Hospitalists On the Move
Wendy Anderson, MD, MS, assistant professor of medicine and clinician-investigator with the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) Division of Hospital Medicine and Palliative Care Program, is one of three doctors awarded fellowships to improve health quality by UC Center for Health Quality and Innovation. Applicants were evaluated on application strength and quality, consistency with the center’s mission, and their projects’ financial viability. Dr. Anderson’s award-winning project was titled “Nurse-Initiated Multidisciplinary Patient- and Family-Centered Communications in the ICU.”
Hospitalists Aimee Morrell-Watton, MD, and Laxmi Mullapudi, MD, were presented Spirit of Service awards by OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, Ill. The honors are given to physicians for exemplifying excellence in patient care. Dr. Watton received the award for compassion, and Dr. Mullapudi received an award for communication, respect and dignity, and being a team player.
Private hospitalist company Cogent HMG announced the appointment of John J. Donahue as its new CEO. Donahue has more than 25 years of healthcare executive experience, serving as president and CEO of National Imaging Associates for nine years and spending the last few years working with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), MedPAC, and other government organizations on healthcare economics.
Hospitalist Andrew Schutzbank, MD, has been selected as one of four winners of the nationwide Cost of Care Essay Contest, sponsored by Costs of Care, a nonprofit organization that promotes cost-consciousness in healthcare. The goal of the contest is to promote public dialogue about the challenges of providing high-quality, cost-conscious healthcare, and Dr. Schutzbank’s essay described how pharmaceutical cost-shifting left him unable to discharge a patient from the hospital.
Mercy Medical Center in Williston, N.D., has launched its first hospitalist program. Michael Kroll, MD, has taken on the role of medical director for the new group.
WellStar Health System has announced the appointment of Val Akopov, MD, SFHM, as vice president and chief of hospitalist services. Dr. Akopov brings more than 25 years of healthcare experience to WellStar, most recently serving as director of HM services at Emory University Hospital Midtown in Atlanta, where he helped establish the academic hospitalist program. Dr. Akopov will oversee 35 hospitalists at five of WellStar’s facilities.
Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital in San Andreas, Calif., has launched its first hospitalist program. The first hospitalist in the group is Dean Kelaita, MD, who has been on the Mark Twain staff for 15 years.
David J. Likosky, MD, SFHM, a neurohospitalist who has directed courses at SHM’s annual meeting, has been named medical director of The Evergreen Neuroscience Institute in Kirkland, Wash. Dr. Likosky has been on the staff since 2000; in his new role, he will lead four advanced treatment programs, including the Booth Gardner Parkinson’s Care Center, Movement Disorders Center, Multiple Sclerosis Center, and Primary Stroke Center.
Memorial Medical Center-Livingston in Texas has rolled out its first hospitalist program. The hospital currently has two full-time hospitalists, Saleem Shamsee, MD, a board-certified family practice physician who also serves as the medical director of the hospitalist program, and Bazgha Khalid, MD, an internal medicine physician.
Business Moves
Sound Physicians has announced agreements with two hospitals in Maine to provide hospitalist services. St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bangor, both part of the Covenant Health System, will be provided with hospitalist inpatient medical coverage in partnership with community providers. Sound Physicians will take management of both programs.
Hospital TeamCare, a provider of hospital-based outsourced physician services based in Pompano Beach, Fla., has added an HM service to its outsourcing list. This service will be offered throughout all existing U.S. market areas and will be led by Hospital TeamCare’s physician specialty vice presidents.
