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On the big stage, SHM leaders discuss pressing issues
When Society of Hospital Medicine president Brian Harte, MD, SFHM, made remarks last year as president-elect, he outlined four areas that call for attention and action.
On Tuesday, as the outgoing president making remarks at the opening plenary session, he traced the progress in those areas, while also airing some concerns as the society moves forward.
On the “absolute necessity” for SHM to reach out and connect with all practicing hospitalists, he reported that the society continued to expand its footprint, making contact with 50,000 hospitalists.
“SHM continues to be a strong professional organization,” Dr. Harte said, noting how the society cleared the 15,000 mark in membership last year. He also emphasized the “big tent” concept – making SHM the home for practitioners in many disciplines – and the importance of leadership.
“Sometimes it feels like everyone thinks of themselves as someone that we have to report to and therefore leadership development continues to be an important driver for our activities,” said Dr. Harte, president of Cleveland Clinic’s Akron General Hospital.
On the need to continue to focus on patient and family-centered care, he said, the curriculum at this meeting and past meetings shows a recognition of how important communication and empathy are.
“By doing so, we support a culture and environment wherein patients and families can actively participate in their care,” he said.
On being involved in shaping the changing healthcare landscape, the SHM board last fall held a retreat with hospitalist leaders to outline a framework for SHM to take advantage of members’ experience and expertise in this effort. The society is also working with the American College of Surgeons on designing an alternative payment model that could be more favorable for hospitals and hospitalists.
On the push for recognition of the hospitalist specialty, the new C6 Medicare billing code for hospitalists was a big step forward.
There are also some “things that keep me up at night,” he said.
“Having to prove our value continuously is absolutely essential, and it worries me that we may not always have this at the fore of our minds,” he said. Things that help him “get back to sleep,” he said, are the youthfulness and forward-thinking nature of hospitalists and the strength of the society.
“While respecting our past,” Dr. Harte said, “we can only be successful in moving forward if we refuse to be too beholden to it.”
President-elect Ron Greeno, MD, MHM, senior adviser for medical affairs at Team Health, in brief remarks, reminded the audience about how hospital medicine itself was a reform intended to deliver better care at lower prices, and that it therefore makes perfect sense for hospitalists to be involved in this latest wave of reform.
He made an enthusiastic call for more hospitalists to be involved.
“We need more – this is a big challenge,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s going to take more than us knowing how to take care of patients at the bedside. We have to get involved in designing the new delivery system if we’re going to make sure that we actually have a say in the kind of care that our patients get.”
When Society of Hospital Medicine president Brian Harte, MD, SFHM, made remarks last year as president-elect, he outlined four areas that call for attention and action.
On Tuesday, as the outgoing president making remarks at the opening plenary session, he traced the progress in those areas, while also airing some concerns as the society moves forward.
On the “absolute necessity” for SHM to reach out and connect with all practicing hospitalists, he reported that the society continued to expand its footprint, making contact with 50,000 hospitalists.
“SHM continues to be a strong professional organization,” Dr. Harte said, noting how the society cleared the 15,000 mark in membership last year. He also emphasized the “big tent” concept – making SHM the home for practitioners in many disciplines – and the importance of leadership.
“Sometimes it feels like everyone thinks of themselves as someone that we have to report to and therefore leadership development continues to be an important driver for our activities,” said Dr. Harte, president of Cleveland Clinic’s Akron General Hospital.
On the need to continue to focus on patient and family-centered care, he said, the curriculum at this meeting and past meetings shows a recognition of how important communication and empathy are.
“By doing so, we support a culture and environment wherein patients and families can actively participate in their care,” he said.
On being involved in shaping the changing healthcare landscape, the SHM board last fall held a retreat with hospitalist leaders to outline a framework for SHM to take advantage of members’ experience and expertise in this effort. The society is also working with the American College of Surgeons on designing an alternative payment model that could be more favorable for hospitals and hospitalists.
On the push for recognition of the hospitalist specialty, the new C6 Medicare billing code for hospitalists was a big step forward.
There are also some “things that keep me up at night,” he said.
“Having to prove our value continuously is absolutely essential, and it worries me that we may not always have this at the fore of our minds,” he said. Things that help him “get back to sleep,” he said, are the youthfulness and forward-thinking nature of hospitalists and the strength of the society.
“While respecting our past,” Dr. Harte said, “we can only be successful in moving forward if we refuse to be too beholden to it.”
President-elect Ron Greeno, MD, MHM, senior adviser for medical affairs at Team Health, in brief remarks, reminded the audience about how hospital medicine itself was a reform intended to deliver better care at lower prices, and that it therefore makes perfect sense for hospitalists to be involved in this latest wave of reform.
He made an enthusiastic call for more hospitalists to be involved.
“We need more – this is a big challenge,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s going to take more than us knowing how to take care of patients at the bedside. We have to get involved in designing the new delivery system if we’re going to make sure that we actually have a say in the kind of care that our patients get.”
When Society of Hospital Medicine president Brian Harte, MD, SFHM, made remarks last year as president-elect, he outlined four areas that call for attention and action.
On Tuesday, as the outgoing president making remarks at the opening plenary session, he traced the progress in those areas, while also airing some concerns as the society moves forward.
On the “absolute necessity” for SHM to reach out and connect with all practicing hospitalists, he reported that the society continued to expand its footprint, making contact with 50,000 hospitalists.
“SHM continues to be a strong professional organization,” Dr. Harte said, noting how the society cleared the 15,000 mark in membership last year. He also emphasized the “big tent” concept – making SHM the home for practitioners in many disciplines – and the importance of leadership.
“Sometimes it feels like everyone thinks of themselves as someone that we have to report to and therefore leadership development continues to be an important driver for our activities,” said Dr. Harte, president of Cleveland Clinic’s Akron General Hospital.
On the need to continue to focus on patient and family-centered care, he said, the curriculum at this meeting and past meetings shows a recognition of how important communication and empathy are.
“By doing so, we support a culture and environment wherein patients and families can actively participate in their care,” he said.
On being involved in shaping the changing healthcare landscape, the SHM board last fall held a retreat with hospitalist leaders to outline a framework for SHM to take advantage of members’ experience and expertise in this effort. The society is also working with the American College of Surgeons on designing an alternative payment model that could be more favorable for hospitals and hospitalists.
On the push for recognition of the hospitalist specialty, the new C6 Medicare billing code for hospitalists was a big step forward.
There are also some “things that keep me up at night,” he said.
“Having to prove our value continuously is absolutely essential, and it worries me that we may not always have this at the fore of our minds,” he said. Things that help him “get back to sleep,” he said, are the youthfulness and forward-thinking nature of hospitalists and the strength of the society.
“While respecting our past,” Dr. Harte said, “we can only be successful in moving forward if we refuse to be too beholden to it.”
President-elect Ron Greeno, MD, MHM, senior adviser for medical affairs at Team Health, in brief remarks, reminded the audience about how hospital medicine itself was a reform intended to deliver better care at lower prices, and that it therefore makes perfect sense for hospitalists to be involved in this latest wave of reform.
He made an enthusiastic call for more hospitalists to be involved.
“We need more – this is a big challenge,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s going to take more than us knowing how to take care of patients at the bedside. We have to get involved in designing the new delivery system if we’re going to make sure that we actually have a say in the kind of care that our patients get.”
VIDEO: Low-tech system tweaks help hospitalists minimize workflow disruptions
What are some of the most common interruptions physicians face, and what simple solutions exist to help minimize the breaks in workflow?
Physicians are interrupted, on average, 15 times an hour, according to Roberta Himebaugh, a senior vice president at TeamHealth in Pleasanton, Calif., but as she explains in this video recorded at HM17, there are some simple, low-tech – and other – solutions that health systems can use to help hospitalists streamline workflow.
What are some of the most common interruptions physicians face, and what simple solutions exist to help minimize the breaks in workflow?
Physicians are interrupted, on average, 15 times an hour, according to Roberta Himebaugh, a senior vice president at TeamHealth in Pleasanton, Calif., but as she explains in this video recorded at HM17, there are some simple, low-tech – and other – solutions that health systems can use to help hospitalists streamline workflow.
What are some of the most common interruptions physicians face, and what simple solutions exist to help minimize the breaks in workflow?
Physicians are interrupted, on average, 15 times an hour, according to Roberta Himebaugh, a senior vice president at TeamHealth in Pleasanton, Calif., but as she explains in this video recorded at HM17, there are some simple, low-tech – and other – solutions that health systems can use to help hospitalists streamline workflow.
Novel med-rec program keys on timely, accurate patient histories
A novel medication reconciliation program that hospitalists might adopt in their own centers will be featured Wednesday during a 4:15 p.m. session, “Medication Reconciliation Implementation: A Hospital Case.”
Dr. Shabbir’s hospital was one of six that participated in the nationwide Multi-Center Medication Reconciliation Quality Improvement Study (MARQUIS), an effort to develop a more accurate and safe med-rec process when patients enter and leave the hospital. Among other interventions, the hospitals employed pharmacy technicians in the newly created role of “medication reconciliation assistants,” responsible for taking a best possible medication history. These technicians had expertise in recognizing frequently prescribed pills and verified patient medication lists with at least two sources (i.e., local pharmacies, nursing homes, doctor’s offices). They entered the information in patients’ electronic health records and, if they noticed discrepancies, alerted the hospitalist attending.
The service “gave me, as a physician, a sigh of relief and a confidence in that history,” Dr. Shabbir said, noting that it also saved time. “In the age of polypharmacy and medication complexity, this is really new work that we didn’t have anybody to do until we had this program.”
A med-rec assistant program is worth considering, Dr. Shabbir said, as it has “the potential to impact the quadruple aim – patient outcomes, patient experience, joy in work, and lower costs.”
“Hospitalists may not appreciate the extent to which quality is often lacking in medication reconciliation,” he said. “We will teach hospitalists how to make a case for a good medication reconciliation program at their own medical centers. Not having a good history as a hospitalist – and trying to obtain it when a patient is moved up to the floor [and] the family has left with the medications, if they even were brought in – and having out-of-date medication lists is really troubling. This is something that affects anyone who’s admitting, following, or discharging a patient.
“It’s a big deal. This program perhaps will give some ideas and guidance. Hopefully, if it’s replicated, it can prevent harm to patients. There’s a very compelling case to be made for these programs from a business point of view.”
Medication Reconciliation Implementation: A Hospital Case
Wednesday, 4:15–5:20 p.m.
A novel medication reconciliation program that hospitalists might adopt in their own centers will be featured Wednesday during a 4:15 p.m. session, “Medication Reconciliation Implementation: A Hospital Case.”
Dr. Shabbir’s hospital was one of six that participated in the nationwide Multi-Center Medication Reconciliation Quality Improvement Study (MARQUIS), an effort to develop a more accurate and safe med-rec process when patients enter and leave the hospital. Among other interventions, the hospitals employed pharmacy technicians in the newly created role of “medication reconciliation assistants,” responsible for taking a best possible medication history. These technicians had expertise in recognizing frequently prescribed pills and verified patient medication lists with at least two sources (i.e., local pharmacies, nursing homes, doctor’s offices). They entered the information in patients’ electronic health records and, if they noticed discrepancies, alerted the hospitalist attending.
The service “gave me, as a physician, a sigh of relief and a confidence in that history,” Dr. Shabbir said, noting that it also saved time. “In the age of polypharmacy and medication complexity, this is really new work that we didn’t have anybody to do until we had this program.”
A med-rec assistant program is worth considering, Dr. Shabbir said, as it has “the potential to impact the quadruple aim – patient outcomes, patient experience, joy in work, and lower costs.”
“Hospitalists may not appreciate the extent to which quality is often lacking in medication reconciliation,” he said. “We will teach hospitalists how to make a case for a good medication reconciliation program at their own medical centers. Not having a good history as a hospitalist – and trying to obtain it when a patient is moved up to the floor [and] the family has left with the medications, if they even were brought in – and having out-of-date medication lists is really troubling. This is something that affects anyone who’s admitting, following, or discharging a patient.
“It’s a big deal. This program perhaps will give some ideas and guidance. Hopefully, if it’s replicated, it can prevent harm to patients. There’s a very compelling case to be made for these programs from a business point of view.”
Medication Reconciliation Implementation: A Hospital Case
Wednesday, 4:15–5:20 p.m.
A novel medication reconciliation program that hospitalists might adopt in their own centers will be featured Wednesday during a 4:15 p.m. session, “Medication Reconciliation Implementation: A Hospital Case.”
Dr. Shabbir’s hospital was one of six that participated in the nationwide Multi-Center Medication Reconciliation Quality Improvement Study (MARQUIS), an effort to develop a more accurate and safe med-rec process when patients enter and leave the hospital. Among other interventions, the hospitals employed pharmacy technicians in the newly created role of “medication reconciliation assistants,” responsible for taking a best possible medication history. These technicians had expertise in recognizing frequently prescribed pills and verified patient medication lists with at least two sources (i.e., local pharmacies, nursing homes, doctor’s offices). They entered the information in patients’ electronic health records and, if they noticed discrepancies, alerted the hospitalist attending.
The service “gave me, as a physician, a sigh of relief and a confidence in that history,” Dr. Shabbir said, noting that it also saved time. “In the age of polypharmacy and medication complexity, this is really new work that we didn’t have anybody to do until we had this program.”
A med-rec assistant program is worth considering, Dr. Shabbir said, as it has “the potential to impact the quadruple aim – patient outcomes, patient experience, joy in work, and lower costs.”
“Hospitalists may not appreciate the extent to which quality is often lacking in medication reconciliation,” he said. “We will teach hospitalists how to make a case for a good medication reconciliation program at their own medical centers. Not having a good history as a hospitalist – and trying to obtain it when a patient is moved up to the floor [and] the family has left with the medications, if they even were brought in – and having out-of-date medication lists is really troubling. This is something that affects anyone who’s admitting, following, or discharging a patient.
“It’s a big deal. This program perhaps will give some ideas and guidance. Hopefully, if it’s replicated, it can prevent harm to patients. There’s a very compelling case to be made for these programs from a business point of view.”
Medication Reconciliation Implementation: A Hospital Case
Wednesday, 4:15–5:20 p.m.
Exploring issues at academic centers affiliated with HM
How hospitalists at community hospitals can leverage resources from their larger, affiliated academic centers will be discussed Wednesday at 4:20 p.m. at “Hospitalists Affiliated with Academic Centers: Challenges & How to Address Them.”
“In a lot of community hospitals, pediatric units tend to be fairly small,” said copresenter James O’Callaghan, MD, FAAP, SFHM, lead pediatric hospitalist at a community hospital affiliated with Seattle Children’s Hospital. “You may feel you’re a little bit isolated from the main center and a very small piece of the pie. There are sometimes difficulties getting resources or quality work done, partly because, at a community site, you can’t justify spending money for QI [quality improvement] resources or helping the pediatric unit do chart review when they’ve got much bigger fish to fry in the adult world.”
During a bed crunch at the main hospital over the winter, he and his colleagues worked to accept some patients from the main hospital because the community site had some open beds.
“It was a win-win arrangement,” he said. “The community site got more patients and filled more beds, and the main hospital was able to free up beds for more patients who were postsurgical or acutely ill.”
The talk also will explore benefits such as resources, academic research experience, and the potential to recruit skilled professionals. Dr. Alvarez said, “Affiliated community-based pediatric hospitalist programs have a significant resource advantage for quality and safety initiatives, stemming from the direct affiliation with their tertiary institution that they can use to make significant care improvement within their community.”
“If you are at a single community-based hospital without any larger affiliation, the challenges are bigger because you don’t have extra resources to draw on,” he said.
Community Hospitalists Affiliated with Academic Centers: Challenges & How to Address Them
Wednesday, 4:20–5:20 p.m.
Available via HM17 On Demand
How hospitalists at community hospitals can leverage resources from their larger, affiliated academic centers will be discussed Wednesday at 4:20 p.m. at “Hospitalists Affiliated with Academic Centers: Challenges & How to Address Them.”
“In a lot of community hospitals, pediatric units tend to be fairly small,” said copresenter James O’Callaghan, MD, FAAP, SFHM, lead pediatric hospitalist at a community hospital affiliated with Seattle Children’s Hospital. “You may feel you’re a little bit isolated from the main center and a very small piece of the pie. There are sometimes difficulties getting resources or quality work done, partly because, at a community site, you can’t justify spending money for QI [quality improvement] resources or helping the pediatric unit do chart review when they’ve got much bigger fish to fry in the adult world.”
During a bed crunch at the main hospital over the winter, he and his colleagues worked to accept some patients from the main hospital because the community site had some open beds.
“It was a win-win arrangement,” he said. “The community site got more patients and filled more beds, and the main hospital was able to free up beds for more patients who were postsurgical or acutely ill.”
The talk also will explore benefits such as resources, academic research experience, and the potential to recruit skilled professionals. Dr. Alvarez said, “Affiliated community-based pediatric hospitalist programs have a significant resource advantage for quality and safety initiatives, stemming from the direct affiliation with their tertiary institution that they can use to make significant care improvement within their community.”
“If you are at a single community-based hospital without any larger affiliation, the challenges are bigger because you don’t have extra resources to draw on,” he said.
Community Hospitalists Affiliated with Academic Centers: Challenges & How to Address Them
Wednesday, 4:20–5:20 p.m.
Available via HM17 On Demand
How hospitalists at community hospitals can leverage resources from their larger, affiliated academic centers will be discussed Wednesday at 4:20 p.m. at “Hospitalists Affiliated with Academic Centers: Challenges & How to Address Them.”
“In a lot of community hospitals, pediatric units tend to be fairly small,” said copresenter James O’Callaghan, MD, FAAP, SFHM, lead pediatric hospitalist at a community hospital affiliated with Seattle Children’s Hospital. “You may feel you’re a little bit isolated from the main center and a very small piece of the pie. There are sometimes difficulties getting resources or quality work done, partly because, at a community site, you can’t justify spending money for QI [quality improvement] resources or helping the pediatric unit do chart review when they’ve got much bigger fish to fry in the adult world.”
During a bed crunch at the main hospital over the winter, he and his colleagues worked to accept some patients from the main hospital because the community site had some open beds.
“It was a win-win arrangement,” he said. “The community site got more patients and filled more beds, and the main hospital was able to free up beds for more patients who were postsurgical or acutely ill.”
The talk also will explore benefits such as resources, academic research experience, and the potential to recruit skilled professionals. Dr. Alvarez said, “Affiliated community-based pediatric hospitalist programs have a significant resource advantage for quality and safety initiatives, stemming from the direct affiliation with their tertiary institution that they can use to make significant care improvement within their community.”
“If you are at a single community-based hospital without any larger affiliation, the challenges are bigger because you don’t have extra resources to draw on,” he said.
Community Hospitalists Affiliated with Academic Centers: Challenges & How to Address Them
Wednesday, 4:20–5:20 p.m.
Available via HM17 On Demand
Trends in value-based care favor hospitalists, expert says
Value-based care’s ascendancy equals increased opportunities for hospitalists who know how to wield informatics, speak the language of systems improvement, and have an ability to function as a commodity within a health system, according to the dean of hospital medicine.
“If I were a betting man, I’d say there is no way value-based care can happen without hospitalists,” Robert Wachter, MD, MHM, said during a leadership summit at this year’s annual meeting of the Society of Hospital Medicine. Dr. Wachter is the New York Times bestselling author of “The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age.” He also is a professor and chair of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
“There will be talk about closing hospitals and building competencies in ambulatory care. That’s the first 5 minutes, but then there is the realization people are still going to get sick, representing a massive amount of cost, and as far as I can tell, there is no alternative to having hospitals for this,” Dr. Wachter said. “Hospitalists will come out just fine.”
This will be true particularly for hospitalists who understand that electronic health records companies have helped health systems collect massive amounts of data but do not offer help for how those data can be applied to drive better outcomes and improve performance ratings, according to Dr. Wachter.
“These companies have no competencies in data analytics or data visualization,” Dr. Wachter said. “I am hopeful because Silicon Valley has woken up to the possibilities of this and are looking for ways to partner with health care. … The world of improving value, safety, and patient experience is going to be a world enabled by thoughtful use of informatics. So, if you don’t have those competencies, I think it’s important to grow them over time.”
Speaking the language of “lean” or that of other systematic strategies for improvement will also increase the value a hospitalist can bring to an organization, according to Dr. Wachter, who said that as hospital senior leadership and frontline personnel work together to implement system improvement, new leadership roles for hospitalists, ranging from chief patient experience officer to chief quality officers, and everything in between, are being created.
Another “hopeful trend” for hospitalists is the growing focus on the provider experience, said Dr. Wachter, since improving systems is not possible if staff are not engaged. “It’s impossible to believe you’re going to accomplish your goals of improving care and improving patient experience, and efficiencies, with a cadre of burned-out doctors,” he said.
Dr. Wachter said that to be indispensable, hospitalists need to understand they often are commoditized, offered by their senior leadership as bargaining chips when deals are made with surrounding health systems seeking to outsource some of their hospitalist functions.
“Managing a large community-affiliated network was not a core competency in the past,” Dr Wachter said. “But it will become increasingly important.”
Value-based care’s ascendancy equals increased opportunities for hospitalists who know how to wield informatics, speak the language of systems improvement, and have an ability to function as a commodity within a health system, according to the dean of hospital medicine.
“If I were a betting man, I’d say there is no way value-based care can happen without hospitalists,” Robert Wachter, MD, MHM, said during a leadership summit at this year’s annual meeting of the Society of Hospital Medicine. Dr. Wachter is the New York Times bestselling author of “The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age.” He also is a professor and chair of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
“There will be talk about closing hospitals and building competencies in ambulatory care. That’s the first 5 minutes, but then there is the realization people are still going to get sick, representing a massive amount of cost, and as far as I can tell, there is no alternative to having hospitals for this,” Dr. Wachter said. “Hospitalists will come out just fine.”
This will be true particularly for hospitalists who understand that electronic health records companies have helped health systems collect massive amounts of data but do not offer help for how those data can be applied to drive better outcomes and improve performance ratings, according to Dr. Wachter.
“These companies have no competencies in data analytics or data visualization,” Dr. Wachter said. “I am hopeful because Silicon Valley has woken up to the possibilities of this and are looking for ways to partner with health care. … The world of improving value, safety, and patient experience is going to be a world enabled by thoughtful use of informatics. So, if you don’t have those competencies, I think it’s important to grow them over time.”
Speaking the language of “lean” or that of other systematic strategies for improvement will also increase the value a hospitalist can bring to an organization, according to Dr. Wachter, who said that as hospital senior leadership and frontline personnel work together to implement system improvement, new leadership roles for hospitalists, ranging from chief patient experience officer to chief quality officers, and everything in between, are being created.
Another “hopeful trend” for hospitalists is the growing focus on the provider experience, said Dr. Wachter, since improving systems is not possible if staff are not engaged. “It’s impossible to believe you’re going to accomplish your goals of improving care and improving patient experience, and efficiencies, with a cadre of burned-out doctors,” he said.
Dr. Wachter said that to be indispensable, hospitalists need to understand they often are commoditized, offered by their senior leadership as bargaining chips when deals are made with surrounding health systems seeking to outsource some of their hospitalist functions.
“Managing a large community-affiliated network was not a core competency in the past,” Dr Wachter said. “But it will become increasingly important.”
Value-based care’s ascendancy equals increased opportunities for hospitalists who know how to wield informatics, speak the language of systems improvement, and have an ability to function as a commodity within a health system, according to the dean of hospital medicine.
“If I were a betting man, I’d say there is no way value-based care can happen without hospitalists,” Robert Wachter, MD, MHM, said during a leadership summit at this year’s annual meeting of the Society of Hospital Medicine. Dr. Wachter is the New York Times bestselling author of “The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age.” He also is a professor and chair of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
“There will be talk about closing hospitals and building competencies in ambulatory care. That’s the first 5 minutes, but then there is the realization people are still going to get sick, representing a massive amount of cost, and as far as I can tell, there is no alternative to having hospitals for this,” Dr. Wachter said. “Hospitalists will come out just fine.”
This will be true particularly for hospitalists who understand that electronic health records companies have helped health systems collect massive amounts of data but do not offer help for how those data can be applied to drive better outcomes and improve performance ratings, according to Dr. Wachter.
“These companies have no competencies in data analytics or data visualization,” Dr. Wachter said. “I am hopeful because Silicon Valley has woken up to the possibilities of this and are looking for ways to partner with health care. … The world of improving value, safety, and patient experience is going to be a world enabled by thoughtful use of informatics. So, if you don’t have those competencies, I think it’s important to grow them over time.”
Speaking the language of “lean” or that of other systematic strategies for improvement will also increase the value a hospitalist can bring to an organization, according to Dr. Wachter, who said that as hospital senior leadership and frontline personnel work together to implement system improvement, new leadership roles for hospitalists, ranging from chief patient experience officer to chief quality officers, and everything in between, are being created.
Another “hopeful trend” for hospitalists is the growing focus on the provider experience, said Dr. Wachter, since improving systems is not possible if staff are not engaged. “It’s impossible to believe you’re going to accomplish your goals of improving care and improving patient experience, and efficiencies, with a cadre of burned-out doctors,” he said.
Dr. Wachter said that to be indispensable, hospitalists need to understand they often are commoditized, offered by their senior leadership as bargaining chips when deals are made with surrounding health systems seeking to outsource some of their hospitalist functions.
“Managing a large community-affiliated network was not a core competency in the past,” Dr Wachter said. “But it will become increasingly important.”
Attendees drill down on infections at ID boot camp
No hands went up when Glenn Wortmann, MD, chief of infectious diseases at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, asked whether any of the hospitalists in front of him had handled any cases of Candida auris, a kind of yeast that is highly resistant to several potent antifungals and, in some cases, has been found to be resistant to every antifungal thrown at it.
They might not have seen this dreadful bug, first identified in Japan in 2009, yet. But they will soon, Dr. Wortmann said.
James Pile, MD, SFHM, a pre-course director and associate professor of internal medicine at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, said he expected that most of those who signed up already knew quite a bit about I.D. issues, but the point of the course was to go deeper.
“Our goal was to find the sweet spot in what they don’t know or need a refresher on,” he said.
In his talk, he focused on infectious disease emergencies – such as infective endocarditis – which hospitalists may not see as often but that “we just have to get right when we do see them because the stakes are very high.”
He covered spinal epidural abscess, bacterial meningitis, and soft tissue necrotizing infections, saying that a crucial element in managing these cases is to seriously consider them a possibility in the first place. He also recommended having a low threshold for obtaining a surgical consultation, a CT scan, or both in patients with what appears to be severe cellulitis.
John Sanders, MD, MPH, head of infectious diseases at Wake Forest Baptist Health, Winston-Salem, N.C., dug into the nitty-gritty of C. difficile infections, touching on the possible role of acid suppressants, especially proton pump inhibitors, in the increasing incidence of these infections. The news wasn’t all bad: He also discussed emerging therapies, such as CRS3123 – a narrow-spectrum antibiotic that inhibits protein synthesis, toxin production, and sporulation – and monoclonal antibodies, which have been shown to lower recurrence rates when used with antibiotics.
The keys to controlling C. diff infections, he said, are hand-washing, remembering that the spores are resistant to ethanol, limiting fluoroquinolone use, and isolating patients with active infections.
Ultraviolet lighting for C. diff control is a gray area, he said.
“The data [are] mixed,” he said. “I think it’s a good idea to do it, and it’s certainly being pushed. But it’s somewhat controversial as to whether it’s cost effective.”
No hands went up when Glenn Wortmann, MD, chief of infectious diseases at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, asked whether any of the hospitalists in front of him had handled any cases of Candida auris, a kind of yeast that is highly resistant to several potent antifungals and, in some cases, has been found to be resistant to every antifungal thrown at it.
They might not have seen this dreadful bug, first identified in Japan in 2009, yet. But they will soon, Dr. Wortmann said.
James Pile, MD, SFHM, a pre-course director and associate professor of internal medicine at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, said he expected that most of those who signed up already knew quite a bit about I.D. issues, but the point of the course was to go deeper.
“Our goal was to find the sweet spot in what they don’t know or need a refresher on,” he said.
In his talk, he focused on infectious disease emergencies – such as infective endocarditis – which hospitalists may not see as often but that “we just have to get right when we do see them because the stakes are very high.”
He covered spinal epidural abscess, bacterial meningitis, and soft tissue necrotizing infections, saying that a crucial element in managing these cases is to seriously consider them a possibility in the first place. He also recommended having a low threshold for obtaining a surgical consultation, a CT scan, or both in patients with what appears to be severe cellulitis.
John Sanders, MD, MPH, head of infectious diseases at Wake Forest Baptist Health, Winston-Salem, N.C., dug into the nitty-gritty of C. difficile infections, touching on the possible role of acid suppressants, especially proton pump inhibitors, in the increasing incidence of these infections. The news wasn’t all bad: He also discussed emerging therapies, such as CRS3123 – a narrow-spectrum antibiotic that inhibits protein synthesis, toxin production, and sporulation – and monoclonal antibodies, which have been shown to lower recurrence rates when used with antibiotics.
The keys to controlling C. diff infections, he said, are hand-washing, remembering that the spores are resistant to ethanol, limiting fluoroquinolone use, and isolating patients with active infections.
Ultraviolet lighting for C. diff control is a gray area, he said.
“The data [are] mixed,” he said. “I think it’s a good idea to do it, and it’s certainly being pushed. But it’s somewhat controversial as to whether it’s cost effective.”
No hands went up when Glenn Wortmann, MD, chief of infectious diseases at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, asked whether any of the hospitalists in front of him had handled any cases of Candida auris, a kind of yeast that is highly resistant to several potent antifungals and, in some cases, has been found to be resistant to every antifungal thrown at it.
They might not have seen this dreadful bug, first identified in Japan in 2009, yet. But they will soon, Dr. Wortmann said.
James Pile, MD, SFHM, a pre-course director and associate professor of internal medicine at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, said he expected that most of those who signed up already knew quite a bit about I.D. issues, but the point of the course was to go deeper.
“Our goal was to find the sweet spot in what they don’t know or need a refresher on,” he said.
In his talk, he focused on infectious disease emergencies – such as infective endocarditis – which hospitalists may not see as often but that “we just have to get right when we do see them because the stakes are very high.”
He covered spinal epidural abscess, bacterial meningitis, and soft tissue necrotizing infections, saying that a crucial element in managing these cases is to seriously consider them a possibility in the first place. He also recommended having a low threshold for obtaining a surgical consultation, a CT scan, or both in patients with what appears to be severe cellulitis.
John Sanders, MD, MPH, head of infectious diseases at Wake Forest Baptist Health, Winston-Salem, N.C., dug into the nitty-gritty of C. difficile infections, touching on the possible role of acid suppressants, especially proton pump inhibitors, in the increasing incidence of these infections. The news wasn’t all bad: He also discussed emerging therapies, such as CRS3123 – a narrow-spectrum antibiotic that inhibits protein synthesis, toxin production, and sporulation – and monoclonal antibodies, which have been shown to lower recurrence rates when used with antibiotics.
The keys to controlling C. diff infections, he said, are hand-washing, remembering that the spores are resistant to ethanol, limiting fluoroquinolone use, and isolating patients with active infections.
Ultraviolet lighting for C. diff control is a gray area, he said.
“The data [are] mixed,” he said. “I think it’s a good idea to do it, and it’s certainly being pushed. But it’s somewhat controversial as to whether it’s cost effective.”
Student-Resident Luncheon offers relaxed networking
The ritual of networking at medical conferences often involves waiting to chat with a speaker after a session or finessing an introduction in a busy hallway. That’s why, at the Student-Resident Luncheon, organized by SHM’s Physicians-in-Training Committee, Tuesday, May 2, at noon, trainees will have a chance to interact with experts in the field in a much more relaxed setting.
The free luncheon will include several tables, each dedicated to a specific topic, such as pediatric hospital medicine, with an experienced hospitalist at each one. The residents and students who attend can choose their table and will have a chance to sit at two different tables. There will also be an “open forum” segment at the end, when the trainees can seek out other experts, said Darlene Tad-y, MD, committee chair and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Colorado at Denver, Aurora.
“The purpose behind it was to bring our trainees together so that they can meet each other and to bring some of the SHM leaders to them so that they can learn about what [the leaders] do in hospital medicine and see the breadth of work that hospitalists are doing around the country,” she said.
Pediatric hospital medicine, medical education, and global health are three of the confirmed topics that will be covered at the luncheon, Dr. Tad-y said. There will be a maximum of 10 people at each table, including the expert.
“We wanted it to be very immediate for the students and residents who are going to be there,” she said. “It’s a pretty small group setting.”
The event has been getting more popular each year and is now in its third year. SHM said 500 students and residents participated last year. Residents and students who register for the annual meeting receive an invitation to attend the luncheon. Those who decide on-site that they want to attend will have the ability to do so, Dr. Tad-y said.
Such close interaction with people whose literature they may have read can be very helpful for trainees, she said. They can “sit at a table with them and hear their story and learn how they got to where they were. I think it’s quite impactful.
The ritual of networking at medical conferences often involves waiting to chat with a speaker after a session or finessing an introduction in a busy hallway. That’s why, at the Student-Resident Luncheon, organized by SHM’s Physicians-in-Training Committee, Tuesday, May 2, at noon, trainees will have a chance to interact with experts in the field in a much more relaxed setting.
The free luncheon will include several tables, each dedicated to a specific topic, such as pediatric hospital medicine, with an experienced hospitalist at each one. The residents and students who attend can choose their table and will have a chance to sit at two different tables. There will also be an “open forum” segment at the end, when the trainees can seek out other experts, said Darlene Tad-y, MD, committee chair and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Colorado at Denver, Aurora.
“The purpose behind it was to bring our trainees together so that they can meet each other and to bring some of the SHM leaders to them so that they can learn about what [the leaders] do in hospital medicine and see the breadth of work that hospitalists are doing around the country,” she said.
Pediatric hospital medicine, medical education, and global health are three of the confirmed topics that will be covered at the luncheon, Dr. Tad-y said. There will be a maximum of 10 people at each table, including the expert.
“We wanted it to be very immediate for the students and residents who are going to be there,” she said. “It’s a pretty small group setting.”
The event has been getting more popular each year and is now in its third year. SHM said 500 students and residents participated last year. Residents and students who register for the annual meeting receive an invitation to attend the luncheon. Those who decide on-site that they want to attend will have the ability to do so, Dr. Tad-y said.
Such close interaction with people whose literature they may have read can be very helpful for trainees, she said. They can “sit at a table with them and hear their story and learn how they got to where they were. I think it’s quite impactful.
The ritual of networking at medical conferences often involves waiting to chat with a speaker after a session or finessing an introduction in a busy hallway. That’s why, at the Student-Resident Luncheon, organized by SHM’s Physicians-in-Training Committee, Tuesday, May 2, at noon, trainees will have a chance to interact with experts in the field in a much more relaxed setting.
The free luncheon will include several tables, each dedicated to a specific topic, such as pediatric hospital medicine, with an experienced hospitalist at each one. The residents and students who attend can choose their table and will have a chance to sit at two different tables. There will also be an “open forum” segment at the end, when the trainees can seek out other experts, said Darlene Tad-y, MD, committee chair and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Colorado at Denver, Aurora.
“The purpose behind it was to bring our trainees together so that they can meet each other and to bring some of the SHM leaders to them so that they can learn about what [the leaders] do in hospital medicine and see the breadth of work that hospitalists are doing around the country,” she said.
Pediatric hospital medicine, medical education, and global health are three of the confirmed topics that will be covered at the luncheon, Dr. Tad-y said. There will be a maximum of 10 people at each table, including the expert.
“We wanted it to be very immediate for the students and residents who are going to be there,” she said. “It’s a pretty small group setting.”
The event has been getting more popular each year and is now in its third year. SHM said 500 students and residents participated last year. Residents and students who register for the annual meeting receive an invitation to attend the luncheon. Those who decide on-site that they want to attend will have the ability to do so, Dr. Tad-y said.
Such close interaction with people whose literature they may have read can be very helpful for trainees, she said. They can “sit at a table with them and hear their story and learn how they got to where they were. I think it’s quite impactful.
Optimism in the face of change
The first HM17 plenary is focused on health policy at a time when a dynamically evolving health care delivery system may seem daunting, opaque, and labyrinthine.
“Though it feels uncertain in some ways, the health care world is pretty united that we need to continue the progress we’ve made on moving away from the old fee-for-service model, toward one that lets people practice medicine the way they want and focus on patients and outcomes,” said HM17 keynote speaker Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, former acting assistant secretary for health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“That’s just the way that we finance or pay for care,” she said. “There’s this entire care system that everybody’s working and innovating in every day, trying to find more efficient, effective ways to get better outcomes. Hospitalists, quite frankly, have been in the lead for 20 years and really understand in granular detail what it takes.”
Dr. DeSalvo believes that the progress of the past 5 years has already laid the path that must now be followed. The public sector’s move away from fee for service, toward payment for episodic care, has combined with emerging technology platforms to create a new age in which physicians and insurers can judge, in real-time, how well care is working.
Add to this the growth of accountable care organizations, other alternative payment models, value-based purchasing, and the implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), and it is clear the direction in which the industry is headed.
Of course, Dr. DeSalvo understands the fears of those wondering where the next wave of change will carry them. She’s heard the political debate over the past 8 years and the rancorous discussions in just the first few months of 2017. But she believes the path for health care delivery continues to be “toward the natural place as opposed to the unnatural place.”
“That gives me a lot of optimism,” she said. “One of the most important things for hospitalists to be doing right now is to keep standing up and speaking on behalf of patients and saying that the right thing is for us not to regress but to continue moving forward so that we can all have the kind of system we want for our patients.
The first HM17 plenary is focused on health policy at a time when a dynamically evolving health care delivery system may seem daunting, opaque, and labyrinthine.
“Though it feels uncertain in some ways, the health care world is pretty united that we need to continue the progress we’ve made on moving away from the old fee-for-service model, toward one that lets people practice medicine the way they want and focus on patients and outcomes,” said HM17 keynote speaker Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, former acting assistant secretary for health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“That’s just the way that we finance or pay for care,” she said. “There’s this entire care system that everybody’s working and innovating in every day, trying to find more efficient, effective ways to get better outcomes. Hospitalists, quite frankly, have been in the lead for 20 years and really understand in granular detail what it takes.”
Dr. DeSalvo believes that the progress of the past 5 years has already laid the path that must now be followed. The public sector’s move away from fee for service, toward payment for episodic care, has combined with emerging technology platforms to create a new age in which physicians and insurers can judge, in real-time, how well care is working.
Add to this the growth of accountable care organizations, other alternative payment models, value-based purchasing, and the implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), and it is clear the direction in which the industry is headed.
Of course, Dr. DeSalvo understands the fears of those wondering where the next wave of change will carry them. She’s heard the political debate over the past 8 years and the rancorous discussions in just the first few months of 2017. But she believes the path for health care delivery continues to be “toward the natural place as opposed to the unnatural place.”
“That gives me a lot of optimism,” she said. “One of the most important things for hospitalists to be doing right now is to keep standing up and speaking on behalf of patients and saying that the right thing is for us not to regress but to continue moving forward so that we can all have the kind of system we want for our patients.
The first HM17 plenary is focused on health policy at a time when a dynamically evolving health care delivery system may seem daunting, opaque, and labyrinthine.
“Though it feels uncertain in some ways, the health care world is pretty united that we need to continue the progress we’ve made on moving away from the old fee-for-service model, toward one that lets people practice medicine the way they want and focus on patients and outcomes,” said HM17 keynote speaker Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, former acting assistant secretary for health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“That’s just the way that we finance or pay for care,” she said. “There’s this entire care system that everybody’s working and innovating in every day, trying to find more efficient, effective ways to get better outcomes. Hospitalists, quite frankly, have been in the lead for 20 years and really understand in granular detail what it takes.”
Dr. DeSalvo believes that the progress of the past 5 years has already laid the path that must now be followed. The public sector’s move away from fee for service, toward payment for episodic care, has combined with emerging technology platforms to create a new age in which physicians and insurers can judge, in real-time, how well care is working.
Add to this the growth of accountable care organizations, other alternative payment models, value-based purchasing, and the implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), and it is clear the direction in which the industry is headed.
Of course, Dr. DeSalvo understands the fears of those wondering where the next wave of change will carry them. She’s heard the political debate over the past 8 years and the rancorous discussions in just the first few months of 2017. But she believes the path for health care delivery continues to be “toward the natural place as opposed to the unnatural place.”
“That gives me a lot of optimism,” she said. “One of the most important things for hospitalists to be doing right now is to keep standing up and speaking on behalf of patients and saying that the right thing is for us not to regress but to continue moving forward so that we can all have the kind of system we want for our patients.
Conway: HM well positioned for ‘system transformation’
Patrick Conway, MD, MSc, MHM, may have had a lot of job titles recently, but his work address hasn’t changed in 6 years.
Dr. Conway, deputy administrator for innovation and quality for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and director of its Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, has been at the intersection of policy and practice in Washington, since joining CMS in 2011. The still-practicing hospitalist was acting CMS administrator for several months earlier this year, holding the top post while President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the agency, Seema Verma, awaited U.S. Senate confirmation. His title before that was principal deputy administrator and CMS chief medical officer.
Dr. Conway said he believes that at a “macro legislation” level, Washington is committed to health care reform that improves patient care and incentivizes physicians to join alternative payment models (APMs). He said hospitalists should be encouraged by how well the field has already adapted to the proliferation of accountable-care organizations, value-based purchasing, and the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, or MACRA. He said that as innovations lead to better patient care and more coordinated care, that’s good for hospitalists, patients, and the hospitals that bring them together.
“I want to leave people with the idea that value-based payment innovation and delivery system reform will continue to be critical aspects of improving our health system,” he said. “I also want hospitalists to continue to stay engaged in these new payment models and help lead them and provide better patient care as part of them.”
Dr. Conway said that focusing on innovations is essential to hospitalists to ensure the specialty remains at the forefront of improved patient care, decreased readmissions, decreased infections and other quality improvements. He notes that by still practicing on an academic medical service with faculty, residents and medical students, he’s encouraged and excited that “people get it.”
“Every doctor wants better care for their patients,” Dr. Conway said. “The reality of … new payment systems and new fields of innovation we’re entering into is it unleashes hospitalists and aligns incentives with what they want for their patients.”
Take bundled payments around episodic care. With innovations in payment models, hospitalists are increasingly being paid for how good their care is, not how much care there is.
“That’s exciting,” Dr. Conway said. “Very different than 10 years ago where you had a lot of groups where it was about how much volume can we churn through. Now I think hospitals and HM groups [realize] value is going to continue to increasingly be based on the quality of care and the efficiency of care delivery.”
Patrick Conway, MD, MSc, MHM, may have had a lot of job titles recently, but his work address hasn’t changed in 6 years.
Dr. Conway, deputy administrator for innovation and quality for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and director of its Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, has been at the intersection of policy and practice in Washington, since joining CMS in 2011. The still-practicing hospitalist was acting CMS administrator for several months earlier this year, holding the top post while President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the agency, Seema Verma, awaited U.S. Senate confirmation. His title before that was principal deputy administrator and CMS chief medical officer.
Dr. Conway said he believes that at a “macro legislation” level, Washington is committed to health care reform that improves patient care and incentivizes physicians to join alternative payment models (APMs). He said hospitalists should be encouraged by how well the field has already adapted to the proliferation of accountable-care organizations, value-based purchasing, and the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, or MACRA. He said that as innovations lead to better patient care and more coordinated care, that’s good for hospitalists, patients, and the hospitals that bring them together.
“I want to leave people with the idea that value-based payment innovation and delivery system reform will continue to be critical aspects of improving our health system,” he said. “I also want hospitalists to continue to stay engaged in these new payment models and help lead them and provide better patient care as part of them.”
Dr. Conway said that focusing on innovations is essential to hospitalists to ensure the specialty remains at the forefront of improved patient care, decreased readmissions, decreased infections and other quality improvements. He notes that by still practicing on an academic medical service with faculty, residents and medical students, he’s encouraged and excited that “people get it.”
“Every doctor wants better care for their patients,” Dr. Conway said. “The reality of … new payment systems and new fields of innovation we’re entering into is it unleashes hospitalists and aligns incentives with what they want for their patients.”
Take bundled payments around episodic care. With innovations in payment models, hospitalists are increasingly being paid for how good their care is, not how much care there is.
“That’s exciting,” Dr. Conway said. “Very different than 10 years ago where you had a lot of groups where it was about how much volume can we churn through. Now I think hospitals and HM groups [realize] value is going to continue to increasingly be based on the quality of care and the efficiency of care delivery.”
Patrick Conway, MD, MSc, MHM, may have had a lot of job titles recently, but his work address hasn’t changed in 6 years.
Dr. Conway, deputy administrator for innovation and quality for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and director of its Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, has been at the intersection of policy and practice in Washington, since joining CMS in 2011. The still-practicing hospitalist was acting CMS administrator for several months earlier this year, holding the top post while President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the agency, Seema Verma, awaited U.S. Senate confirmation. His title before that was principal deputy administrator and CMS chief medical officer.
Dr. Conway said he believes that at a “macro legislation” level, Washington is committed to health care reform that improves patient care and incentivizes physicians to join alternative payment models (APMs). He said hospitalists should be encouraged by how well the field has already adapted to the proliferation of accountable-care organizations, value-based purchasing, and the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, or MACRA. He said that as innovations lead to better patient care and more coordinated care, that’s good for hospitalists, patients, and the hospitals that bring them together.
“I want to leave people with the idea that value-based payment innovation and delivery system reform will continue to be critical aspects of improving our health system,” he said. “I also want hospitalists to continue to stay engaged in these new payment models and help lead them and provide better patient care as part of them.”
Dr. Conway said that focusing on innovations is essential to hospitalists to ensure the specialty remains at the forefront of improved patient care, decreased readmissions, decreased infections and other quality improvements. He notes that by still practicing on an academic medical service with faculty, residents and medical students, he’s encouraged and excited that “people get it.”
“Every doctor wants better care for their patients,” Dr. Conway said. “The reality of … new payment systems and new fields of innovation we’re entering into is it unleashes hospitalists and aligns incentives with what they want for their patients.”
Take bundled payments around episodic care. With innovations in payment models, hospitalists are increasingly being paid for how good their care is, not how much care there is.
“That’s exciting,” Dr. Conway said. “Very different than 10 years ago where you had a lot of groups where it was about how much volume can we churn through. Now I think hospitals and HM groups [realize] value is going to continue to increasingly be based on the quality of care and the efficiency of care delivery.”
High-value care abstracts in spotlight
If the annual meeting of the Society of Hospital Medicine could be boiled down to a single goal, it might be to give hospitalists the information they need to be the best doctors they can be.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that research performed by hospitalists on high-value care (HVC) will be featured in an abstract session at this year’s conference.
The “Best of HVC Abstract Submissions” session, scheduled for Tuesday, May 2, 3:05–3:45 p.m., will be part of a day-long track devoted entirely to HVC, a new feature at this year’s annual meeting.
“The panel will give them feedback and ask questions and sort of engage in conversation about it,” Dr. Feldman said. He thinks that featuring these abstracts in a high-profile setting is a good way for hospitalists to learn from one another. “There are so many hospitalists interested in this topic right now and people working in this area and coming up with quality improvement projects around high-value care. It’s nice to know what other folks are doing.”
Dr. Feldman hopes that, if hospitalists find out what is happening at other centers, it will spur even more quality projects.
“We don’t often have the opportunity to share the work that we’ve done and to motivate each other,” he said. “When you hear about the great work that other people are doing, it is invigorating; it’s exciting; it gets you jazzed up about doing the work in your own institution. A lot of this isn’t incredibly sophisticated. It is stuff that can be relatively easily disseminated from one institution to another without having a ton of support. To be able to see the type of work that people do is thrilling for the hospitalists who attend.”
“With the growing recognition of the costs and harms from medical overuse, high-value care has become a national imperative,” he said. “Hospitalists are natural leaders for high-value care, much like we have been for patient safety and quality improvement. Hospitalists have already led the way on developing programs that target areas of overuse in hospitals. Our ‘Best of HVC’ session will highlight many of these promising examples. There will be plenty of opportunities to learn from innovators and take back the best ideas to our own hospitals.”
Organizers said that the HVC track “will guide attendees on how to avoid diagnostic and therapeutic overuse and how to move toward the right care for every hospital medicine patient.” Other sessions in the track will cover “things we do for no reason,” how to use imaging wisely, and tips on overcoming cultures fraught with overuse.
Dr. Feldman said the track is intended to meet the demand of meeting attendees.
“There are lots of hospitalists who are engaging in this type of work in their institutions and systems,” he said. “So, it’s just timely. People are engaged in it and they’re excited about it, so it makes sense that adding a track right now would fulfill the needs of many of the hospitalists who are going to be attending.”
Best of HVC Abstract Submissions
Tuesday, May 2, 3:05–3:45 p.m.
If the annual meeting of the Society of Hospital Medicine could be boiled down to a single goal, it might be to give hospitalists the information they need to be the best doctors they can be.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that research performed by hospitalists on high-value care (HVC) will be featured in an abstract session at this year’s conference.
The “Best of HVC Abstract Submissions” session, scheduled for Tuesday, May 2, 3:05–3:45 p.m., will be part of a day-long track devoted entirely to HVC, a new feature at this year’s annual meeting.
“The panel will give them feedback and ask questions and sort of engage in conversation about it,” Dr. Feldman said. He thinks that featuring these abstracts in a high-profile setting is a good way for hospitalists to learn from one another. “There are so many hospitalists interested in this topic right now and people working in this area and coming up with quality improvement projects around high-value care. It’s nice to know what other folks are doing.”
Dr. Feldman hopes that, if hospitalists find out what is happening at other centers, it will spur even more quality projects.
“We don’t often have the opportunity to share the work that we’ve done and to motivate each other,” he said. “When you hear about the great work that other people are doing, it is invigorating; it’s exciting; it gets you jazzed up about doing the work in your own institution. A lot of this isn’t incredibly sophisticated. It is stuff that can be relatively easily disseminated from one institution to another without having a ton of support. To be able to see the type of work that people do is thrilling for the hospitalists who attend.”
“With the growing recognition of the costs and harms from medical overuse, high-value care has become a national imperative,” he said. “Hospitalists are natural leaders for high-value care, much like we have been for patient safety and quality improvement. Hospitalists have already led the way on developing programs that target areas of overuse in hospitals. Our ‘Best of HVC’ session will highlight many of these promising examples. There will be plenty of opportunities to learn from innovators and take back the best ideas to our own hospitals.”
Organizers said that the HVC track “will guide attendees on how to avoid diagnostic and therapeutic overuse and how to move toward the right care for every hospital medicine patient.” Other sessions in the track will cover “things we do for no reason,” how to use imaging wisely, and tips on overcoming cultures fraught with overuse.
Dr. Feldman said the track is intended to meet the demand of meeting attendees.
“There are lots of hospitalists who are engaging in this type of work in their institutions and systems,” he said. “So, it’s just timely. People are engaged in it and they’re excited about it, so it makes sense that adding a track right now would fulfill the needs of many of the hospitalists who are going to be attending.”
Best of HVC Abstract Submissions
Tuesday, May 2, 3:05–3:45 p.m.
If the annual meeting of the Society of Hospital Medicine could be boiled down to a single goal, it might be to give hospitalists the information they need to be the best doctors they can be.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that research performed by hospitalists on high-value care (HVC) will be featured in an abstract session at this year’s conference.
The “Best of HVC Abstract Submissions” session, scheduled for Tuesday, May 2, 3:05–3:45 p.m., will be part of a day-long track devoted entirely to HVC, a new feature at this year’s annual meeting.
“The panel will give them feedback and ask questions and sort of engage in conversation about it,” Dr. Feldman said. He thinks that featuring these abstracts in a high-profile setting is a good way for hospitalists to learn from one another. “There are so many hospitalists interested in this topic right now and people working in this area and coming up with quality improvement projects around high-value care. It’s nice to know what other folks are doing.”
Dr. Feldman hopes that, if hospitalists find out what is happening at other centers, it will spur even more quality projects.
“We don’t often have the opportunity to share the work that we’ve done and to motivate each other,” he said. “When you hear about the great work that other people are doing, it is invigorating; it’s exciting; it gets you jazzed up about doing the work in your own institution. A lot of this isn’t incredibly sophisticated. It is stuff that can be relatively easily disseminated from one institution to another without having a ton of support. To be able to see the type of work that people do is thrilling for the hospitalists who attend.”
“With the growing recognition of the costs and harms from medical overuse, high-value care has become a national imperative,” he said. “Hospitalists are natural leaders for high-value care, much like we have been for patient safety and quality improvement. Hospitalists have already led the way on developing programs that target areas of overuse in hospitals. Our ‘Best of HVC’ session will highlight many of these promising examples. There will be plenty of opportunities to learn from innovators and take back the best ideas to our own hospitals.”
Organizers said that the HVC track “will guide attendees on how to avoid diagnostic and therapeutic overuse and how to move toward the right care for every hospital medicine patient.” Other sessions in the track will cover “things we do for no reason,” how to use imaging wisely, and tips on overcoming cultures fraught with overuse.
Dr. Feldman said the track is intended to meet the demand of meeting attendees.
“There are lots of hospitalists who are engaging in this type of work in their institutions and systems,” he said. “So, it’s just timely. People are engaged in it and they’re excited about it, so it makes sense that adding a track right now would fulfill the needs of many of the hospitalists who are going to be attending.”
Best of HVC Abstract Submissions
Tuesday, May 2, 3:05–3:45 p.m.