Evaluation of a New Hospitalist Service at an Academic Medical Center

摘要

Hospitalists, physicians, and physician extenders who specialize in the care of inpatients, are a new and growing trend in the American health system. There are about 3000 hospitalists practicing in 10 percent of hospitals. They are predominately young, male, general internal medicine specialists earning an average of $143,000 per year. The experience with a trial hospitalist initiative at a large academic medical center mirrored the findings in the management literature, achieving reductions of 8 percent in length-of-stay (LOS) and 17 percent incost-per-case, with lower mortality, unchanged readmission rates and no appreciable effect on patient or staff satisfaction, when compared to the rotating call system in place prior to the initiative. Further research is indicated regarding the use of physician extenders in hospitalist practice and the role of hospitalists in disease management and discharge planning.