HM17

The Society of Hospital Medicine presents a variety of special interest forums during its annual meeting. The small-group sessions take place Tuesday, May 2, 4:30–5:25 p.m. in designated meeting rooms (as of April 12, 2017).

Academic and Research – Palm B
Joanna Bonsall, Vineet Chopra
The Academic and Research forum brings together faculty and researchers to discuss topics of interest to the academic hospital medicine community, such as mentorship, research support, and professional development. Join this collaborative offering of the academic and research committees.

Advocacy & Public Policy – Surf D
Joshua Lenchus, Ron Greeno
During this forum with SHM’s Advocacy leaders and staff, you will learn about the direction of SHM’s Advocacy & Public Policy work and how you can help. Discussion will focus on SHM’s new Advocacy & Public Policy Section, its role, and how you can participate and share your own ideas.

Canadian Hospitalists – Reef A
Serge Soolsma
This forum provides a unique setting for Canadian-based hospitalists to gather as an organized group, network, and discuss the issues with which they are faced.


Care of Vulnerable Populations – Oceanside E
Jack Chase, Gabriel Ortiz
SHM’s Caring for Vulnerable Populations Section aims to increase awareness and improve quality of care for vulnerable and underserved patient populations in the hospital setting. The principles and skills needed to care effectively for vulnerable patients span practitioners across all health systems, though they particularly apply to hospitalists practicing in safety-net and resource-limited settings.



Community-Based Hospitalists – Mandalay Bay I
Steve Behnke, Jason Robertson
Join us and share successful clinical practices, quality care, professional sustainability, and other “hot” topics of interest to the community-based hospitalist.

Global Health and Human Rights Section – Oceanside F
Phuoc Le
SHM’s Global Health and Human Rights Section has been established to build interest and engagement in global health and human rights work among hospitalists in order to share expertise. In this section, we also plan to build long-term collaborations in the U.S. and abroad.

Hospitalists Trained in Family Medicine – Breakers D
David Goldstein
Participants will network and discuss training, achievement of recognition, access in the job market, and national trends related to hospitalists trained in family medicine.

Information Technology – Palm F
Rupesh Prasad
This forum is an opportunity for attendees to provide SHM and the SHM IT Committee with input on what would be most beneficial to them regarding implementing, managing, and participating in health/hospital IT initiatives.

International Hospital Medicine – Palm H
Efren Manjarrez, Felipe Lucena
Do you practice hospital medicine outside of North America? Join us to share issues and ideas.

Leadership in Hospital Medicine – Mandalay Bay J
Eric Howell, Rob Zipper
Want to be a better leader? A better coach and mentor? Do you want to drive quality improvement at your hospital? Investing in the development of ourselves and our teams is what we are all here to do. This forum will review, discuss, and shape the resources and programmatic offerings that are needed to promote leadership skill development at all levels. We will also review SHMs existing programs, including Leadership Academies, the Leadership Certificate Program, e-Learning, and HMX: Leadership Alumni Forum.

Med-Peds Hospitalists – Breakers I
Leonard Feldman, Heather Toth, Carrie Herzke
Explore the role of Med-Peds physicians in hospitalist medicine. Discussion items may include personal experiences, how to create more Med-Peds jobs, and how to succeed as a Med-Peds hospitalist.
 

Multi-Site HMG Leaders – Palm C
Tom Frederickson, Leslie Flores
This forum is for physician and administrative leaders who are responsible for managing multiple hospitalist practice sites within the same health system. The number of people with this role has increased significantly in the last few years and comes with challenges that are different from those faced by the lead hospitalist at a single site.

Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant – Palm D
Tracy Cardin, Emilie Thornhill
Share your opinions and concerns. Network with your peers and learn about the work of the SHM Committee on Hospitalist Nurse Practitioners/Physician Assistants.

Oncology Hospitalists – Reef D
Maria Campagna, Barbara Egan, Charlotta Weaver
Explore the role of hospitalists on oncology services. Discussion items may include personal experiences and how to succeed as an oncology hospitalist.

Palliative Care – Breakers J
Rab Razzak, Jeff Greenwald, Wendy Anderson
Convene with other hospitalists charged with providing some level of palliative care at their institutions. Participants should come prepared to discuss and share their own experiences, including their current role in providing palliative care, institutional barriers, and gaps in training.

Patient Experience – Lagoon K
Mark Rudolph

Join the PX forum to exchange ideas about the how hospitalists can enhance patients’ care experiences while also improving professional satisfaction. Learn about the work of SHM’s Patient Experience committee and opportunities for getting involved in SHM’s patient experience initiatives.

Pediatric Hospitalists – Lagoon J
Kris Rehm, Sandy Gage
Network, share, and discuss topics and issues of particular interest to pediatric hospitalists. Topics will include an update on SHM’s pediatric activities, updates on potential paths to specialty certification, and relationships between SHM, AAP, APA, PRIS, and the Joint Council on Pediatric Hospital Medicine.

Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) – Palm A
Benji Mathews, Gordon Johnson
This forum will discuss opportunities to collaborate and standardize processes for POCUS certification, including what resources already exist. In addition, discussion will revolve around privileging at your own institution, gaining skills, and the challenges and successes of procedural teams in the hospital.

Post-Acute Care Providers – Lagoon D
Speaker, TBA
Join other hospitalists who practice in or are interested in learning more about working in or becoming more involved in the post-acute care arena, including SNFs, LTACs, and rehab facilities.

Practice Administrators – Surf AB
Heather Fordyce
Practice administrators are important members of the hospitalist team, providing key management and organizational skills. Voice your unique perspectives and hear from your peers.

Quality Improvement – Breakers C
Mangla Gulati
Hospitalists are at the center of the national quality and patient safety movement and are increasingly responsible for performance at their institutions. Connect with SHM’s QI and patient safety community and engage with leaders, peers, and collaborators to share ideas and inform SHM’s QI efforts. Discussion during the forum will focus on what hospitalists need to know to become involved with QI at SHM or locally. Hear about SHM’s plans for future QI initiatives, and share your own ideas.

Rural Hospitalists – Lagoon E
Brad Eshbaugh, Ken Simone
HM groups in rural areas face some unique problems, from recruitment, night call, and staffing to communicating with geographically dispersed primary care physicians. Rural hospitalists may also face clinical challenges because of limited technological resources and/or limited access to specialists. Share your issues and concerns and see how others have solved similar problems.

Veterans Affairs Hospitalists – Palm E
Kathlyn Fletcher, Peter Kaboli
Network and discuss issues unique to VA hospitalists.

Women in Hospital Medicine – Lagoon L
Melissa Mattison
Discuss issues relevant to women in hospital medicine and strategies for success/coping. Discussion items may include career satisfaction, occupational stresses, opportunities for change, promotion of leadership, and identification of resources

The Society of Hospital Medicine presents a variety of special interest forums during its annual meeting. The small-group sessions take place Tuesday, May 2, 4:30–5:25 p.m. in designated meeting rooms (as of April 12, 2017).

Academic and Research – Palm B
Joanna Bonsall, Vineet Chopra
The Academic and Research forum brings together faculty and researchers to discuss topics of interest to the academic hospital medicine community, such as mentorship, research support, and professional development. Join this collaborative offering of the academic and research committees.

Advocacy & Public Policy – Surf D
Joshua Lenchus, Ron Greeno
During this forum with SHM’s Advocacy leaders and staff, you will learn about the direction of SHM’s Advocacy & Public Policy work and how you can help. Discussion will focus on SHM’s new Advocacy & Public Policy Section, its role, and how you can participate and share your own ideas.

Canadian Hospitalists – Reef A
Serge Soolsma
This forum provides a unique setting for Canadian-based hospitalists to gather as an organized group, network, and discuss the issues with which they are faced.


Care of Vulnerable Populations – Oceanside E
Jack Chase, Gabriel Ortiz
SHM’s Caring for Vulnerable Populations Section aims to increase awareness and improve quality of care for vulnerable and underserved patient populations in the hospital setting. The principles and skills needed to care effectively for vulnerable patients span practitioners across all health systems, though they particularly apply to hospitalists practicing in safety-net and resource-limited settings.



Community-Based Hospitalists – Mandalay Bay I
Steve Behnke, Jason Robertson
Join us and share successful clinical practices, quality care, professional sustainability, and other “hot” topics of interest to the community-based hospitalist.

Global Health and Human Rights Section – Oceanside F
Phuoc Le
SHM’s Global Health and Human Rights Section has been established to build interest and engagement in global health and human rights work among hospitalists in order to share expertise. In this section, we also plan to build long-term collaborations in the U.S. and abroad.

Hospitalists Trained in Family Medicine – Breakers D
David Goldstein
Participants will network and discuss training, achievement of recognition, access in the job market, and national trends related to hospitalists trained in family medicine.

Information Technology – Palm F
Rupesh Prasad
This forum is an opportunity for attendees to provide SHM and the SHM IT Committee with input on what would be most beneficial to them regarding implementing, managing, and participating in health/hospital IT initiatives.

International Hospital Medicine – Palm H
Efren Manjarrez, Felipe Lucena
Do you practice hospital medicine outside of North America? Join us to share issues and ideas.

Leadership in Hospital Medicine – Mandalay Bay J
Eric Howell, Rob Zipper
Want to be a better leader? A better coach and mentor? Do you want to drive quality improvement at your hospital? Investing in the development of ourselves and our teams is what we are all here to do. This forum will review, discuss, and shape the resources and programmatic offerings that are needed to promote leadership skill development at all levels. We will also review SHMs existing programs, including Leadership Academies, the Leadership Certificate Program, e-Learning, and HMX: Leadership Alumni Forum.

Med-Peds Hospitalists – Breakers I
Leonard Feldman, Heather Toth, Carrie Herzke
Explore the role of Med-Peds physicians in hospitalist medicine. Discussion items may include personal experiences, how to create more Med-Peds jobs, and how to succeed as a Med-Peds hospitalist.
 

Multi-Site HMG Leaders – Palm C
Tom Frederickson, Leslie Flores
This forum is for physician and administrative leaders who are responsible for managing multiple hospitalist practice sites within the same health system. The number of people with this role has increased significantly in the last few years and comes with challenges that are different from those faced by the lead hospitalist at a single site.

Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant – Palm D
Tracy Cardin, Emilie Thornhill
Share your opinions and concerns. Network with your peers and learn about the work of the SHM Committee on Hospitalist Nurse Practitioners/Physician Assistants.

Oncology Hospitalists – Reef D
Maria Campagna, Barbara Egan, Charlotta Weaver
Explore the role of hospitalists on oncology services. Discussion items may include personal experiences and how to succeed as an oncology hospitalist.

Palliative Care – Breakers J
Rab Razzak, Jeff Greenwald, Wendy Anderson
Convene with other hospitalists charged with providing some level of palliative care at their institutions. Participants should come prepared to discuss and share their own experiences, including their current role in providing palliative care, institutional barriers, and gaps in training.

Patient Experience – Lagoon K
Mark Rudolph

Join the PX forum to exchange ideas about the how hospitalists can enhance patients’ care experiences while also improving professional satisfaction. Learn about the work of SHM’s Patient Experience committee and opportunities for getting involved in SHM’s patient experience initiatives.

Pediatric Hospitalists – Lagoon J
Kris Rehm, Sandy Gage
Network, share, and discuss topics and issues of particular interest to pediatric hospitalists. Topics will include an update on SHM’s pediatric activities, updates on potential paths to specialty certification, and relationships between SHM, AAP, APA, PRIS, and the Joint Council on Pediatric Hospital Medicine.

Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) – Palm A
Benji Mathews, Gordon Johnson
This forum will discuss opportunities to collaborate and standardize processes for POCUS certification, including what resources already exist. In addition, discussion will revolve around privileging at your own institution, gaining skills, and the challenges and successes of procedural teams in the hospital.

Post-Acute Care Providers – Lagoon D
Speaker, TBA
Join other hospitalists who practice in or are interested in learning more about working in or becoming more involved in the post-acute care arena, including SNFs, LTACs, and rehab facilities.

Practice Administrators – Surf AB
Heather Fordyce
Practice administrators are important members of the hospitalist team, providing key management and organizational skills. Voice your unique perspectives and hear from your peers.

Quality Improvement – Breakers C
Mangla Gulati
Hospitalists are at the center of the national quality and patient safety movement and are increasingly responsible for performance at their institutions. Connect with SHM’s QI and patient safety community and engage with leaders, peers, and collaborators to share ideas and inform SHM’s QI efforts. Discussion during the forum will focus on what hospitalists need to know to become involved with QI at SHM or locally. Hear about SHM’s plans for future QI initiatives, and share your own ideas.

Rural Hospitalists – Lagoon E
Brad Eshbaugh, Ken Simone
HM groups in rural areas face some unique problems, from recruitment, night call, and staffing to communicating with geographically dispersed primary care physicians. Rural hospitalists may also face clinical challenges because of limited technological resources and/or limited access to specialists. Share your issues and concerns and see how others have solved similar problems.

Veterans Affairs Hospitalists – Palm E
Kathlyn Fletcher, Peter Kaboli
Network and discuss issues unique to VA hospitalists.

Women in Hospital Medicine – Lagoon L
Melissa Mattison
Discuss issues relevant to women in hospital medicine and strategies for success/coping. Discussion items may include career satisfaction, occupational stresses, opportunities for change, promotion of leadership, and identification of resources

The Society of Hospital Medicine presents a variety of special interest forums during its annual meeting. The small-group sessions take place Tuesday, May 2, 4:30–5:25 p.m. in designated meeting rooms (as of April 12, 2017).

Academic and Research – Palm B
Joanna Bonsall, Vineet Chopra
The Academic and Research forum brings together faculty and researchers to discuss topics of interest to the academic hospital medicine community, such as mentorship, research support, and professional development. Join this collaborative offering of the academic and research committees.

Advocacy & Public Policy – Surf D
Joshua Lenchus, Ron Greeno
During this forum with SHM’s Advocacy leaders and staff, you will learn about the direction of SHM’s Advocacy & Public Policy work and how you can help. Discussion will focus on SHM’s new Advocacy & Public Policy Section, its role, and how you can participate and share your own ideas.

Canadian Hospitalists – Reef A
Serge Soolsma
This forum provides a unique setting for Canadian-based hospitalists to gather as an organized group, network, and discuss the issues with which they are faced.


Care of Vulnerable Populations – Oceanside E
Jack Chase, Gabriel Ortiz
SHM’s Caring for Vulnerable Populations Section aims to increase awareness and improve quality of care for vulnerable and underserved patient populations in the hospital setting. The principles and skills needed to care effectively for vulnerable patients span practitioners across all health systems, though they particularly apply to hospitalists practicing in safety-net and resource-limited settings.



Community-Based Hospitalists – Mandalay Bay I
Steve Behnke, Jason Robertson
Join us and share successful clinical practices, quality care, professional sustainability, and other “hot” topics of interest to the community-based hospitalist.

Global Health and Human Rights Section – Oceanside F
Phuoc Le
SHM’s Global Health and Human Rights Section has been established to build interest and engagement in global health and human rights work among hospitalists in order to share expertise. In this section, we also plan to build long-term collaborations in the U.S. and abroad.

Hospitalists Trained in Family Medicine – Breakers D
David Goldstein
Participants will network and discuss training, achievement of recognition, access in the job market, and national trends related to hospitalists trained in family medicine.

Information Technology – Palm F
Rupesh Prasad
This forum is an opportunity for attendees to provide SHM and the SHM IT Committee with input on what would be most beneficial to them regarding implementing, managing, and participating in health/hospital IT initiatives.

International Hospital Medicine – Palm H
Efren Manjarrez, Felipe Lucena
Do you practice hospital medicine outside of North America? Join us to share issues and ideas.

Leadership in Hospital Medicine – Mandalay Bay J
Eric Howell, Rob Zipper
Want to be a better leader? A better coach and mentor? Do you want to drive quality improvement at your hospital? Investing in the development of ourselves and our teams is what we are all here to do. This forum will review, discuss, and shape the resources and programmatic offerings that are needed to promote leadership skill development at all levels. We will also review SHMs existing programs, including Leadership Academies, the Leadership Certificate Program, e-Learning, and HMX: Leadership Alumni Forum.

Med-Peds Hospitalists – Breakers I
Leonard Feldman, Heather Toth, Carrie Herzke
Explore the role of Med-Peds physicians in hospitalist medicine. Discussion items may include personal experiences, how to create more Med-Peds jobs, and how to succeed as a Med-Peds hospitalist.
 

Multi-Site HMG Leaders – Palm C
Tom Frederickson, Leslie Flores
This forum is for physician and administrative leaders who are responsible for managing multiple hospitalist practice sites within the same health system. The number of people with this role has increased significantly in the last few years and comes with challenges that are different from those faced by the lead hospitalist at a single site.

Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant – Palm D
Tracy Cardin, Emilie Thornhill
Share your opinions and concerns. Network with your peers and learn about the work of the SHM Committee on Hospitalist Nurse Practitioners/Physician Assistants.

Oncology Hospitalists – Reef D
Maria Campagna, Barbara Egan, Charlotta Weaver
Explore the role of hospitalists on oncology services. Discussion items may include personal experiences and how to succeed as an oncology hospitalist.

Palliative Care – Breakers J
Rab Razzak, Jeff Greenwald, Wendy Anderson
Convene with other hospitalists charged with providing some level of palliative care at their institutions. Participants should come prepared to discuss and share their own experiences, including their current role in providing palliative care, institutional barriers, and gaps in training.

Patient Experience – Lagoon K
Mark Rudolph

Join the PX forum to exchange ideas about the how hospitalists can enhance patients’ care experiences while also improving professional satisfaction. Learn about the work of SHM’s Patient Experience committee and opportunities for getting involved in SHM’s patient experience initiatives.

Pediatric Hospitalists – Lagoon J
Kris Rehm, Sandy Gage
Network, share, and discuss topics and issues of particular interest to pediatric hospitalists. Topics will include an update on SHM’s pediatric activities, updates on potential paths to specialty certification, and relationships between SHM, AAP, APA, PRIS, and the Joint Council on Pediatric Hospital Medicine.

Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) – Palm A
Benji Mathews, Gordon Johnson
This forum will discuss opportunities to collaborate and standardize processes for POCUS certification, including what resources already exist. In addition, discussion will revolve around privileging at your own institution, gaining skills, and the challenges and successes of procedural teams in the hospital.

Post-Acute Care Providers – Lagoon D
Speaker, TBA
Join other hospitalists who practice in or are interested in learning more about working in or becoming more involved in the post-acute care arena, including SNFs, LTACs, and rehab facilities.

Practice Administrators – Surf AB
Heather Fordyce
Practice administrators are important members of the hospitalist team, providing key management and organizational skills. Voice your unique perspectives and hear from your peers.

Quality Improvement – Breakers C
Mangla Gulati
Hospitalists are at the center of the national quality and patient safety movement and are increasingly responsible for performance at their institutions. Connect with SHM’s QI and patient safety community and engage with leaders, peers, and collaborators to share ideas and inform SHM’s QI efforts. Discussion during the forum will focus on what hospitalists need to know to become involved with QI at SHM or locally. Hear about SHM’s plans for future QI initiatives, and share your own ideas.

Rural Hospitalists – Lagoon E
Brad Eshbaugh, Ken Simone
HM groups in rural areas face some unique problems, from recruitment, night call, and staffing to communicating with geographically dispersed primary care physicians. Rural hospitalists may also face clinical challenges because of limited technological resources and/or limited access to specialists. Share your issues and concerns and see how others have solved similar problems.

Veterans Affairs Hospitalists – Palm E
Kathlyn Fletcher, Peter Kaboli
Network and discuss issues unique to VA hospitalists.

Women in Hospital Medicine – Lagoon L
Melissa Mattison
Discuss issues relevant to women in hospital medicine and strategies for success/coping. Discussion items may include career satisfaction, occupational stresses, opportunities for change, promotion of leadership, and identification of resources

The steps that hospitalists can take to effect change in their home institutions will be the focus of Tuesday morning’s session at 10:35–11:15 a.m., “Overcoming a Culture Overrun with Overuse.”

“Overuse is one of the [biggest] issues that we’re facing right now in health care,” said presenter Christopher Moriates, MD, assistant dean for health care value at the University of Texas at Austin. “The estimates are that about a third of what we do in health care is unnecessary. If you look at areas like lab testing in hospitals, it might be even more than that.”

Overcoming a Culture Overrun with Overuse
Tuesday, 10:35 a.m.-11:15 a.m.

The steps that hospitalists can take to effect change in their home institutions will be the focus of Tuesday morning’s session at 10:35–11:15 a.m., “Overcoming a Culture Overrun with Overuse.”

“Overuse is one of the [biggest] issues that we’re facing right now in health care,” said presenter Christopher Moriates, MD, assistant dean for health care value at the University of Texas at Austin. “The estimates are that about a third of what we do in health care is unnecessary. If you look at areas like lab testing in hospitals, it might be even more than that.”

Overcoming a Culture Overrun with Overuse
Tuesday, 10:35 a.m.-11:15 a.m.

The steps that hospitalists can take to effect change in their home institutions will be the focus of Tuesday morning’s session at 10:35–11:15 a.m., “Overcoming a Culture Overrun with Overuse.”

“Overuse is one of the [biggest] issues that we’re facing right now in health care,” said presenter Christopher Moriates, MD, assistant dean for health care value at the University of Texas at Austin. “The estimates are that about a third of what we do in health care is unnecessary. If you look at areas like lab testing in hospitals, it might be even more than that.”

Overcoming a Culture Overrun with Overuse
Tuesday, 10:35 a.m.-11:15 a.m.

With patient co-management arrangements between hospitalists and other surgical and medical subspecialists becoming more common, HM17 attendees won’t want to miss Tuesday afternoon’s session at 3:15–4:20 p.m., “Redefining Co-management in Hospital Medicine.”

“We’ll provide hospitalists effective co-management programs at their respective hospitals,” said copresenter William Atchley Jr., MD, FACP, SFHM, a hospitalist with Sentara Heart Hospital in Norfolk, Va.

Redefining Co-management in Hospital Medicine
Tuesday, 3:15–4:20 p.m.

With patient co-management arrangements between hospitalists and other surgical and medical subspecialists becoming more common, HM17 attendees won’t want to miss Tuesday afternoon’s session at 3:15–4:20 p.m., “Redefining Co-management in Hospital Medicine.”

“We’ll provide hospitalists effective co-management programs at their respective hospitals,” said copresenter William Atchley Jr., MD, FACP, SFHM, a hospitalist with Sentara Heart Hospital in Norfolk, Va.

Redefining Co-management in Hospital Medicine
Tuesday, 3:15–4:20 p.m.

With patient co-management arrangements between hospitalists and other surgical and medical subspecialists becoming more common, HM17 attendees won’t want to miss Tuesday afternoon’s session at 3:15–4:20 p.m., “Redefining Co-management in Hospital Medicine.”

“We’ll provide hospitalists effective co-management programs at their respective hospitals,” said copresenter William Atchley Jr., MD, FACP, SFHM, a hospitalist with Sentara Heart Hospital in Norfolk, Va.

Redefining Co-management in Hospital Medicine
Tuesday, 3:15–4:20 p.m.

Patient Care Transitions in COPD: Improving Collaboration Between Inpatient and Outpatient Providers to Reduce Readmissions
Monday, May 1
5–7 p.m., Mandalay Bay J
Dinner at 5 p.m.
Overview: The faculty panel will be composed of leading experts representing hospital medicine and pulmonary specialties. For detailed faculty information please visit www.practitionersedge.com/shmcopd.

Integrity Continuing Education Inc. is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Integrity Continuing Education designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Register: www.practitionersedge.com/shmcopd.

Alcoholic Hepatitis: Advances in Therapeutic Management
Monday, May 1
5:30–7:30 p.m., Jasmine CDGH
Dinner at 5:30 p.m.
Overview: Because alcohol potentiates the fibrosis- and cancer-inducing actions of the hepatitis virus, people with heavy alcohol intake are particularly vulnerable to hepatitis infection and are most in need of treatment. In this activity, we will discuss advances in acute and long-term management of alcoholic hepatitis and liver function. Specifically, we will aim to review guideline-based screening and diagnostic considerations for alcoholic hepatitis; assess standards of care for management of acute alcoholic hepatitis, including lifestyle-, pharmacologic-, and device-related methods; and evaluate investigational methods of treatment with respect to efficacy, safety, and long-term management.

Presenters: Ram Mohan Subramanian, MD, associate professor of medicine and surgery, medical director of liver transplant, Emory University, Atlanta; Julie Thompson, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine, division of gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
This activity has been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Full accreditation information available: www.akhcme.com/SHM. This activity is supported by an educational grant from Vital Therapies, Inc. Register: https://akhinc.formstack.com/forms/shm.

A Physician’s Keys to Locking Out Lawsuits and Reducing Taxes
Tuesday, May 2
Noon–1 p.m., Oceanside G
Overview: This course educates on the dangers of lawsuits in the healthcare community. Focused primarily toward physicians and how they should be structured to protect themselves.
Presenter: Art McOmber business owner, retired FBI Agent.
Sponsored by Legally Mine.

A Master Class in Understanding & Applying Updated Treatment Guidelines and Scientific Advances to Reduce Mortality and Hospitalizations in Chronic Heart Failure Patients
Tuesday, May 2
7:30–9:30 p.m., Breakers ABGH
Dinner at 7 p.m.
Presenters: Alpesh Amin, MD, MBA, MACP, SFHM, University of California Irvine, California; Mark H. Drazner, MD, MSc, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.

This CME activity is jointly provided by Medical Learning Institute and PVI, PeerView Institute for Medical Education. This activity is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The Medical Learning Institute designates this live activity for a maximum of 2.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. This activity is supported by educational grants from Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation and ZS Pharma, a member of the AstraZeneca Group. Register: www.peerviewpress.com/CHF2017.

Assessing VTE Risk in Medically Ill Patients: The Critical Role of the Hospitalist
Tuesday, May 2
7:30–9:30 p.m., Jasmine CDGH
Dinner at 7 p.m.
Presenters: Ebrahim Barkoudah, MD, MPH, instructor in medicine, associate director, global clinical scholars research training program, office of global education, Harvard Medical School, associate director, hospital medicine unit, department of medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Boston; Elaine M. Hylek, MD, MPH, professor of medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, director, thrombosis and anticoagulation service, Boston Medical Center; Aaron P. Kithcart, MD, PhD, vascular medicine fellow, BWH; John Fanikos, RPh, MBA, assistant professor of clinical pharmacy practice at Northeastern University, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, director of pharmacy business and financial services, BWH; Arman Qamar, MD, vascular medicine and cardiology fellow, BWH.

This activity is held in conjunction with the North American Thrombosis Forum and with HM17.
Medscape LLC is accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), to provide continuing education for the health care team. Medscape LLC designates this live activity for a maximum of 2.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. This activity is supported by an independent educational grant from Portola Pharmaceuticals. Register: www.medscape.org/townhall/vte-risk.

Understanding and Managing Hyponatremia: Key Information for Today’s Hospitalist
Wednesday, May 3
7:30 - 9:30 p.m., Jasmine CDGH
Dinner at 7:30 p.m.
Presenters: Jeffrey S. Shapiro, MD, regional medical director and hospitalist, Southern California Hospitalist Network, Anaheim; Alpesh N. Amin, MD, MBA, MACP, SFHM, FACC, Thomas and Mary Cesario chair, Department of Medicine, professor of medicine, business, public health, nursing science, and biomedical engineering, executive director, hospitalist program, University of California, Irvine; Mohammed S. Ahmed, DO, CSH, FASN, associate professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Midwestern University, Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine
Sponsored by Otsuka Pharmaceuticals.

Patient Care Transitions in COPD: Improving Collaboration Between Inpatient and Outpatient Providers to Reduce Readmissions
Monday, May 1
5–7 p.m., Mandalay Bay J
Dinner at 5 p.m.
Overview: The faculty panel will be composed of leading experts representing hospital medicine and pulmonary specialties. For detailed faculty information please visit www.practitionersedge.com/shmcopd.

Integrity Continuing Education Inc. is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Integrity Continuing Education designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Register: www.practitionersedge.com/shmcopd.

Alcoholic Hepatitis: Advances in Therapeutic Management
Monday, May 1
5:30–7:30 p.m., Jasmine CDGH
Dinner at 5:30 p.m.
Overview: Because alcohol potentiates the fibrosis- and cancer-inducing actions of the hepatitis virus, people with heavy alcohol intake are particularly vulnerable to hepatitis infection and are most in need of treatment. In this activity, we will discuss advances in acute and long-term management of alcoholic hepatitis and liver function. Specifically, we will aim to review guideline-based screening and diagnostic considerations for alcoholic hepatitis; assess standards of care for management of acute alcoholic hepatitis, including lifestyle-, pharmacologic-, and device-related methods; and evaluate investigational methods of treatment with respect to efficacy, safety, and long-term management.

Presenters: Ram Mohan Subramanian, MD, associate professor of medicine and surgery, medical director of liver transplant, Emory University, Atlanta; Julie Thompson, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine, division of gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
This activity has been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Full accreditation information available: www.akhcme.com/SHM. This activity is supported by an educational grant from Vital Therapies, Inc. Register: https://akhinc.formstack.com/forms/shm.

A Physician’s Keys to Locking Out Lawsuits and Reducing Taxes
Tuesday, May 2
Noon–1 p.m., Oceanside G
Overview: This course educates on the dangers of lawsuits in the healthcare community. Focused primarily toward physicians and how they should be structured to protect themselves.
Presenter: Art McOmber business owner, retired FBI Agent.
Sponsored by Legally Mine.

A Master Class in Understanding & Applying Updated Treatment Guidelines and Scientific Advances to Reduce Mortality and Hospitalizations in Chronic Heart Failure Patients
Tuesday, May 2
7:30–9:30 p.m., Breakers ABGH
Dinner at 7 p.m.
Presenters: Alpesh Amin, MD, MBA, MACP, SFHM, University of California Irvine, California; Mark H. Drazner, MD, MSc, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.

This CME activity is jointly provided by Medical Learning Institute and PVI, PeerView Institute for Medical Education. This activity is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The Medical Learning Institute designates this live activity for a maximum of 2.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. This activity is supported by educational grants from Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation and ZS Pharma, a member of the AstraZeneca Group. Register: www.peerviewpress.com/CHF2017.

Assessing VTE Risk in Medically Ill Patients: The Critical Role of the Hospitalist
Tuesday, May 2
7:30–9:30 p.m., Jasmine CDGH
Dinner at 7 p.m.
Presenters: Ebrahim Barkoudah, MD, MPH, instructor in medicine, associate director, global clinical scholars research training program, office of global education, Harvard Medical School, associate director, hospital medicine unit, department of medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Boston; Elaine M. Hylek, MD, MPH, professor of medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, director, thrombosis and anticoagulation service, Boston Medical Center; Aaron P. Kithcart, MD, PhD, vascular medicine fellow, BWH; John Fanikos, RPh, MBA, assistant professor of clinical pharmacy practice at Northeastern University, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, director of pharmacy business and financial services, BWH; Arman Qamar, MD, vascular medicine and cardiology fellow, BWH.

This activity is held in conjunction with the North American Thrombosis Forum and with HM17.
Medscape LLC is accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), to provide continuing education for the health care team. Medscape LLC designates this live activity for a maximum of 2.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. This activity is supported by an independent educational grant from Portola Pharmaceuticals. Register: www.medscape.org/townhall/vte-risk.

Understanding and Managing Hyponatremia: Key Information for Today’s Hospitalist
Wednesday, May 3
7:30 - 9:30 p.m., Jasmine CDGH
Dinner at 7:30 p.m.
Presenters: Jeffrey S. Shapiro, MD, regional medical director and hospitalist, Southern California Hospitalist Network, Anaheim; Alpesh N. Amin, MD, MBA, MACP, SFHM, FACC, Thomas and Mary Cesario chair, Department of Medicine, professor of medicine, business, public health, nursing science, and biomedical engineering, executive director, hospitalist program, University of California, Irvine; Mohammed S. Ahmed, DO, CSH, FASN, associate professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Midwestern University, Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine
Sponsored by Otsuka Pharmaceuticals.

Patient Care Transitions in COPD: Improving Collaboration Between Inpatient and Outpatient Providers to Reduce Readmissions
Monday, May 1
5–7 p.m., Mandalay Bay J
Dinner at 5 p.m.
Overview: The faculty panel will be composed of leading experts representing hospital medicine and pulmonary specialties. For detailed faculty information please visit www.practitionersedge.com/shmcopd.

Integrity Continuing Education Inc. is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Integrity Continuing Education designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Register: www.practitionersedge.com/shmcopd.

Alcoholic Hepatitis: Advances in Therapeutic Management
Monday, May 1
5:30–7:30 p.m., Jasmine CDGH
Dinner at 5:30 p.m.
Overview: Because alcohol potentiates the fibrosis- and cancer-inducing actions of the hepatitis virus, people with heavy alcohol intake are particularly vulnerable to hepatitis infection and are most in need of treatment. In this activity, we will discuss advances in acute and long-term management of alcoholic hepatitis and liver function. Specifically, we will aim to review guideline-based screening and diagnostic considerations for alcoholic hepatitis; assess standards of care for management of acute alcoholic hepatitis, including lifestyle-, pharmacologic-, and device-related methods; and evaluate investigational methods of treatment with respect to efficacy, safety, and long-term management.

Presenters: Ram Mohan Subramanian, MD, associate professor of medicine and surgery, medical director of liver transplant, Emory University, Atlanta; Julie Thompson, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine, division of gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
This activity has been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Full accreditation information available: www.akhcme.com/SHM. This activity is supported by an educational grant from Vital Therapies, Inc. Register: https://akhinc.formstack.com/forms/shm.

A Physician’s Keys to Locking Out Lawsuits and Reducing Taxes
Tuesday, May 2
Noon–1 p.m., Oceanside G
Overview: This course educates on the dangers of lawsuits in the healthcare community. Focused primarily toward physicians and how they should be structured to protect themselves.
Presenter: Art McOmber business owner, retired FBI Agent.
Sponsored by Legally Mine.

A Master Class in Understanding & Applying Updated Treatment Guidelines and Scientific Advances to Reduce Mortality and Hospitalizations in Chronic Heart Failure Patients
Tuesday, May 2
7:30–9:30 p.m., Breakers ABGH
Dinner at 7 p.m.
Presenters: Alpesh Amin, MD, MBA, MACP, SFHM, University of California Irvine, California; Mark H. Drazner, MD, MSc, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.

This CME activity is jointly provided by Medical Learning Institute and PVI, PeerView Institute for Medical Education. This activity is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The Medical Learning Institute designates this live activity for a maximum of 2.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. This activity is supported by educational grants from Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation and ZS Pharma, a member of the AstraZeneca Group. Register: www.peerviewpress.com/CHF2017.

Assessing VTE Risk in Medically Ill Patients: The Critical Role of the Hospitalist
Tuesday, May 2
7:30–9:30 p.m., Jasmine CDGH
Dinner at 7 p.m.
Presenters: Ebrahim Barkoudah, MD, MPH, instructor in medicine, associate director, global clinical scholars research training program, office of global education, Harvard Medical School, associate director, hospital medicine unit, department of medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Boston; Elaine M. Hylek, MD, MPH, professor of medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, director, thrombosis and anticoagulation service, Boston Medical Center; Aaron P. Kithcart, MD, PhD, vascular medicine fellow, BWH; John Fanikos, RPh, MBA, assistant professor of clinical pharmacy practice at Northeastern University, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, director of pharmacy business and financial services, BWH; Arman Qamar, MD, vascular medicine and cardiology fellow, BWH.

This activity is held in conjunction with the North American Thrombosis Forum and with HM17.
Medscape LLC is accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), to provide continuing education for the health care team. Medscape LLC designates this live activity for a maximum of 2.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. This activity is supported by an independent educational grant from Portola Pharmaceuticals. Register: www.medscape.org/townhall/vte-risk.

Understanding and Managing Hyponatremia: Key Information for Today’s Hospitalist
Wednesday, May 3
7:30 - 9:30 p.m., Jasmine CDGH
Dinner at 7:30 p.m.
Presenters: Jeffrey S. Shapiro, MD, regional medical director and hospitalist, Southern California Hospitalist Network, Anaheim; Alpesh N. Amin, MD, MBA, MACP, SFHM, FACC, Thomas and Mary Cesario chair, Department of Medicine, professor of medicine, business, public health, nursing science, and biomedical engineering, executive director, hospitalist program, University of California, Irvine; Mohammed S. Ahmed, DO, CSH, FASN, associate professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Midwestern University, Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine
Sponsored by Otsuka Pharmaceuticals.

Look back at the history of SHM’s annual Research, Innovations and Clinical Vignettes poster competition – better known as the RIV – and it may seem inevitable that it’s grown into one of the main highlights of the conference. The RIV has become so popular that the number of submissions has nearly tripled from 634 in 2010 to 1,712 this year.

File photo

The efforts have clearly worked, as RIV is a major driver for annual meeting attendance. The poster competition draws massive crowds that snake their way through the accepted posters.

For those interested in a deeper dive, SHM chooses a dozen or so top abstracts for oral presentations that are, in Dr. Fang’s words, “the creme de la creme of all the research and innovations for the given year.”

The growth of the abstracts competition comes, of course, as the specialty itself has seen its ranks skyrocket. Hospitalists now number an estimated 52,000 nationally, and in addition to providing direct clinical care, have taken ownership of key health care drivers like patient safety, quality improvement, and systems change.

“We do what we do for the good of health care and, ultimately, for the good of our patients,” Dr. Fang said. “Sometimes that’s rounding and taking care of patients in a clinical fashion, and sometimes it’s contributing to the medical literature. It could have been really easy for a specialty to say, ‘Not our problem,’ or ‘No, we’re just rounding.’ ”

HM17 course director Lenny Feldman, MD, FACP, FAAP, SFHM, believes that the commitment of SHM’s founding generation to do research for the past decade has created a group of mentors that push younger hospitalists to do more of the same.

“If we didn’t have the research engine part of hospital medicine, if we didn’t have the folks who are getting into administration and other important leadership areas, we wouldn’t see the maturation of this specialty and we would, in many ways, be stuck at the point at which we started,” Dr. Feldman said. “The only way for us to move forward is to do the research, to be in position to make sure that hospital medicine continues to grow in a direction that is good for our patients, for us, and for the entire system.”

That perspective is what motivates hospitalists to make the RIV bigger each year, said Dr. Fang.

“Having your abstract accepted as a poster or an oral presentation showcases all the work that you’ve put into it,” Dr. Fang said. “There’s a huge amount of pride in showing what you’ve been able to achieve. The driving force is the desire to see what other people are doing, and network to share ideas. That’s the really wonderful part of the RIV competition.”

Look back at the history of SHM’s annual Research, Innovations and Clinical Vignettes poster competition – better known as the RIV – and it may seem inevitable that it’s grown into one of the main highlights of the conference. The RIV has become so popular that the number of submissions has nearly tripled from 634 in 2010 to 1,712 this year.

File photo

The efforts have clearly worked, as RIV is a major driver for annual meeting attendance. The poster competition draws massive crowds that snake their way through the accepted posters.

For those interested in a deeper dive, SHM chooses a dozen or so top abstracts for oral presentations that are, in Dr. Fang’s words, “the creme de la creme of all the research and innovations for the given year.”

The growth of the abstracts competition comes, of course, as the specialty itself has seen its ranks skyrocket. Hospitalists now number an estimated 52,000 nationally, and in addition to providing direct clinical care, have taken ownership of key health care drivers like patient safety, quality improvement, and systems change.

“We do what we do for the good of health care and, ultimately, for the good of our patients,” Dr. Fang said. “Sometimes that’s rounding and taking care of patients in a clinical fashion, and sometimes it’s contributing to the medical literature. It could have been really easy for a specialty to say, ‘Not our problem,’ or ‘No, we’re just rounding.’ ”

HM17 course director Lenny Feldman, MD, FACP, FAAP, SFHM, believes that the commitment of SHM’s founding generation to do research for the past decade has created a group of mentors that push younger hospitalists to do more of the same.

“If we didn’t have the research engine part of hospital medicine, if we didn’t have the folks who are getting into administration and other important leadership areas, we wouldn’t see the maturation of this specialty and we would, in many ways, be stuck at the point at which we started,” Dr. Feldman said. “The only way for us to move forward is to do the research, to be in position to make sure that hospital medicine continues to grow in a direction that is good for our patients, for us, and for the entire system.”

That perspective is what motivates hospitalists to make the RIV bigger each year, said Dr. Fang.

“Having your abstract accepted as a poster or an oral presentation showcases all the work that you’ve put into it,” Dr. Fang said. “There’s a huge amount of pride in showing what you’ve been able to achieve. The driving force is the desire to see what other people are doing, and network to share ideas. That’s the really wonderful part of the RIV competition.”

Look back at the history of SHM’s annual Research, Innovations and Clinical Vignettes poster competition – better known as the RIV – and it may seem inevitable that it’s grown into one of the main highlights of the conference. The RIV has become so popular that the number of submissions has nearly tripled from 634 in 2010 to 1,712 this year.

File photo

The efforts have clearly worked, as RIV is a major driver for annual meeting attendance. The poster competition draws massive crowds that snake their way through the accepted posters.

For those interested in a deeper dive, SHM chooses a dozen or so top abstracts for oral presentations that are, in Dr. Fang’s words, “the creme de la creme of all the research and innovations for the given year.”

The growth of the abstracts competition comes, of course, as the specialty itself has seen its ranks skyrocket. Hospitalists now number an estimated 52,000 nationally, and in addition to providing direct clinical care, have taken ownership of key health care drivers like patient safety, quality improvement, and systems change.

“We do what we do for the good of health care and, ultimately, for the good of our patients,” Dr. Fang said. “Sometimes that’s rounding and taking care of patients in a clinical fashion, and sometimes it’s contributing to the medical literature. It could have been really easy for a specialty to say, ‘Not our problem,’ or ‘No, we’re just rounding.’ ”

HM17 course director Lenny Feldman, MD, FACP, FAAP, SFHM, believes that the commitment of SHM’s founding generation to do research for the past decade has created a group of mentors that push younger hospitalists to do more of the same.

“If we didn’t have the research engine part of hospital medicine, if we didn’t have the folks who are getting into administration and other important leadership areas, we wouldn’t see the maturation of this specialty and we would, in many ways, be stuck at the point at which we started,” Dr. Feldman said. “The only way for us to move forward is to do the research, to be in position to make sure that hospital medicine continues to grow in a direction that is good for our patients, for us, and for the entire system.”

That perspective is what motivates hospitalists to make the RIV bigger each year, said Dr. Fang.

“Having your abstract accepted as a poster or an oral presentation showcases all the work that you’ve put into it,” Dr. Fang said. “There’s a huge amount of pride in showing what you’ve been able to achieve. The driving force is the desire to see what other people are doing, and network to share ideas. That’s the really wonderful part of the RIV competition.”

Is HCAHPS Hurting Our Patients?

Speakers: Suparna Dutta, MD, MS, MPH, and John Biebelhausen, MD, MBA

Explore the unintended consequences of assessing patient satisfaction and labeling pain as “the fifth vital sign” in the midst of a national opioid epidemic. The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, which was developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to assess the inpatient experience and impacts hospital reimbursement, includes directed questions about pain management.

Join us as we review the background of HCAHPS, its potential unintended impacts over the years, as well as current and future efforts of SHM toward improving health policy in this domain.

Hello, My Name Is POCUS (Point-of-Care Ultrasound)

Speaker: Nilam Soni, MD, MS, FHM

Point-of-care ultrasound is being used by more hospitalists to perform bedside diagnostics and to guide invasive procedures. However, most practicing hospitalists completed their training before point-of-care ultrasound education was common in medical school and residency curricula. This interactive session will:

• Explain what point-of-care ultrasonography is and how hospitalists are currently using it.
• Highlight some of the unique point-of-care ultrasound activities at HM17.
• Describe the launch of a new point-of-care ultrasound certification program offered by SHM & ACCP.

The Best-Kept Secrets from the State of Hospital Medicine Report

Speaker: Johnbuck Creamer, MD, SFHM

The State of Hospital Medicine Report is powered by SHM’s biannual survey that recently captured data from nearly 600 HM groups, augmented by additional hospitalist data licensed from MGMA. We’ll explore trends and difference among groups, including:

• Compensation per wRVU and use of nocturnists are increasing.
• Turnover rates are decreasing.
• Compensation for quality performance varies greatly among academic, nonacademic, and pediatric practice groups.
• NP/PA utilization rates are very different between East and West U.S. regions.
• Family Practice presence is increasing in adult-only practice groups.
• Academic groups are falling further behind in CPT coding levels.

We Need to Talk: Opioid-Related Respiratory Failure & Death

Speaker: Thomas Frederickson, MD, SFHM

Discussion topics:

• The opioid epidemic – not just an outpatient issue.
• How opioids can cause respiratory arrest and death, and why current screening and monitoring strategies can fail.
• What works – examples of successful strategies that have been implemented and have saved lives.

PediBOOST^®: Kids Need Better Care Transitions, Too!

Speaker: James O’Callaghan, MD, SFHM

PediBOOST is a pediatric-specific adaption of the SHM Project BOOST^® (Better Outcomes by Optimizing Safe Transitions) quality initiative. The goal is to improve poor discharge processes (demonstrated by low patient satisfaction and worse clinical outcomes, not just higher hospital readmission rates).

It considers unique problems for hospitalized children, including:

• Medication issues – palatability and adherence concerns, need for compounding.
• Equipment issues – portability use for home and school.
• Education issues – engagement of patient, as developmentally appropriate, along with training of all providers who might care for the patient (parents, teachers).

How Hospitalists Really Feel about EMRs

Speaker: Rupesh Prasad, MD, MPH, SFHM

Electronic medical record use has tremendously increased in the last few years.

• What are the potential benefits of use – have they been realized?
• What do the hospitalists think:
• How have EMRs impacted patient safety?
• How have EMRs impacted patient face to face time?
• What are hospitalists’ frustrations about EMRs?

Improve Your Interactions with the 5 Rs of Cultural Humility

Speaker: O’Neil Pyke, MD, SFHM

As the proverbial stranger at the bedside, HM providers are tasked with a very challenging proposition: meet a new patient in their most vulnerable state and quickly establish effective lines of communication and trust and provide patient-centric care, ultimately yielding a satisfied patient (and family) irrespective of the clinical outcome. With increased focus on patient experience and satisfaction, it is imperative that hospitals and health systems equip all hospitalists with the tools needed to deliver culturally competent care to all patients served.

The goal of the 5 Rs is to equip HM providers with tangible resources and easy to understand reminders that focus on encouraging awareness and, ultimately, deliver culturally “humble” care to all patients (and family members).

• Respect: Hospitalists will treat every person with the utmost respect and strive to preserve patient dignity.
• Regard: Hospitalists will hold every person in their highest regard and not allow unconscious biases to manifest, exercising utmost sensitivity to anticipated differences in beliefs, value systems, and preferences.
• Relevance: Hospitalists will expect cultural humility to be relevant and apply this practice to every encounter.
• Reflection: Hospitalists will approach every encounter with humility and understanding that there is always something to learn from everyone.
• Resiliency: In order to provide better care for hospitalized patients, hospitalists will embody the practice of cultural humility to enhance personal resiliency and compassion for all.

It’s Critical: Hospitalists in the ICU

Speaker: Joseph Sweigart, MD

We hope to:

• Describe formation of purpose of the critical care task force within the Education Committee.
• Discuss the creation and execution of the SHM critical care survey.
• Present selected results including:
• Introduce strategies to address the practice gaps identified including:

Palliative Care in Hospital Medicine: Figuring Out What Matters Most

Speaker: Rab Razzak, MBBS, MD

We aim to:

• Discuss the overall definition of palliative care. It is for all seriously ill patients and focuses on human-centered care and quality of life, best provided early in an illness.
• Idea of primary palliative care and role of hospitalists. Most palliative care is provided by frontline clinicians, and hospitalists are optimally positioned to support seriously ill patients and their families. It is crucial for HM to involve palliative care specialists when needed.
• Effective communication about serious illness – words that work and how to operationalize human-centered care while honestly discussing serious illness.
  

Is HCAHPS Hurting Our Patients?

Speakers: Suparna Dutta, MD, MS, MPH, and John Biebelhausen, MD, MBA

Explore the unintended consequences of assessing patient satisfaction and labeling pain as “the fifth vital sign” in the midst of a national opioid epidemic. The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, which was developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to assess the inpatient experience and impacts hospital reimbursement, includes directed questions about pain management.

Join us as we review the background of HCAHPS, its potential unintended impacts over the years, as well as current and future efforts of SHM toward improving health policy in this domain.

Hello, My Name Is POCUS (Point-of-Care Ultrasound)

Speaker: Nilam Soni, MD, MS, FHM

Point-of-care ultrasound is being used by more hospitalists to perform bedside diagnostics and to guide invasive procedures. However, most practicing hospitalists completed their training before point-of-care ultrasound education was common in medical school and residency curricula. This interactive session will:

• Explain what point-of-care ultrasonography is and how hospitalists are currently using it.
• Highlight some of the unique point-of-care ultrasound activities at HM17.
• Describe the launch of a new point-of-care ultrasound certification program offered by SHM & ACCP.

The Best-Kept Secrets from the State of Hospital Medicine Report

Speaker: Johnbuck Creamer, MD, SFHM

The State of Hospital Medicine Report is powered by SHM’s biannual survey that recently captured data from nearly 600 HM groups, augmented by additional hospitalist data licensed from MGMA. We’ll explore trends and difference among groups, including:

• Compensation per wRVU and use of nocturnists are increasing.
• Turnover rates are decreasing.
• Compensation for quality performance varies greatly among academic, nonacademic, and pediatric practice groups.
• NP/PA utilization rates are very different between East and West U.S. regions.
• Family Practice presence is increasing in adult-only practice groups.
• Academic groups are falling further behind in CPT coding levels.

We Need to Talk: Opioid-Related Respiratory Failure & Death

Speaker: Thomas Frederickson, MD, SFHM

Discussion topics:

• The opioid epidemic – not just an outpatient issue.
• How opioids can cause respiratory arrest and death, and why current screening and monitoring strategies can fail.
• What works – examples of successful strategies that have been implemented and have saved lives.

PediBOOST^®: Kids Need Better Care Transitions, Too!

Speaker: James O’Callaghan, MD, SFHM

PediBOOST is a pediatric-specific adaption of the SHM Project BOOST^® (Better Outcomes by Optimizing Safe Transitions) quality initiative. The goal is to improve poor discharge processes (demonstrated by low patient satisfaction and worse clinical outcomes, not just higher hospital readmission rates).

It considers unique problems for hospitalized children, including:

• Medication issues – palatability and adherence concerns, need for compounding.
• Equipment issues – portability use for home and school.
• Education issues – engagement of patient, as developmentally appropriate, along with training of all providers who might care for the patient (parents, teachers).

How Hospitalists Really Feel about EMRs

Speaker: Rupesh Prasad, MD, MPH, SFHM

Electronic medical record use has tremendously increased in the last few years.

• What are the potential benefits of use – have they been realized?
• What do the hospitalists think:
• How have EMRs impacted patient safety?
• How have EMRs impacted patient face to face time?
• What are hospitalists’ frustrations about EMRs?

Improve Your Interactions with the 5 Rs of Cultural Humility

Speaker: O’Neil Pyke, MD, SFHM

As the proverbial stranger at the bedside, HM providers are tasked with a very challenging proposition: meet a new patient in their most vulnerable state and quickly establish effective lines of communication and trust and provide patient-centric care, ultimately yielding a satisfied patient (and family) irrespective of the clinical outcome. With increased focus on patient experience and satisfaction, it is imperative that hospitals and health systems equip all hospitalists with the tools needed to deliver culturally competent care to all patients served.

The goal of the 5 Rs is to equip HM providers with tangible resources and easy to understand reminders that focus on encouraging awareness and, ultimately, deliver culturally “humble” care to all patients (and family members).

• Respect: Hospitalists will treat every person with the utmost respect and strive to preserve patient dignity.
• Regard: Hospitalists will hold every person in their highest regard and not allow unconscious biases to manifest, exercising utmost sensitivity to anticipated differences in beliefs, value systems, and preferences.
• Relevance: Hospitalists will expect cultural humility to be relevant and apply this practice to every encounter.
• Reflection: Hospitalists will approach every encounter with humility and understanding that there is always something to learn from everyone.
• Resiliency: In order to provide better care for hospitalized patients, hospitalists will embody the practice of cultural humility to enhance personal resiliency and compassion for all.

It’s Critical: Hospitalists in the ICU

Speaker: Joseph Sweigart, MD

We hope to:

• Describe formation of purpose of the critical care task force within the Education Committee.
• Discuss the creation and execution of the SHM critical care survey.
• Present selected results including:
• Introduce strategies to address the practice gaps identified including:

Palliative Care in Hospital Medicine: Figuring Out What Matters Most

Speaker: Rab Razzak, MBBS, MD

We aim to:

• Discuss the overall definition of palliative care. It is for all seriously ill patients and focuses on human-centered care and quality of life, best provided early in an illness.
• Idea of primary palliative care and role of hospitalists. Most palliative care is provided by frontline clinicians, and hospitalists are optimally positioned to support seriously ill patients and their families. It is crucial for HM to involve palliative care specialists when needed.
• Effective communication about serious illness – words that work and how to operationalize human-centered care while honestly discussing serious illness.
  

Is HCAHPS Hurting Our Patients?

Speakers: Suparna Dutta, MD, MS, MPH, and John Biebelhausen, MD, MBA

Explore the unintended consequences of assessing patient satisfaction and labeling pain as “the fifth vital sign” in the midst of a national opioid epidemic. The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, which was developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to assess the inpatient experience and impacts hospital reimbursement, includes directed questions about pain management.

Join us as we review the background of HCAHPS, its potential unintended impacts over the years, as well as current and future efforts of SHM toward improving health policy in this domain.

Hello, My Name Is POCUS (Point-of-Care Ultrasound)

Speaker: Nilam Soni, MD, MS, FHM

Point-of-care ultrasound is being used by more hospitalists to perform bedside diagnostics and to guide invasive procedures. However, most practicing hospitalists completed their training before point-of-care ultrasound education was common in medical school and residency curricula. This interactive session will:

• Explain what point-of-care ultrasonography is and how hospitalists are currently using it.
• Highlight some of the unique point-of-care ultrasound activities at HM17.
• Describe the launch of a new point-of-care ultrasound certification program offered by SHM & ACCP.

The Best-Kept Secrets from the State of Hospital Medicine Report

Speaker: Johnbuck Creamer, MD, SFHM

The State of Hospital Medicine Report is powered by SHM’s biannual survey that recently captured data from nearly 600 HM groups, augmented by additional hospitalist data licensed from MGMA. We’ll explore trends and difference among groups, including:

• Compensation per wRVU and use of nocturnists are increasing.
• Turnover rates are decreasing.
• Compensation for quality performance varies greatly among academic, nonacademic, and pediatric practice groups.
• NP/PA utilization rates are very different between East and West U.S. regions.
• Family Practice presence is increasing in adult-only practice groups.
• Academic groups are falling further behind in CPT coding levels.

We Need to Talk: Opioid-Related Respiratory Failure & Death

Speaker: Thomas Frederickson, MD, SFHM

Discussion topics:

• The opioid epidemic – not just an outpatient issue.
• How opioids can cause respiratory arrest and death, and why current screening and monitoring strategies can fail.
• What works – examples of successful strategies that have been implemented and have saved lives.

PediBOOST^®: Kids Need Better Care Transitions, Too!

Speaker: James O’Callaghan, MD, SFHM

PediBOOST is a pediatric-specific adaption of the SHM Project BOOST^® (Better Outcomes by Optimizing Safe Transitions) quality initiative. The goal is to improve poor discharge processes (demonstrated by low patient satisfaction and worse clinical outcomes, not just higher hospital readmission rates).

It considers unique problems for hospitalized children, including:

• Medication issues – palatability and adherence concerns, need for compounding.
• Equipment issues – portability use for home and school.
• Education issues – engagement of patient, as developmentally appropriate, along with training of all providers who might care for the patient (parents, teachers).

How Hospitalists Really Feel about EMRs

Speaker: Rupesh Prasad, MD, MPH, SFHM

Electronic medical record use has tremendously increased in the last few years.

• What are the potential benefits of use – have they been realized?
• What do the hospitalists think:
• How have EMRs impacted patient safety?
• How have EMRs impacted patient face to face time?
• What are hospitalists’ frustrations about EMRs?

Improve Your Interactions with the 5 Rs of Cultural Humility

Speaker: O’Neil Pyke, MD, SFHM

As the proverbial stranger at the bedside, HM providers are tasked with a very challenging proposition: meet a new patient in their most vulnerable state and quickly establish effective lines of communication and trust and provide patient-centric care, ultimately yielding a satisfied patient (and family) irrespective of the clinical outcome. With increased focus on patient experience and satisfaction, it is imperative that hospitals and health systems equip all hospitalists with the tools needed to deliver culturally competent care to all patients served.

The goal of the 5 Rs is to equip HM providers with tangible resources and easy to understand reminders that focus on encouraging awareness and, ultimately, deliver culturally “humble” care to all patients (and family members).

• Respect: Hospitalists will treat every person with the utmost respect and strive to preserve patient dignity.
• Regard: Hospitalists will hold every person in their highest regard and not allow unconscious biases to manifest, exercising utmost sensitivity to anticipated differences in beliefs, value systems, and preferences.
• Relevance: Hospitalists will expect cultural humility to be relevant and apply this practice to every encounter.
• Reflection: Hospitalists will approach every encounter with humility and understanding that there is always something to learn from everyone.
• Resiliency: In order to provide better care for hospitalized patients, hospitalists will embody the practice of cultural humility to enhance personal resiliency and compassion for all.

It’s Critical: Hospitalists in the ICU

Speaker: Joseph Sweigart, MD

We hope to:

• Describe formation of purpose of the critical care task force within the Education Committee.
• Discuss the creation and execution of the SHM critical care survey.
• Present selected results including:
• Introduce strategies to address the practice gaps identified including:

Palliative Care in Hospital Medicine: Figuring Out What Matters Most

Speaker: Rab Razzak, MBBS, MD

We aim to:

• Discuss the overall definition of palliative care. It is for all seriously ill patients and focuses on human-centered care and quality of life, best provided early in an illness.
• Idea of primary palliative care and role of hospitalists. Most palliative care is provided by frontline clinicians, and hospitalists are optimally positioned to support seriously ill patients and their families. It is crucial for HM to involve palliative care specialists when needed.
• Effective communication about serious illness – words that work and how to operationalize human-centered care while honestly discussing serious illness.
  

There is only one annual meeting dedicated to hospitalists, designed by hospitalists, and focusing purely on issues important to hospitalists. But even that isn’t enough to make sure more hospitalists show up every year.

That’s because a yearly conference can’t just be a rehash of the last one.
 

A valuable conference, certainly one worth spending the bulk of a continuing medical budget on, offers something new every year. Or, to look at the schedule for HM17, a lot of new every year.

Meeting evolving needs

New offerings aren’t limited to the main conference schedule. The 2017 roster of pre-courses includes one titled, “Bugs, Drugs and You: Infectious Diseases ‘Boot Camp’ for Hospitalists.” This daylong session hasn’t been held since 2013, and copresenter Jennifer Hanrahan, DO, associate professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, says the timing is good.

“I don’t know that the percentage of people hospitalized for infection has increased,” she said. “Because we are doing things more quickly than we did in the past, length of stays are shorter and there is a lot of pressure to get patients out of the hospital. There is a lot of consultation with Infectious Disease.”

Dr. Hanrahan, who also serves as medical director of infection prevention at Cleveland’s MetroHealth Medical Center, says that with so many patients hospitalized for infections, the value of updating one’s knowledge every few years is critical.

“I’ve been an infectious disease physician for 18 years and I’m also a hospitalist,” she said. “The types of questions I get vary a great deal depending on the experience of the hospitalist. My hope would be that we would be able to provide a basic level of understanding so that people would be more confident in approaching these problems.”

Another new feature this year is offer some of the most popular sessions at multiple times. In years past, popular sessions – such as “Update and Pearls in Infectious Diseases” and “Non–Evidence-Based Medicine: Things We Do for No Reason” – are standing room only events with attendees sitting on floors or gathered to eavesdrop from doorways.

“That says something about the content that’s being delivered, but that’s not very comfortable for folks who want to sit through a session,” Dr. Feldman said. “We’ve decided to add repeat sessions of popular presentations. We want everyone to be comfortable while they’re learning the important clinical content that’s being delivered at these sessions.”

The 2017 focus on healthcare policy is also new. Educational sessions on the policy landscape will be formally buttressed by plenary presentations from Patrick Conway, MD, MSc, MHM, deputy administrator for Innovation and Quality at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, a former acting assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and national coordinator for health information technology.

“There’s a thirst for (policy news) among members of the Society of Hospital Medicine,” Dr. Feldman said. “It is easy to get lost in the day-to-day work that we do, but I think most of us really enjoy hearing about the bigger picture, especially when the bigger picture is in flux.”

“Right now, this is critical,” added Dr. Finn. “Health insurance coverage has a huge impact on hospitals. I think all practicing hospitalists will need to engage with the hospital C-suite if insurance and coverage changes. Since we are hospital based, we are directly tied to anything that the federal government does in terms of health care changes. It’s important for hospitalists to be knowledgeable about health policy.”

One major highlight of the meeting calendar – less new and more historically under-appreciated, in Dr. Feldman’s view – should be the 18 workshop presentations, which are essentially 90-minute dissertations, whittled down from roughly 150 submissions.

“These are the best submissions that we received,” Dr. Feldman said. “We worked hard to make sure that the workshops encompass the breadth and depth of hospital medicine. It is not just one area that’s covered in every workshop. We’ll have workshops ranging from clinical reasoning and communication with patients, to quality improvement issues and high value care discussions, as well as a case-based approach to inpatient dermatology.”

While annual meetings’ new offerings are always an important draw, Dr. Feldman says that the annual “standbys,” such as practice management and pediatrics, are necessary to keep attendees up to date on best practices in changing times.

“It’s pretty self-evident that if we’re going to be an important specialty, we need to serve those who are caring for patients day in and day out, as well as folks who are researching how we can do it better,” he said. “Then we must make sure that data is disseminated to all of us who are taking care of patients. That’s one of the really important parts of this meeting: dissemination of the important work.”

There is only one annual meeting dedicated to hospitalists, designed by hospitalists, and focusing purely on issues important to hospitalists. But even that isn’t enough to make sure more hospitalists show up every year.

That’s because a yearly conference can’t just be a rehash of the last one.
 

A valuable conference, certainly one worth spending the bulk of a continuing medical budget on, offers something new every year. Or, to look at the schedule for HM17, a lot of new every year.

Meeting evolving needs

New offerings aren’t limited to the main conference schedule. The 2017 roster of pre-courses includes one titled, “Bugs, Drugs and You: Infectious Diseases ‘Boot Camp’ for Hospitalists.” This daylong session hasn’t been held since 2013, and copresenter Jennifer Hanrahan, DO, associate professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, says the timing is good.

“I don’t know that the percentage of people hospitalized for infection has increased,” she said. “Because we are doing things more quickly than we did in the past, length of stays are shorter and there is a lot of pressure to get patients out of the hospital. There is a lot of consultation with Infectious Disease.”

Dr. Hanrahan, who also serves as medical director of infection prevention at Cleveland’s MetroHealth Medical Center, says that with so many patients hospitalized for infections, the value of updating one’s knowledge every few years is critical.

“I’ve been an infectious disease physician for 18 years and I’m also a hospitalist,” she said. “The types of questions I get vary a great deal depending on the experience of the hospitalist. My hope would be that we would be able to provide a basic level of understanding so that people would be more confident in approaching these problems.”

Another new feature this year is offer some of the most popular sessions at multiple times. In years past, popular sessions – such as “Update and Pearls in Infectious Diseases” and “Non–Evidence-Based Medicine: Things We Do for No Reason” – are standing room only events with attendees sitting on floors or gathered to eavesdrop from doorways.

“That says something about the content that’s being delivered, but that’s not very comfortable for folks who want to sit through a session,” Dr. Feldman said. “We’ve decided to add repeat sessions of popular presentations. We want everyone to be comfortable while they’re learning the important clinical content that’s being delivered at these sessions.”

The 2017 focus on healthcare policy is also new. Educational sessions on the policy landscape will be formally buttressed by plenary presentations from Patrick Conway, MD, MSc, MHM, deputy administrator for Innovation and Quality at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, a former acting assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and national coordinator for health information technology.

“There’s a thirst for (policy news) among members of the Society of Hospital Medicine,” Dr. Feldman said. “It is easy to get lost in the day-to-day work that we do, but I think most of us really enjoy hearing about the bigger picture, especially when the bigger picture is in flux.”

“Right now, this is critical,” added Dr. Finn. “Health insurance coverage has a huge impact on hospitals. I think all practicing hospitalists will need to engage with the hospital C-suite if insurance and coverage changes. Since we are hospital based, we are directly tied to anything that the federal government does in terms of health care changes. It’s important for hospitalists to be knowledgeable about health policy.”

One major highlight of the meeting calendar – less new and more historically under-appreciated, in Dr. Feldman’s view – should be the 18 workshop presentations, which are essentially 90-minute dissertations, whittled down from roughly 150 submissions.

“These are the best submissions that we received,” Dr. Feldman said. “We worked hard to make sure that the workshops encompass the breadth and depth of hospital medicine. It is not just one area that’s covered in every workshop. We’ll have workshops ranging from clinical reasoning and communication with patients, to quality improvement issues and high value care discussions, as well as a case-based approach to inpatient dermatology.”

While annual meetings’ new offerings are always an important draw, Dr. Feldman says that the annual “standbys,” such as practice management and pediatrics, are necessary to keep attendees up to date on best practices in changing times.

“It’s pretty self-evident that if we’re going to be an important specialty, we need to serve those who are caring for patients day in and day out, as well as folks who are researching how we can do it better,” he said. “Then we must make sure that data is disseminated to all of us who are taking care of patients. That’s one of the really important parts of this meeting: dissemination of the important work.”

There is only one annual meeting dedicated to hospitalists, designed by hospitalists, and focusing purely on issues important to hospitalists. But even that isn’t enough to make sure more hospitalists show up every year.

That’s because a yearly conference can’t just be a rehash of the last one.
 

A valuable conference, certainly one worth spending the bulk of a continuing medical budget on, offers something new every year. Or, to look at the schedule for HM17, a lot of new every year.

Meeting evolving needs

New offerings aren’t limited to the main conference schedule. The 2017 roster of pre-courses includes one titled, “Bugs, Drugs and You: Infectious Diseases ‘Boot Camp’ for Hospitalists.” This daylong session hasn’t been held since 2013, and copresenter Jennifer Hanrahan, DO, associate professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, says the timing is good.

“I don’t know that the percentage of people hospitalized for infection has increased,” she said. “Because we are doing things more quickly than we did in the past, length of stays are shorter and there is a lot of pressure to get patients out of the hospital. There is a lot of consultation with Infectious Disease.”

Dr. Hanrahan, who also serves as medical director of infection prevention at Cleveland’s MetroHealth Medical Center, says that with so many patients hospitalized for infections, the value of updating one’s knowledge every few years is critical.

“I’ve been an infectious disease physician for 18 years and I’m also a hospitalist,” she said. “The types of questions I get vary a great deal depending on the experience of the hospitalist. My hope would be that we would be able to provide a basic level of understanding so that people would be more confident in approaching these problems.”

Another new feature this year is offer some of the most popular sessions at multiple times. In years past, popular sessions – such as “Update and Pearls in Infectious Diseases” and “Non–Evidence-Based Medicine: Things We Do for No Reason” – are standing room only events with attendees sitting on floors or gathered to eavesdrop from doorways.

“That says something about the content that’s being delivered, but that’s not very comfortable for folks who want to sit through a session,” Dr. Feldman said. “We’ve decided to add repeat sessions of popular presentations. We want everyone to be comfortable while they’re learning the important clinical content that’s being delivered at these sessions.”

The 2017 focus on healthcare policy is also new. Educational sessions on the policy landscape will be formally buttressed by plenary presentations from Patrick Conway, MD, MSc, MHM, deputy administrator for Innovation and Quality at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, a former acting assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and national coordinator for health information technology.

“There’s a thirst for (policy news) among members of the Society of Hospital Medicine,” Dr. Feldman said. “It is easy to get lost in the day-to-day work that we do, but I think most of us really enjoy hearing about the bigger picture, especially when the bigger picture is in flux.”

“Right now, this is critical,” added Dr. Finn. “Health insurance coverage has a huge impact on hospitals. I think all practicing hospitalists will need to engage with the hospital C-suite if insurance and coverage changes. Since we are hospital based, we are directly tied to anything that the federal government does in terms of health care changes. It’s important for hospitalists to be knowledgeable about health policy.”

One major highlight of the meeting calendar – less new and more historically under-appreciated, in Dr. Feldman’s view – should be the 18 workshop presentations, which are essentially 90-minute dissertations, whittled down from roughly 150 submissions.

“These are the best submissions that we received,” Dr. Feldman said. “We worked hard to make sure that the workshops encompass the breadth and depth of hospital medicine. It is not just one area that’s covered in every workshop. We’ll have workshops ranging from clinical reasoning and communication with patients, to quality improvement issues and high value care discussions, as well as a case-based approach to inpatient dermatology.”

While annual meetings’ new offerings are always an important draw, Dr. Feldman says that the annual “standbys,” such as practice management and pediatrics, are necessary to keep attendees up to date on best practices in changing times.

“It’s pretty self-evident that if we’re going to be an important specialty, we need to serve those who are caring for patients day in and day out, as well as folks who are researching how we can do it better,” he said. “Then we must make sure that data is disseminated to all of us who are taking care of patients. That’s one of the really important parts of this meeting: dissemination of the important work.”

LAS VEGAS — Not to sound like a Sin City come on, but pick a course, any course.

No, seriously.

Hospitalists and other attendees at the Hospitalist Medicine 2017 meeting next month will do well to figure out what sessions they want to attend before arriving at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. This 4-day Super Bowl of hospital medicine prides itself on offering more than any attendee can find time for. This year is no exception, as the annual meeting has added five new educational tracks: High-Value Care, Clinical Updates, Health Policy, Diagnostic Reasoning, and Medical Education.

The committee does its job to fill the meeting with best-in-class educational sessions. Here are some of the group’s recommendations for this year’s meeting:

1. “The Hospitalist’s Role in the Opioid Epidemic” – Tuesday, May 2; 1:35 p.m.–2:35 p.m.

2. “Opioids for Acute Pain Management in the Seriously Ill – How to Safely Prescribe” – Wednesday, May 3; 2:50 p.m.–3:30 p.m.

3. “Non-opiate Pain Management for the Hospitalist” – Wednesday, May 3; 4:20 p.m.–5:00 p.m.

Elizabeth Cook, MD, medical director of the hospitalist division of Medical Associates of Central Virginia in Lynchburg, said, “The historical emphasis on pain control has helped contributed to the current epidemic of opioid abuse, overdoses, and deaths. Hospitalists have a need to use these medications for care of the hospitalized patient but have an important part to play in leading the way to appropriate use and patient education regarding the dangers of these medications. These sessions will provide hospitalists with some tools to use in beginning to effect a shift in pain management strategies and responsible use of narcotic pain medications.”

Miguel Angel Villagra, MD, FACP, FHM, hospitalist department program medical director at White River Medical Center in Batesville, Ark., said, “As primary front-line providers in the acute care setting, we face the everyday struggles in the management of chronic opioid users. Acquiring some general guidelines can help us tailor our approach within an ethical focus to improve the care of this population.”

Sarah Stella, MD, an academic hospitalist at Denver Health, said, “This is a crucial and timely topic. Hospitalists have had a hand in perpetuating the opioid epidemic and can play an important role in helping to end it. In this regard, there are many opportunities to do good, such as judicious prescribing and tapering medications for acute pain, starting eligible patients on Suboxone [buprenorphine] in-house, and arranging substance abuse treatment follow-up.”

4. “Focus on POCUS - Introduction to Point-of-Care Ultrasound for Pediatric Hospitalists” – Tuesday, May 2; 10:35 a.m.–11:35 a.m.

Richard Quinn is a freelance writer in New Jersey.

LAS VEGAS — Not to sound like a Sin City come on, but pick a course, any course.

No, seriously.

Hospitalists and other attendees at the Hospitalist Medicine 2017 meeting next month will do well to figure out what sessions they want to attend before arriving at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. This 4-day Super Bowl of hospital medicine prides itself on offering more than any attendee can find time for. This year is no exception, as the annual meeting has added five new educational tracks: High-Value Care, Clinical Updates, Health Policy, Diagnostic Reasoning, and Medical Education.

The committee does its job to fill the meeting with best-in-class educational sessions. Here are some of the group’s recommendations for this year’s meeting:

1. “The Hospitalist’s Role in the Opioid Epidemic” – Tuesday, May 2; 1:35 p.m.–2:35 p.m.

2. “Opioids for Acute Pain Management in the Seriously Ill – How to Safely Prescribe” – Wednesday, May 3; 2:50 p.m.–3:30 p.m.

3. “Non-opiate Pain Management for the Hospitalist” – Wednesday, May 3; 4:20 p.m.–5:00 p.m.

Elizabeth Cook, MD, medical director of the hospitalist division of Medical Associates of Central Virginia in Lynchburg, said, “The historical emphasis on pain control has helped contributed to the current epidemic of opioid abuse, overdoses, and deaths. Hospitalists have a need to use these medications for care of the hospitalized patient but have an important part to play in leading the way to appropriate use and patient education regarding the dangers of these medications. These sessions will provide hospitalists with some tools to use in beginning to effect a shift in pain management strategies and responsible use of narcotic pain medications.”

Miguel Angel Villagra, MD, FACP, FHM, hospitalist department program medical director at White River Medical Center in Batesville, Ark., said, “As primary front-line providers in the acute care setting, we face the everyday struggles in the management of chronic opioid users. Acquiring some general guidelines can help us tailor our approach within an ethical focus to improve the care of this population.”

Sarah Stella, MD, an academic hospitalist at Denver Health, said, “This is a crucial and timely topic. Hospitalists have had a hand in perpetuating the opioid epidemic and can play an important role in helping to end it. In this regard, there are many opportunities to do good, such as judicious prescribing and tapering medications for acute pain, starting eligible patients on Suboxone [buprenorphine] in-house, and arranging substance abuse treatment follow-up.”

4. “Focus on POCUS - Introduction to Point-of-Care Ultrasound for Pediatric Hospitalists” – Tuesday, May 2; 10:35 a.m.–11:35 a.m.

Richard Quinn is a freelance writer in New Jersey.

LAS VEGAS — Not to sound like a Sin City come on, but pick a course, any course.

No, seriously.

Hospitalists and other attendees at the Hospitalist Medicine 2017 meeting next month will do well to figure out what sessions they want to attend before arriving at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. This 4-day Super Bowl of hospital medicine prides itself on offering more than any attendee can find time for. This year is no exception, as the annual meeting has added five new educational tracks: High-Value Care, Clinical Updates, Health Policy, Diagnostic Reasoning, and Medical Education.

The committee does its job to fill the meeting with best-in-class educational sessions. Here are some of the group’s recommendations for this year’s meeting:

1. “The Hospitalist’s Role in the Opioid Epidemic” – Tuesday, May 2; 1:35 p.m.–2:35 p.m.

2. “Opioids for Acute Pain Management in the Seriously Ill – How to Safely Prescribe” – Wednesday, May 3; 2:50 p.m.–3:30 p.m.

3. “Non-opiate Pain Management for the Hospitalist” – Wednesday, May 3; 4:20 p.m.–5:00 p.m.

Elizabeth Cook, MD, medical director of the hospitalist division of Medical Associates of Central Virginia in Lynchburg, said, “The historical emphasis on pain control has helped contributed to the current epidemic of opioid abuse, overdoses, and deaths. Hospitalists have a need to use these medications for care of the hospitalized patient but have an important part to play in leading the way to appropriate use and patient education regarding the dangers of these medications. These sessions will provide hospitalists with some tools to use in beginning to effect a shift in pain management strategies and responsible use of narcotic pain medications.”

Miguel Angel Villagra, MD, FACP, FHM, hospitalist department program medical director at White River Medical Center in Batesville, Ark., said, “As primary front-line providers in the acute care setting, we face the everyday struggles in the management of chronic opioid users. Acquiring some general guidelines can help us tailor our approach within an ethical focus to improve the care of this population.”

Sarah Stella, MD, an academic hospitalist at Denver Health, said, “This is a crucial and timely topic. Hospitalists have had a hand in perpetuating the opioid epidemic and can play an important role in helping to end it. In this regard, there are many opportunities to do good, such as judicious prescribing and tapering medications for acute pain, starting eligible patients on Suboxone [buprenorphine] in-house, and arranging substance abuse treatment follow-up.”

4. “Focus on POCUS - Introduction to Point-of-Care Ultrasound for Pediatric Hospitalists” – Tuesday, May 2; 10:35 a.m.–11:35 a.m.

Richard Quinn is a freelance writer in New Jersey.

Vineet Arora, MD, understands the unique value of being named one of this year’s three Masters in Hospital Medicine. It’s an honor bestowed for hospitalists, by hospitalists.

“I take a lot of pride in an honor determined by peers,” said Dr. Arora, an academic hospitalist at University of Chicago Medicine. “While peers are often the biggest support you receive in your professional career, because they are in the trenches with you, they can also be your best critics. That is especially true of the type of work that I do, which relies on the buy-in of frontline clinicians – including hospitalists and trainees – to achieve better patient care and education.”

Vineet Arora, MD, understands the unique value of being named one of this year’s three Masters in Hospital Medicine. It’s an honor bestowed for hospitalists, by hospitalists.

“I take a lot of pride in an honor determined by peers,” said Dr. Arora, an academic hospitalist at University of Chicago Medicine. “While peers are often the biggest support you receive in your professional career, because they are in the trenches with you, they can also be your best critics. That is especially true of the type of work that I do, which relies on the buy-in of frontline clinicians – including hospitalists and trainees – to achieve better patient care and education.”

Vineet Arora, MD, understands the unique value of being named one of this year’s three Masters in Hospital Medicine. It’s an honor bestowed for hospitalists, by hospitalists.

“I take a lot of pride in an honor determined by peers,” said Dr. Arora, an academic hospitalist at University of Chicago Medicine. “While peers are often the biggest support you receive in your professional career, because they are in the trenches with you, they can also be your best critics. That is especially true of the type of work that I do, which relies on the buy-in of frontline clinicians – including hospitalists and trainees – to achieve better patient care and education.”

Robert Wachter, MD, MHM, has given the final plenary address at every SHM annual meeting since 2007. His talks are peppered with his one-of-a-kind take on the confluence of medicine, politics, and policy – and at least once he broke into an Elton John parody.

Where does that point of view come from? As the “dean” of hospital medicine says in his ever-popular Twitter bio, he is “what happens when a poli sci major becomes an academic physician.”

That’s a needed perspective this year, as the level of political upheaval in the United States ups the ante on the tumult the health care field has experienced over the past few years. Questions surrounding the implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) and the continued struggles experienced by clinicians using electronic health records (EHR) are among the topics to be addressed.

Robert Wachter, MD, MHM, has given the final plenary address at every SHM annual meeting since 2007. His talks are peppered with his one-of-a-kind take on the confluence of medicine, politics, and policy – and at least once he broke into an Elton John parody.

Where does that point of view come from? As the “dean” of hospital medicine says in his ever-popular Twitter bio, he is “what happens when a poli sci major becomes an academic physician.”

That’s a needed perspective this year, as the level of political upheaval in the United States ups the ante on the tumult the health care field has experienced over the past few years. Questions surrounding the implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) and the continued struggles experienced by clinicians using electronic health records (EHR) are among the topics to be addressed.

Robert Wachter, MD, MHM, has given the final plenary address at every SHM annual meeting since 2007. His talks are peppered with his one-of-a-kind take on the confluence of medicine, politics, and policy – and at least once he broke into an Elton John parody.

Where does that point of view come from? As the “dean” of hospital medicine says in his ever-popular Twitter bio, he is “what happens when a poli sci major becomes an academic physician.”

That’s a needed perspective this year, as the level of political upheaval in the United States ups the ante on the tumult the health care field has experienced over the past few years. Questions surrounding the implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) and the continued struggles experienced by clinicians using electronic health records (EHR) are among the topics to be addressed.