THE HOSPITAUST MODEL EMERGED IN THE MID-1990S as an alternative to primary care physicians managing their own patients both in and out of the hospital. Driven by a variety of forces, including increasing pressure to improve quality and safety, limits on house staff duty hours, generally positive outcome data, and increasing support of the model by primary care physicians and specialists, the number of hospitalists has increased substantially. Today, more than 30 000 hospitalists staff approximately 70% of US hospitals.Even though the hospitalist model emerged to manage undifferentiated care for adult medical and pediatric medical patients, variations on the theme have appeared in the last decade. For example, specialties such as neurology, surgery, obstetrics, and psychiatry have reported new practice arrangements in which hospital-focused specialists assume the care of inpatients. This Viewpoint describes the emerging phenomenon of specialty hospitalists.
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