Top Leaders, Hot Topics
Since its inception, SHM’s annual meeting has grown every year, attracting more hospitalists, bringing influential leaders to presentations, and creating a welcome environment for some of the most innovative ideas in healthcare. That growth in influence—and influencers—will be evident at HM11 next month.
This year, HM11 will bring hospitalists closer than ever to the decision-makers. Featured presenters Robert Wachter, MD, MHM, professor, chief of the division of hospital medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, and former White House advisor Robert Kocher, MD, will be joined by Cecil B. Wilson, MD, president of the American Medical Association.
“The Society of Hospital Medicine is a dynamic, growing organization that is very responsive to the interests and needs of hospitalists,” Dr. Wilson told SHM. “So when the SHM leadership offered me the opportunity to speak at Hospital Medicine 2011, I was pleased and honored. … I am hopeful that the AMA and the SHM can continue to work together productively to advance the interests of physicians and our patients.”
SHM is a dynamic, growing organization that is very responsive to the interests and needs of hospitalists. I am hopeful that the AMA and the SHM can continue to work together productively to advance the interests of physicians and our patients.—Cecil B. Wilson, MD, president, American Medical Association
In addition to hosting the country’s most influential figures in healthcare, HM11 will present some of its most cutting-edge ideas in improving care. The continued focus on reducing unplanned readmissions in hospitals across the country has turned to a search for solutions. A new session will put the spotlight on SHM’s own program, Project BOOST (Boosting Outcomes for Older Adults through Safe Transitions).
“Healthcare Reform and Optimizing Care Transitions to Reduce Readmissions” will be presented by Mark V. Williams, MD, FACP, FHM, principal investigator of Project BOOST; Jeffrey Greenwald, MD, SFHM; and Linda Magno, the director of the Medicare Demonstrations Group in the Office of Research, Development, and Information at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The presentation will bring the audience to the very crossroads of healthcare policy reform and quality improvement (QI) by illustrating the impact of readmissions on healthcare costs and patient safety, coupled with the innovative and individualized approaches that Project BOOST hospitalists are implementing.
Development of and pilot testing of Project BOOST was supported through grant funding from the John A. Hartford Foundation. Today, Project BOOST has been implemented in more than 60 sites and the program is now recruiting for its fall cohort.
For more information about HM11, visit www.hospitalmedicine2011.org.
For information about Project BOOST, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/boost. TH
Brendon Shank is SHM’s assistant vice president of communications.
