Converge Coverage

MEDtalk presentations

Is HCAHPS Hurting Our Patients?

Speakers: Suparna Dutta, MD, MS, MPH, and John Biebelhausen, MD, MBA

Explore the unintended consequences of assessing patient satisfaction and labeling pain as “the fifth vital sign” in the midst of a national opioid epidemic. The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, which was developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to assess the inpatient experience and impacts hospital reimbursement, includes directed questions about pain management.

Join us as we review the background of HCAHPS, its potential unintended impacts over the years, as well as current and future efforts of SHM toward improving health policy in this domain.

Hello, My Name Is POCUS (Point-of-Care Ultrasound)

Speaker: Nilam Soni, MD, MS, FHM

Point-of-care ultrasound is being used by more hospitalists to perform bedside diagnostics and to guide invasive procedures. However, most practicing hospitalists completed their training before point-of-care ultrasound education was common in medical school and residency curricula. This interactive session will:

  • Explain what point-of-care ultrasonography is and how hospitalists are currently using it.
  • Highlight some of the unique point-of-care ultrasound activities at HM17.
  • Describe the launch of a new point-of-care ultrasound certification program offered by SHM & ACCP.

The Best-Kept Secrets from the State of Hospital Medicine Report

Speaker: Johnbuck Creamer, MD, SFHM

The State of Hospital Medicine Report is powered by SHM’s biannual survey that recently captured data from nearly 600 HM groups, augmented by additional hospitalist data licensed from MGMA. We’ll explore trends and difference among groups, including:

  • Compensation per wRVU and use of nocturnists are increasing.
  • Turnover rates are decreasing.
  • Compensation for quality performance varies greatly among academic, nonacademic, and pediatric practice groups.
  • NP/PA utilization rates are very different between East and West U.S. regions.
  • Family Practice presence is increasing in adult-only practice groups.
  • Academic groups are falling further behind in CPT coding levels.

We Need to Talk: Opioid-Related Respiratory Failure & Death

Speaker: Thomas Frederickson, MD, SFHM

Discussion topics:

  • The opioid epidemic – not just an outpatient issue.
  • How opioids can cause respiratory arrest and death, and why current screening and monitoring strategies can fail.
  • What works – examples of successful strategies that have been implemented and have saved lives.

PediBOOST®: Kids Need Better Care Transitions, Too!

Speaker: James O’Callaghan, MD, SFHM

PediBOOST is a pediatric-specific adaption of the SHM Project BOOST® (Better Outcomes by Optimizing Safe Transitions) quality initiative. The goal is to improve poor discharge processes (demonstrated by low patient satisfaction and worse clinical outcomes, not just higher hospital readmission rates).

It considers unique problems for hospitalized children, including:

  • Medication issues – palatability and adherence concerns, need for compounding.
  • Equipment issues – portability use for home and school.
  • Education issues – engagement of patient, as developmentally appropriate, along with training of all providers who might care for the patient (parents, teachers).

How Hospitalists Really Feel about EMRs

Speaker: Rupesh Prasad, MD, MPH, SFHM

Electronic medical record use has tremendously increased in the last few years.

  • What are the potential benefits of use – have they been realized?
  • What do the hospitalists think:
  • How have EMRs impacted patient safety?
  • How have EMRs impacted patient face to face time?
  • What are hospitalists’ frustrations about EMRs?

Improve Your Interactions with the 5 Rs of Cultural Humility

Speaker: O’Neil Pyke, MD, SFHM

As the proverbial stranger at the bedside, HM providers are tasked with a very challenging proposition: meet a new patient in their most vulnerable state and quickly establish effective lines of communication and trust and provide patient-centric care, ultimately yielding a satisfied patient (and family) irrespective of the clinical outcome. With increased focus on patient experience and satisfaction, it is imperative that hospitals and health systems equip all hospitalists with the tools needed to deliver culturally competent care to all patients served.

The goal of the 5 Rs is to equip HM providers with tangible resources and easy to understand reminders that focus on encouraging awareness and, ultimately, deliver culturally “humble” care to all patients (and family members).

  • Respect: Hospitalists will treat every person with the utmost respect and strive to preserve patient dignity.
  • Regard: Hospitalists will hold every person in their highest regard and not allow unconscious biases to manifest, exercising utmost sensitivity to anticipated differences in beliefs, value systems, and preferences.
  • Relevance: Hospitalists will expect cultural humility to be relevant and apply this practice to every encounter.
  • Reflection: Hospitalists will approach every encounter with humility and understanding that there is always something to learn from everyone.
  • Resiliency: In order to provide better care for hospitalized patients, hospitalists will embody the practice of cultural humility to enhance personal resiliency and compassion for all.

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