: New Infection-Control Weapons Emerge

New technology that infuses a copper oxide into hard surfaces or fabrics could soon become a major weapon in hospitals.

Innovations: Demographics Correlate with Physician Web Technology Use

Younger, male doctors at teaching hospitals were better predictors of technology use than were practice-based characteristics.

Innovations: By the Numbers: 547,596

Average annual number of hospitalized adult patients with a VTE during 2007 to 2009.

Innovations: Hospitalist-Run Observation Unit Demonstrates Financial Viability

Hospital observation unit run by hospitalists rather than by ED physicians can be financially viable.

Innovations: Effective Physician Communication Correlates with Patient Safety

More patient safety incidents occurred at hospitals who ranked lowest on the quality of their physician communication.

Legal Eagle: HQID Achieved Quality Goals, Mapped Path to Better Healthcare Future

To conclude that value-based purchasing will have a limited effect based on a narrow measure of outcomes is a very big leap.

Letters: Family-Medicine-Trained Hospitalists Fit to Handle ID Issues

We have internal medicine and family medicine working together well on our hospitalist teams.

Billing & Coding: ICD-10 Update

In April, HHS published a proposed rule to delay the compliance date for ICD-10.

On the Horizon: Win Whitcomb: Spotlight on Medical Necessity

Patients, hospitalists caught in crosshairs of the observation status conundrum.

SHM Point of View: The Future of the Society of Hospital Medicine

Our mission is to help hospitalists fulfill their promise.

From the Editor’s Desk: Generation Y

HM needs to prepare, embrace the next bolus of hospitalists.

Practice Management: John Nelson: Admit Resolution

Service agreements, when adhered to, help solve admission disagreements.

Ask Dr. Hospitalist: Physician Payment Systems Remain Constant

Where payment for the service of hospitalists fits into the insurance/Medicare payment system.