• 1
    News

    Can Psychology Offer a New Approach to QI?

    March 4, 2016

    Sound clinical reasoning is the foundation of patient safety, yet discussions of a physician’s raw thinking ability have become a “third rail” in hospitals, according to “Incorporating Metacognition into Morbidity and Mortality Rounds: The Next Frontier in Quality Improvement,” published in the Jour

  • 1
    Opinion

    A Closer Look at Characteristics of High-Performing HM Groups

    March 2, 2016

    Early in 2015, SHM published the updated edition of the “Key Principles and Characteristics of an Effective Hospital Medicine Group,” which is a free download via the SHM website.

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    News

    Key Elements of Critical Care

    February 29, 2016

    Code 99291 is used for critical care, evaluation, and management of the critically ill or critically injured patient, first 30–74 minutes.1 It is to be reported only once per day per physician or group member of the same specialty. [caption id="attachment_13454" align="alignright" width="300"] Im

  • News

    Medicare Grants Billing Code for Hospitalists

    February 26, 2016

    PHILADELPHIA—The Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) is pleased to announce the introduction of a dedicated billing code for hospitalists by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

  • News

    Sharing Notes for Better Doctor-Patient Communication

    February 26, 2016

    Excellent communication between physicians and patients is a crucial element of hospital quality, but it’s also an ongoing challenge for many institutions.

  • News

    5 Tips to Finding a Good Locum Tenens Company

    February 24, 2016

    Over the past five years, I have worked as a locum tenens hospitalist with more than 12 different locum tenens companies. I have learned a lot through this process.

  • 1
    News

    Does Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness Apply to Hospital Medicine?

    February 19, 2016

    Every American knows this well-known phrase from the Declaration of Independence, which describes the three “unalienable rights” ordained on humans by their Creator and which governments are bound to dutifully protect.

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    News

    Dr. Hospitalist: Routine Provider Evaluations Are a Necessary, Valuable Tool

    February 17, 2016

    Dear Dr. Hospitalist: We have several physicians in our large academic group whom I hate to follow when picking up teams. There have only been a few situations when I thought there was a clear knowledge deficit, but the most irritating problem is that they don’t discharge patients.

  • News

    Stent-retriever Therapy Improves the Rate of Functional Independence for Acute Ischemic Patients

    February 9, 2016

    NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Stent-retriever therapy for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke improves the rate of functional independence at 90 days, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis. Stent retrievers are deployed in an occluded vessel, temporarily expanded into the body of a

  • 1
    News

    Six Strategies to Help Hospitalists Improve Communication

    February 8, 2016

    As Karen Smith, MD, SFHM, chief of hospital medicine at Children’s National Health System in Washington, D.C., sees it, communication problems often arise at the first possible opportunity, when she’s trying to find out whom to call when she needs to inform a primary care physician or specialist abo