From the Society

Justin Kimsey, Alabama

Mohammed N.Y. Shah, MD, Alaska

Katharina Beeler, MD, Arizona

Khoi Nguyen, MD, Arizona

Vinay Saini, MD, Arizona

Maria Aceves, PA-C, California

Sarvenaz Alibeigi, California

Peter Cadman, MD, California

Katrina Chapman, DO, MPH, California

Cheryll Gallardo-Villena, MD, California

Sripriya Ganesan, California

Alice Gong, MD, California

Henry Kwang, MD, California

Kevin Li, California

Anthony Murphy, MD, California

Dan Nguyen, California

Daniel Oh, California

Joon Parle, California

Katie Raffel, California

Darshana Sarathchandra, MD, California

Lifang Zhang, California

Jaime Baker, MD, Colorado

Eric Johnson, PA-C, Colorado

Juan Lessing, MD, Colorado

Benjamin Ruckman, DO, Colorado

Rehaan Shaffie, MD, Colorado

Deborah Casey, MD, Connecticut

Daniel Heacock, PA-C, Connecticut

Shabana Ansari, DO, Delaware

Madhu Prattipati, MD, Delaware

Pallavi Aneja, MD, Florida

Satcha Borgella, MD, Florida

Thendrex H. Estrella, MD, Florida

Abid Hussain, MD, Florida

Daphnee Hutchinson, DO, Florida

Muhammad Jaffer, Florida

Sue Lee, ANP, Florida

Melissa Odermann, DO, Florida

Jose Guillermo Revelo Paiz, MD, Florida

Rafael J. Rolon Rivera, MD, Florida

Eleonor Rongo, Florida

Esther Roth, Florida

Shitaye Argaw, MD, Georgia

Taryn DeGrazia, Georgia

Becca Feistritzer, Georgia

Jamal Fitts, Georgia

Kristen Flint, Georgia

Zachary Hermes, Georgia

Mukesh Kumar, Georgia

Kajal Patel, Georgia

Madeline Smith, Georgia

Wade Flowers, PharmD, Idaho

Ajay Bhandare, Illinois

Kimberly Brighton, Illinois

Hristo D. Hristov, MD, Illinois

Sidney Iriana, Illinois

Aurelian Ivan, Illinois

Ming Lee, MD, Illinois

Michelle Lundholm, Illinois

Idrees Mohiuddin, MD, Illinois

Murr Murray, Illinois

Tad Nair, MD, Illinois

Shalini Reddy, MD, Illinois

Richard Rethorst, MD, Illinois

Kelly Robertshaw, Illinois

Gracelene Wegrzyn, Illinois

Evan Yates, Illinois

Lora J. Jones McClure, MD, Indiana

Carleigh Wilson, DO, Indiana

Erin Brown, ARNP, Iowa

Adam Gray, Iowa

Paul Greco, MD, Iowa

Shelly McGurk, ACNP, ARNP, Iowa

Julie Stanik-Hutt, ACNP, CNS, PhD, Iowa

Elizabeth Cozad, DO, Kansas

Roshan Pais, Kentucky

Mark Youssef, MD, Kentucky

Heather Kahn, MD, Louisiana

Danielle Parrott, PA-C, Maine

Erica Lafferty, ACNP, Maryland

Andrea Limpuangthip, Maryland

Steven Schwartz, CCM, MD, Maryland

Eisha Azhar, MBBS, Massachusetts

Badal Kalamkar, MD, MPH, Massachusetts

Bhavya Rajanna, MD, Massachusetts

Sahib Baljinder Singh, MD, Massachusetts

Kathryn Adams, Michigan

Haseeb Aslam, MD, MBBS, Michigan

Hilda Crispin, MD, Michigan

Sharmistha Dev, MD, Michigan

Tristan Feierabend, MD, Michigan

Sonal Kamalia, MD, MBBS, Michigan

Matthew Luzum, MD, Michigan

Daniel Mitzel, MD, Michigan

Richard Raad, Michigan

Mythri Ramegowda, MD, Michigan

Katie Scally, MD, Michigan

Linden Spital, MSN, NP, Michigan

Porama Koy Thanaporn, MD, Michigan

Chanteil Ulatowski, Michigan

Tingting Xiong, MD, Michigan

Adam Zahr, Michigan

Mike Beste, MD, Minnesota

Elise Haupt, PA-C, Minnesota

Lobsang Trasar, MD, Minnesota

Kari Goan, DO, Mississippi

David C. Pierre, Mississippi

Sudheer Tangella, MD, Mississippi

Tahani Atieh, Missouri

Nicholas Arnold, Missouri

Amanda Calhoun, Missouri

Jyotirmoy Das, Missouri

Umber Dube, Missouri

Daniel Gaughan, Missouri

Woojin Joo, Missouri

Khaled Jumean, MBBS, Missouri

Salma Kazmi, MBBS, MD, Missouri

Yoon Kook (Danny) Kim, Missouri

Ryan Kronen, Missouri

Alyssa Kroner, Missouri

Randy Laine, Missouri

Edward Lee, Missouri

Cerena Leung, Missouri

Patricia Lithrow, Missouri

Brandt Lydon, Missouri

Mary Morgan Scott, Missouri

Jay Patel, Missouri

Justin Porter, Missouri

Danelle Reagin, FNP-C, Missouri

Amanda Reis, Missouri

Awik Som, Missouri

Abby Sung, Missouri

Mary Sutherland, Missouri

Maggie Wang, Missouri

Noah Wasserman, Missouri

Alexis Webber, Missouri

Ryan White, Missouri

Amy Xu, Missouri

Ran Xu, Missouri

Michael Yang, Missouri

Christopher Dietrich, MD, Montana

Jason Kunz, DO, Montana

Jodi Cantrell, MD, Nebraska

Steven Hart, MD, Nebraska

Kurt Kapels, MD, Nebraska

Brian Keegan, MD, Nebraska

Shaun Jang, MD, Nevada

Gurpinder Singh, MD, New Hampshire

Pragati Banda, MD, New Jersey

Sahai Donaldson, MBBS, New Jersey

Ashesha Mechineni, MD, New Jersey

Alisa Clark, New Mexico

Prajit Arora, MBBS, New Mexico

Crystal Cardwell, New Mexico

Landon Casaus, New Mexico

Tapuwa Mupfumira, MD, New Mexico

Eric Rightley, New Mexico

David S. Anderson, New York

Joan Bosco, MD, New York

Jessica Caro, New York

Anna Dewan, New York

Amrita Dhillon, MBBS, New York

Julia Frydman, New York

Radhika Gali, MBBS, MDS, New York

Allison Guttmann, MD, New York

Aryles Hedjar, MD, New York

Peter Janes, New York

Nadine Kalavazoff, New York

Jeffrey Lach, DO, New York

Keron Lezama, MD, New York

Yingheng Liu, New York

Taimur Mirza, New York

Cyrus Nensey, MD, New York

Nekee Pandya, MD, New York

Thushara Paul, MD, New York

Yu Sung, New York

Joel Boggan, MD, North Carolina

Angela Fletcher, North Carolina

Rebecca Gimpert, PA-C, North Carolina

Samantha Levering, PA-C, North Carolina

Nancy Martin, North Carolina

Richard Sherwood, North Carolina

Kranthi K. Sitammagari, MD, North Carolina

Aaron Swedberg, MPAS, PA-C, North Carolina

Yih-Cherng Tsai, North Carolina

Richard Bakker, MD, PhD, Ohio

Matthew Broderick, MD, Ohio

Subbaraju Budharaju, MD, MS, Ohio

Steven Bumb, MD, Ohio

Ahmed Eltelbany, MD, Ohio

Tracey Hardin, MS, Ohio

Patricia Hardman, APRN, Ohio

Michael Lewis, MD, Ohio

Volodymyr Manko, Ohio

Rebecca Stone, Ohio

Chaitanya Valluri, Ohio

Holly Wierzbicki, CNP, Ohio

Jamie Yockey, APRN, CNP, Ohio

Mahdi Mussa, MD, Oklahoma

Monica Saemz, DO, Oklahoma

Peter Ganter, MD, Oregon

Bethany Roy, MD, Oregon

Mary Clare Bohnett, Oregon

Molly Rabinowitz, Oregon

Abdullateef Abdulkareem, MD, MPH, Pennsylvania

David Ahamba, MD, MPH, Pennsylvania

David Chin, MD, Pennsylvania

Thomas Conlon, Pennsylvania

Dan Giesler, MD, Pennsylvania

Umair Randhawa, MD, Pennsylvania

Syed Yusuf, MBBS, Pennsylvania

Michael Rigatti, Pennsylvania

Thaylon Barreto, Rhode Island

Jessica Cook, MD, South Carolina

Robin Malik, MD, South Carolina

John Busigin, Tennessee

Shefali Paranjape, MD, Tennessee

Thai Dang, MD, Texas

Matthew Glover, MD, Texas

Snigdha Jain, MD, Texas

David Kellenberger, Texas

Sumeet Kumar, Texas

Kyle McClendon, PA-C, Texas

Sowjanya Mohan, Texas

Akhil D. Vats, MD, Texas

Samatha Vellanki, Texas

Lee-Anna Burgess, MD, Vermont

Rick Hildebrant, MD, Vermont

Matthew Backens, MD, Virginia

Megan Coe, Virginia

Kevin Dehaan, Virginia

Stephen Fox, Virginia

Amber Inofuentes, MD, Virginia

Jessica Keiser, MD, Virginia

Joseph Perez, MD, FAAFP, MBA, Virginia

Kanwapreet S. Saini, MD, Virginia

Erin Vipler, MD, Virginia

Naveen Voore, MBBS, Virginia

Abhishek Agarwal, MD, MBBS, Washington

Robert Cooney, MD, Washington

Cynthia Horton, MD, Washington

Rich A. Kukreja, MD, Washington

Ji Young Nam, MD, Washington

Kai Wilhelm, MD, Washington

In Kyu Yoo, Washington

Temu Brown, Wisconsin

Pablo Colon Nieves, Wisconsin

Christina Evans, PAC, Wisconsin

Swetha Karturi, MBBS, Wisconsin

Mark Babcock, DO, Wyoming

Ahmad Von Schlegell, Canada

Anand Kartha, Japan

Mohamed Sadek, Qatar

Amine Rakab, MD, Qatar

Abazar Saeed, Qatar

Joao Guerra, MD

Justin Kimsey, Alabama

Mohammed N.Y. Shah, MD, Alaska

Katharina Beeler, MD, Arizona

Khoi Nguyen, MD, Arizona

Vinay Saini, MD, Arizona

Maria Aceves, PA-C, California

Sarvenaz Alibeigi, California

Peter Cadman, MD, California

Katrina Chapman, DO, MPH, California

Cheryll Gallardo-Villena, MD, California

Sripriya Ganesan, California

Alice Gong, MD, California

Henry Kwang, MD, California

Kevin Li, California

Anthony Murphy, MD, California

Dan Nguyen, California

Daniel Oh, California

Joon Parle, California

Katie Raffel, California

Darshana Sarathchandra, MD, California

Lifang Zhang, California

Jaime Baker, MD, Colorado

Eric Johnson, PA-C, Colorado

Juan Lessing, MD, Colorado

Benjamin Ruckman, DO, Colorado

Rehaan Shaffie, MD, Colorado

Deborah Casey, MD, Connecticut

Daniel Heacock, PA-C, Connecticut

Shabana Ansari, DO, Delaware

Madhu Prattipati, MD, Delaware

Pallavi Aneja, MD, Florida

Satcha Borgella, MD, Florida

Thendrex H. Estrella, MD, Florida

Abid Hussain, MD, Florida

Daphnee Hutchinson, DO, Florida

Muhammad Jaffer, Florida

Sue Lee, ANP, Florida

Melissa Odermann, DO, Florida

Jose Guillermo Revelo Paiz, MD, Florida

Rafael J. Rolon Rivera, MD, Florida

Eleonor Rongo, Florida

Esther Roth, Florida

Shitaye Argaw, MD, Georgia

Taryn DeGrazia, Georgia

Becca Feistritzer, Georgia

Jamal Fitts, Georgia

Kristen Flint, Georgia

Zachary Hermes, Georgia

Mukesh Kumar, Georgia

Kajal Patel, Georgia

Madeline Smith, Georgia

Wade Flowers, PharmD, Idaho

Ajay Bhandare, Illinois

Kimberly Brighton, Illinois

Hristo D. Hristov, MD, Illinois

Sidney Iriana, Illinois

Aurelian Ivan, Illinois

Ming Lee, MD, Illinois

Michelle Lundholm, Illinois

Idrees Mohiuddin, MD, Illinois

Murr Murray, Illinois

Tad Nair, MD, Illinois

Shalini Reddy, MD, Illinois

Richard Rethorst, MD, Illinois

Kelly Robertshaw, Illinois

Gracelene Wegrzyn, Illinois

Evan Yates, Illinois

Lora J. Jones McClure, MD, Indiana

Carleigh Wilson, DO, Indiana

Erin Brown, ARNP, Iowa

Adam Gray, Iowa

Paul Greco, MD, Iowa

Shelly McGurk, ACNP, ARNP, Iowa

Julie Stanik-Hutt, ACNP, CNS, PhD, Iowa

Elizabeth Cozad, DO, Kansas

Roshan Pais, Kentucky

Mark Youssef, MD, Kentucky

Heather Kahn, MD, Louisiana

Danielle Parrott, PA-C, Maine

Erica Lafferty, ACNP, Maryland

Andrea Limpuangthip, Maryland

Steven Schwartz, CCM, MD, Maryland

Eisha Azhar, MBBS, Massachusetts

Badal Kalamkar, MD, MPH, Massachusetts

Bhavya Rajanna, MD, Massachusetts

Sahib Baljinder Singh, MD, Massachusetts

Kathryn Adams, Michigan

Haseeb Aslam, MD, MBBS, Michigan

Hilda Crispin, MD, Michigan

Sharmistha Dev, MD, Michigan

Tristan Feierabend, MD, Michigan

Sonal Kamalia, MD, MBBS, Michigan

Matthew Luzum, MD, Michigan

Daniel Mitzel, MD, Michigan

Richard Raad, Michigan

Mythri Ramegowda, MD, Michigan

Katie Scally, MD, Michigan

Linden Spital, MSN, NP, Michigan

Porama Koy Thanaporn, MD, Michigan

Chanteil Ulatowski, Michigan

Tingting Xiong, MD, Michigan

Adam Zahr, Michigan

Mike Beste, MD, Minnesota

Elise Haupt, PA-C, Minnesota

Lobsang Trasar, MD, Minnesota

Kari Goan, DO, Mississippi

David C. Pierre, Mississippi

Sudheer Tangella, MD, Mississippi

Tahani Atieh, Missouri

Nicholas Arnold, Missouri

Amanda Calhoun, Missouri

Jyotirmoy Das, Missouri

Umber Dube, Missouri

Daniel Gaughan, Missouri

Woojin Joo, Missouri

Khaled Jumean, MBBS, Missouri

Salma Kazmi, MBBS, MD, Missouri

Yoon Kook (Danny) Kim, Missouri

Ryan Kronen, Missouri

Alyssa Kroner, Missouri

Randy Laine, Missouri

Edward Lee, Missouri

Cerena Leung, Missouri

Patricia Lithrow, Missouri

Brandt Lydon, Missouri

Mary Morgan Scott, Missouri

Jay Patel, Missouri

Justin Porter, Missouri

Danelle Reagin, FNP-C, Missouri

Amanda Reis, Missouri

Awik Som, Missouri

Abby Sung, Missouri

Mary Sutherland, Missouri

Maggie Wang, Missouri

Noah Wasserman, Missouri

Alexis Webber, Missouri

Ryan White, Missouri

Amy Xu, Missouri

Ran Xu, Missouri

Michael Yang, Missouri

Christopher Dietrich, MD, Montana

Jason Kunz, DO, Montana

Jodi Cantrell, MD, Nebraska

Steven Hart, MD, Nebraska

Kurt Kapels, MD, Nebraska

Brian Keegan, MD, Nebraska

Shaun Jang, MD, Nevada

Gurpinder Singh, MD, New Hampshire

Pragati Banda, MD, New Jersey

Sahai Donaldson, MBBS, New Jersey

Ashesha Mechineni, MD, New Jersey

Alisa Clark, New Mexico

Prajit Arora, MBBS, New Mexico

Crystal Cardwell, New Mexico

Landon Casaus, New Mexico

Tapuwa Mupfumira, MD, New Mexico

Eric Rightley, New Mexico

David S. Anderson, New York

Joan Bosco, MD, New York

Jessica Caro, New York

Anna Dewan, New York

Amrita Dhillon, MBBS, New York

Julia Frydman, New York

Radhika Gali, MBBS, MDS, New York

Allison Guttmann, MD, New York

Aryles Hedjar, MD, New York

Peter Janes, New York

Nadine Kalavazoff, New York

Jeffrey Lach, DO, New York

Keron Lezama, MD, New York

Yingheng Liu, New York

Taimur Mirza, New York

Cyrus Nensey, MD, New York

Nekee Pandya, MD, New York

Thushara Paul, MD, New York

Yu Sung, New York

Joel Boggan, MD, North Carolina

Angela Fletcher, North Carolina

Rebecca Gimpert, PA-C, North Carolina

Samantha Levering, PA-C, North Carolina

Nancy Martin, North Carolina

Richard Sherwood, North Carolina

Kranthi K. Sitammagari, MD, North Carolina

Aaron Swedberg, MPAS, PA-C, North Carolina

Yih-Cherng Tsai, North Carolina

Richard Bakker, MD, PhD, Ohio

Matthew Broderick, MD, Ohio

Subbaraju Budharaju, MD, MS, Ohio

Steven Bumb, MD, Ohio

Ahmed Eltelbany, MD, Ohio

Tracey Hardin, MS, Ohio

Patricia Hardman, APRN, Ohio

Michael Lewis, MD, Ohio

Volodymyr Manko, Ohio

Rebecca Stone, Ohio

Chaitanya Valluri, Ohio

Holly Wierzbicki, CNP, Ohio

Jamie Yockey, APRN, CNP, Ohio

Mahdi Mussa, MD, Oklahoma

Monica Saemz, DO, Oklahoma

Peter Ganter, MD, Oregon

Bethany Roy, MD, Oregon

Mary Clare Bohnett, Oregon

Molly Rabinowitz, Oregon

Abdullateef Abdulkareem, MD, MPH, Pennsylvania

David Ahamba, MD, MPH, Pennsylvania

David Chin, MD, Pennsylvania

Thomas Conlon, Pennsylvania

Dan Giesler, MD, Pennsylvania

Umair Randhawa, MD, Pennsylvania

Syed Yusuf, MBBS, Pennsylvania

Michael Rigatti, Pennsylvania

Thaylon Barreto, Rhode Island

Jessica Cook, MD, South Carolina

Robin Malik, MD, South Carolina

John Busigin, Tennessee

Shefali Paranjape, MD, Tennessee

Thai Dang, MD, Texas

Matthew Glover, MD, Texas

Snigdha Jain, MD, Texas

David Kellenberger, Texas

Sumeet Kumar, Texas

Kyle McClendon, PA-C, Texas

Sowjanya Mohan, Texas

Akhil D. Vats, MD, Texas

Samatha Vellanki, Texas

Lee-Anna Burgess, MD, Vermont

Rick Hildebrant, MD, Vermont

Matthew Backens, MD, Virginia

Megan Coe, Virginia

Kevin Dehaan, Virginia

Stephen Fox, Virginia

Amber Inofuentes, MD, Virginia

Jessica Keiser, MD, Virginia

Joseph Perez, MD, FAAFP, MBA, Virginia

Kanwapreet S. Saini, MD, Virginia

Erin Vipler, MD, Virginia

Naveen Voore, MBBS, Virginia

Abhishek Agarwal, MD, MBBS, Washington

Robert Cooney, MD, Washington

Cynthia Horton, MD, Washington

Rich A. Kukreja, MD, Washington

Ji Young Nam, MD, Washington

Kai Wilhelm, MD, Washington

In Kyu Yoo, Washington

Temu Brown, Wisconsin

Pablo Colon Nieves, Wisconsin

Christina Evans, PAC, Wisconsin

Swetha Karturi, MBBS, Wisconsin

Mark Babcock, DO, Wyoming

Ahmad Von Schlegell, Canada

Anand Kartha, Japan

Mohamed Sadek, Qatar

Amine Rakab, MD, Qatar

Abazar Saeed, Qatar

Joao Guerra, MD

Justin Kimsey, Alabama

Mohammed N.Y. Shah, MD, Alaska

Katharina Beeler, MD, Arizona

Khoi Nguyen, MD, Arizona

Vinay Saini, MD, Arizona

Maria Aceves, PA-C, California

Sarvenaz Alibeigi, California

Peter Cadman, MD, California

Katrina Chapman, DO, MPH, California

Cheryll Gallardo-Villena, MD, California

Sripriya Ganesan, California

Alice Gong, MD, California

Henry Kwang, MD, California

Kevin Li, California

Anthony Murphy, MD, California

Dan Nguyen, California

Daniel Oh, California

Joon Parle, California

Katie Raffel, California

Darshana Sarathchandra, MD, California

Lifang Zhang, California

Jaime Baker, MD, Colorado

Eric Johnson, PA-C, Colorado

Juan Lessing, MD, Colorado

Benjamin Ruckman, DO, Colorado

Rehaan Shaffie, MD, Colorado

Deborah Casey, MD, Connecticut

Daniel Heacock, PA-C, Connecticut

Shabana Ansari, DO, Delaware

Madhu Prattipati, MD, Delaware

Pallavi Aneja, MD, Florida

Satcha Borgella, MD, Florida

Thendrex H. Estrella, MD, Florida

Abid Hussain, MD, Florida

Daphnee Hutchinson, DO, Florida

Muhammad Jaffer, Florida

Sue Lee, ANP, Florida

Melissa Odermann, DO, Florida

Jose Guillermo Revelo Paiz, MD, Florida

Rafael J. Rolon Rivera, MD, Florida

Eleonor Rongo, Florida

Esther Roth, Florida

Shitaye Argaw, MD, Georgia

Taryn DeGrazia, Georgia

Becca Feistritzer, Georgia

Jamal Fitts, Georgia

Kristen Flint, Georgia

Zachary Hermes, Georgia

Mukesh Kumar, Georgia

Kajal Patel, Georgia

Madeline Smith, Georgia

Wade Flowers, PharmD, Idaho

Ajay Bhandare, Illinois

Kimberly Brighton, Illinois

Hristo D. Hristov, MD, Illinois

Sidney Iriana, Illinois

Aurelian Ivan, Illinois

Ming Lee, MD, Illinois

Michelle Lundholm, Illinois

Idrees Mohiuddin, MD, Illinois

Murr Murray, Illinois

Tad Nair, MD, Illinois

Shalini Reddy, MD, Illinois

Richard Rethorst, MD, Illinois

Kelly Robertshaw, Illinois

Gracelene Wegrzyn, Illinois

Evan Yates, Illinois

Lora J. Jones McClure, MD, Indiana

Carleigh Wilson, DO, Indiana

Erin Brown, ARNP, Iowa

Adam Gray, Iowa

Paul Greco, MD, Iowa

Shelly McGurk, ACNP, ARNP, Iowa

Julie Stanik-Hutt, ACNP, CNS, PhD, Iowa

Elizabeth Cozad, DO, Kansas

Roshan Pais, Kentucky

Mark Youssef, MD, Kentucky

Heather Kahn, MD, Louisiana

Danielle Parrott, PA-C, Maine

Erica Lafferty, ACNP, Maryland

Andrea Limpuangthip, Maryland

Steven Schwartz, CCM, MD, Maryland

Eisha Azhar, MBBS, Massachusetts

Badal Kalamkar, MD, MPH, Massachusetts

Bhavya Rajanna, MD, Massachusetts

Sahib Baljinder Singh, MD, Massachusetts

Kathryn Adams, Michigan

Haseeb Aslam, MD, MBBS, Michigan

Hilda Crispin, MD, Michigan

Sharmistha Dev, MD, Michigan

Tristan Feierabend, MD, Michigan

Sonal Kamalia, MD, MBBS, Michigan

Matthew Luzum, MD, Michigan

Daniel Mitzel, MD, Michigan

Richard Raad, Michigan

Mythri Ramegowda, MD, Michigan

Katie Scally, MD, Michigan

Linden Spital, MSN, NP, Michigan

Porama Koy Thanaporn, MD, Michigan

Chanteil Ulatowski, Michigan

Tingting Xiong, MD, Michigan

Adam Zahr, Michigan

Mike Beste, MD, Minnesota

Elise Haupt, PA-C, Minnesota

Lobsang Trasar, MD, Minnesota

Kari Goan, DO, Mississippi

David C. Pierre, Mississippi

Sudheer Tangella, MD, Mississippi

Tahani Atieh, Missouri

Nicholas Arnold, Missouri

Amanda Calhoun, Missouri

Jyotirmoy Das, Missouri

Umber Dube, Missouri

Daniel Gaughan, Missouri

Woojin Joo, Missouri

Khaled Jumean, MBBS, Missouri

Salma Kazmi, MBBS, MD, Missouri

Yoon Kook (Danny) Kim, Missouri

Ryan Kronen, Missouri

Alyssa Kroner, Missouri

Randy Laine, Missouri

Edward Lee, Missouri

Cerena Leung, Missouri

Patricia Lithrow, Missouri

Brandt Lydon, Missouri

Mary Morgan Scott, Missouri

Jay Patel, Missouri

Justin Porter, Missouri

Danelle Reagin, FNP-C, Missouri

Amanda Reis, Missouri

Awik Som, Missouri

Abby Sung, Missouri

Mary Sutherland, Missouri

Maggie Wang, Missouri

Noah Wasserman, Missouri

Alexis Webber, Missouri

Ryan White, Missouri

Amy Xu, Missouri

Ran Xu, Missouri

Michael Yang, Missouri

Christopher Dietrich, MD, Montana

Jason Kunz, DO, Montana

Jodi Cantrell, MD, Nebraska

Steven Hart, MD, Nebraska

Kurt Kapels, MD, Nebraska

Brian Keegan, MD, Nebraska

Shaun Jang, MD, Nevada

Gurpinder Singh, MD, New Hampshire

Pragati Banda, MD, New Jersey

Sahai Donaldson, MBBS, New Jersey

Ashesha Mechineni, MD, New Jersey

Alisa Clark, New Mexico

Prajit Arora, MBBS, New Mexico

Crystal Cardwell, New Mexico

Landon Casaus, New Mexico

Tapuwa Mupfumira, MD, New Mexico

Eric Rightley, New Mexico

David S. Anderson, New York

Joan Bosco, MD, New York

Jessica Caro, New York

Anna Dewan, New York

Amrita Dhillon, MBBS, New York

Julia Frydman, New York

Radhika Gali, MBBS, MDS, New York

Allison Guttmann, MD, New York

Aryles Hedjar, MD, New York

Peter Janes, New York

Nadine Kalavazoff, New York

Jeffrey Lach, DO, New York

Keron Lezama, MD, New York

Yingheng Liu, New York

Taimur Mirza, New York

Cyrus Nensey, MD, New York

Nekee Pandya, MD, New York

Thushara Paul, MD, New York

Yu Sung, New York

Joel Boggan, MD, North Carolina

Angela Fletcher, North Carolina

Rebecca Gimpert, PA-C, North Carolina

Samantha Levering, PA-C, North Carolina

Nancy Martin, North Carolina

Richard Sherwood, North Carolina

Kranthi K. Sitammagari, MD, North Carolina

Aaron Swedberg, MPAS, PA-C, North Carolina

Yih-Cherng Tsai, North Carolina

Richard Bakker, MD, PhD, Ohio

Matthew Broderick, MD, Ohio

Subbaraju Budharaju, MD, MS, Ohio

Steven Bumb, MD, Ohio

Ahmed Eltelbany, MD, Ohio

Tracey Hardin, MS, Ohio

Patricia Hardman, APRN, Ohio

Michael Lewis, MD, Ohio

Volodymyr Manko, Ohio

Rebecca Stone, Ohio

Chaitanya Valluri, Ohio

Holly Wierzbicki, CNP, Ohio

Jamie Yockey, APRN, CNP, Ohio

Mahdi Mussa, MD, Oklahoma

Monica Saemz, DO, Oklahoma

Peter Ganter, MD, Oregon

Bethany Roy, MD, Oregon

Mary Clare Bohnett, Oregon

Molly Rabinowitz, Oregon

Abdullateef Abdulkareem, MD, MPH, Pennsylvania

David Ahamba, MD, MPH, Pennsylvania

David Chin, MD, Pennsylvania

Thomas Conlon, Pennsylvania

Dan Giesler, MD, Pennsylvania

Umair Randhawa, MD, Pennsylvania

Syed Yusuf, MBBS, Pennsylvania

Michael Rigatti, Pennsylvania

Thaylon Barreto, Rhode Island

Jessica Cook, MD, South Carolina

Robin Malik, MD, South Carolina

John Busigin, Tennessee

Shefali Paranjape, MD, Tennessee

Thai Dang, MD, Texas

Matthew Glover, MD, Texas

Snigdha Jain, MD, Texas

David Kellenberger, Texas

Sumeet Kumar, Texas

Kyle McClendon, PA-C, Texas

Sowjanya Mohan, Texas

Akhil D. Vats, MD, Texas

Samatha Vellanki, Texas

Lee-Anna Burgess, MD, Vermont

Rick Hildebrant, MD, Vermont

Matthew Backens, MD, Virginia

Megan Coe, Virginia

Kevin Dehaan, Virginia

Stephen Fox, Virginia

Amber Inofuentes, MD, Virginia

Jessica Keiser, MD, Virginia

Joseph Perez, MD, FAAFP, MBA, Virginia

Kanwapreet S. Saini, MD, Virginia

Erin Vipler, MD, Virginia

Naveen Voore, MBBS, Virginia

Abhishek Agarwal, MD, MBBS, Washington

Robert Cooney, MD, Washington

Cynthia Horton, MD, Washington

Rich A. Kukreja, MD, Washington

Ji Young Nam, MD, Washington

Kai Wilhelm, MD, Washington

In Kyu Yoo, Washington

Temu Brown, Wisconsin

Pablo Colon Nieves, Wisconsin

Christina Evans, PAC, Wisconsin

Swetha Karturi, MBBS, Wisconsin

Mark Babcock, DO, Wyoming

Ahmad Von Schlegell, Canada

Anand Kartha, Japan

Mohamed Sadek, Qatar

Amine Rakab, MD, Qatar

Abazar Saeed, Qatar

Joao Guerra, MD

Unveiling the hospitalist specialty code

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced in November the official implementation date for the Medicare physician specialty code for hospitalists. On April 3, “hospitalist” will be an official specialty designation under Medicare; the code will be C6. Starting on that date, hospitalists can change their specialty designation on the Medicare enrollment application (Form CMS-855I) or through CMS’ online portal (Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership System, or PECOS).

Appropriate use of specialty codes helps distinguish differences among providers and improves the quality of utilization data. SHM applied for a specialty code for hospitalists nearly 3 years ago, and CMS approved the application in February 2016.

Stand with your fellow hospitalists and make sure to declare, “I’m a C6.”
 

Develop curricula to educate, engage medical students and residents

The ACGME requirements for training in quality and safety are changing – it is no longer an elective. As sponsoring institutions’ residency and fellowship programs mobilize to meet these requirements, leaders may find few faculty members are comfortable enough with the material to teach and create educational content for trainees. These faculty need further development.

Sponsored by SHM, the Quality and Safety Educators Academy (QSEA) responds to that demand by providing medical educators with the knowledge and tools to integrate quality improvement and safety concepts into their curricula. The 2017 meeting is Feb. 26-28 at the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel in Arizona.

This 2½ day meeting aims to fill the current gaps for faculty by offering basic concepts and educational tools in quality improvement and patient safety. Material is presented in an interactive way, providing guidance on career and curriculum development and establishing a national network of quality and safety educators.

For more information and to register, visit www.shmqsea.org.
 

EHRs: blessing or curse?

SHM’s Health Information Technology (HIT) Committee invited you to participate in a brief survey to inform your experiences with inpatient electronic health record (EHR) systems. The results will serve as a foundation for a white paper to be written by the HIT Committee addressing hospitalists’ attitudes toward EHR systems. It will be released next month, so stay tuned then to view the final paper.

SHM chapters: Your connection to local education, networking, leadership opportunities

SHM offers various opportunities to grow professionally, expand your CV, and engage with other hospitalists. With more than 50 chapters across the country, you can network, learn, teach, and continue to improve patient care at a local level. Find a chapter in your area or start a chapter today by visiting www.hospitalmedicine.org/chapters.

Enhance opioid safety for inpatients

SHM enrolled 10 hospitals into a second mentored implementation cohort around Reducing Adverse Drug Events Related to Opioids (RADEO). The program is now in its second month as the sites work with their mentors to enhance safety for patients in the hospital who are prescribed opioid medications by:

• Developing a needs assessment.
• Putting in place formal selections of data collection measures.
• Beginning to take outcomes and process data collection on intervention units.
• Starting to design and implement key interventions.

Even if you’re not in this mentored implementation cohort, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/RADEO and view the online toolkit or download the implementation guide.
 

Earn recognition for your research with SHM’s Junior Investigator Award

The SHM Junior Investigator Award was created for junior/early-stage investigators, defined as faculty in the first 5 years of their most recent position/appointment. Applicants must be a hospitalist or clinician-investigators whose research interests focus on the care of hospitalized patients, the organization of hospitals, or the practice of hospitalists. Applicants must be members of SHM in good standing. Nominations from mentors and self-nominations are both welcome.

The winner will be invited to receive the award during SHM’s annual meeting, HM17, May 1-4, at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The winner will receive complimentary registration for this meeting as well as a complimentary 1-year membership to SHM.

For more information on the application process, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/juniorinvestigator.
 

Unveiling the hospitalist specialty code

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced in November the official implementation date for the Medicare physician specialty code for hospitalists. On April 3, “hospitalist” will be an official specialty designation under Medicare; the code will be C6. Starting on that date, hospitalists can change their specialty designation on the Medicare enrollment application (Form CMS-855I) or through CMS’ online portal (Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership System, or PECOS).

Appropriate use of specialty codes helps distinguish differences among providers and improves the quality of utilization data. SHM applied for a specialty code for hospitalists nearly 3 years ago, and CMS approved the application in February 2016.

Stand with your fellow hospitalists and make sure to declare, “I’m a C6.”
 

Develop curricula to educate, engage medical students and residents

The ACGME requirements for training in quality and safety are changing – it is no longer an elective. As sponsoring institutions’ residency and fellowship programs mobilize to meet these requirements, leaders may find few faculty members are comfortable enough with the material to teach and create educational content for trainees. These faculty need further development.

Sponsored by SHM, the Quality and Safety Educators Academy (QSEA) responds to that demand by providing medical educators with the knowledge and tools to integrate quality improvement and safety concepts into their curricula. The 2017 meeting is Feb. 26-28 at the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel in Arizona.

This 2½ day meeting aims to fill the current gaps for faculty by offering basic concepts and educational tools in quality improvement and patient safety. Material is presented in an interactive way, providing guidance on career and curriculum development and establishing a national network of quality and safety educators.

For more information and to register, visit www.shmqsea.org.
 

EHRs: blessing or curse?

SHM’s Health Information Technology (HIT) Committee invited you to participate in a brief survey to inform your experiences with inpatient electronic health record (EHR) systems. The results will serve as a foundation for a white paper to be written by the HIT Committee addressing hospitalists’ attitudes toward EHR systems. It will be released next month, so stay tuned then to view the final paper.

SHM chapters: Your connection to local education, networking, leadership opportunities

SHM offers various opportunities to grow professionally, expand your CV, and engage with other hospitalists. With more than 50 chapters across the country, you can network, learn, teach, and continue to improve patient care at a local level. Find a chapter in your area or start a chapter today by visiting www.hospitalmedicine.org/chapters.

Enhance opioid safety for inpatients

SHM enrolled 10 hospitals into a second mentored implementation cohort around Reducing Adverse Drug Events Related to Opioids (RADEO). The program is now in its second month as the sites work with their mentors to enhance safety for patients in the hospital who are prescribed opioid medications by:

• Developing a needs assessment.
• Putting in place formal selections of data collection measures.
• Beginning to take outcomes and process data collection on intervention units.
• Starting to design and implement key interventions.

Even if you’re not in this mentored implementation cohort, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/RADEO and view the online toolkit or download the implementation guide.
 

Earn recognition for your research with SHM’s Junior Investigator Award

The SHM Junior Investigator Award was created for junior/early-stage investigators, defined as faculty in the first 5 years of their most recent position/appointment. Applicants must be a hospitalist or clinician-investigators whose research interests focus on the care of hospitalized patients, the organization of hospitals, or the practice of hospitalists. Applicants must be members of SHM in good standing. Nominations from mentors and self-nominations are both welcome.

The winner will be invited to receive the award during SHM’s annual meeting, HM17, May 1-4, at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The winner will receive complimentary registration for this meeting as well as a complimentary 1-year membership to SHM.

For more information on the application process, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/juniorinvestigator.
 

Unveiling the hospitalist specialty code

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced in November the official implementation date for the Medicare physician specialty code for hospitalists. On April 3, “hospitalist” will be an official specialty designation under Medicare; the code will be C6. Starting on that date, hospitalists can change their specialty designation on the Medicare enrollment application (Form CMS-855I) or through CMS’ online portal (Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership System, or PECOS).

Appropriate use of specialty codes helps distinguish differences among providers and improves the quality of utilization data. SHM applied for a specialty code for hospitalists nearly 3 years ago, and CMS approved the application in February 2016.

Stand with your fellow hospitalists and make sure to declare, “I’m a C6.”
 

Develop curricula to educate, engage medical students and residents

The ACGME requirements for training in quality and safety are changing – it is no longer an elective. As sponsoring institutions’ residency and fellowship programs mobilize to meet these requirements, leaders may find few faculty members are comfortable enough with the material to teach and create educational content for trainees. These faculty need further development.

Sponsored by SHM, the Quality and Safety Educators Academy (QSEA) responds to that demand by providing medical educators with the knowledge and tools to integrate quality improvement and safety concepts into their curricula. The 2017 meeting is Feb. 26-28 at the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel in Arizona.

This 2½ day meeting aims to fill the current gaps for faculty by offering basic concepts and educational tools in quality improvement and patient safety. Material is presented in an interactive way, providing guidance on career and curriculum development and establishing a national network of quality and safety educators.

For more information and to register, visit www.shmqsea.org.
 

EHRs: blessing or curse?

SHM’s Health Information Technology (HIT) Committee invited you to participate in a brief survey to inform your experiences with inpatient electronic health record (EHR) systems. The results will serve as a foundation for a white paper to be written by the HIT Committee addressing hospitalists’ attitudes toward EHR systems. It will be released next month, so stay tuned then to view the final paper.

SHM chapters: Your connection to local education, networking, leadership opportunities

SHM offers various opportunities to grow professionally, expand your CV, and engage with other hospitalists. With more than 50 chapters across the country, you can network, learn, teach, and continue to improve patient care at a local level. Find a chapter in your area or start a chapter today by visiting www.hospitalmedicine.org/chapters.

Enhance opioid safety for inpatients

SHM enrolled 10 hospitals into a second mentored implementation cohort around Reducing Adverse Drug Events Related to Opioids (RADEO). The program is now in its second month as the sites work with their mentors to enhance safety for patients in the hospital who are prescribed opioid medications by:

• Developing a needs assessment.
• Putting in place formal selections of data collection measures.
• Beginning to take outcomes and process data collection on intervention units.
• Starting to design and implement key interventions.

Even if you’re not in this mentored implementation cohort, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/RADEO and view the online toolkit or download the implementation guide.
 

Earn recognition for your research with SHM’s Junior Investigator Award

The SHM Junior Investigator Award was created for junior/early-stage investigators, defined as faculty in the first 5 years of their most recent position/appointment. Applicants must be a hospitalist or clinician-investigators whose research interests focus on the care of hospitalized patients, the organization of hospitals, or the practice of hospitalists. Applicants must be members of SHM in good standing. Nominations from mentors and self-nominations are both welcome.

The winner will be invited to receive the award during SHM’s annual meeting, HM17, May 1-4, at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The winner will receive complimentary registration for this meeting as well as a complimentary 1-year membership to SHM.

For more information on the application process, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/juniorinvestigator.
 

To my next patient:

I often avoid putting my politics on my sleeve, as I don’t want that to get in the way of our relationship. I want you to know that I treat you as a fellow human being, no matter your race, gender, sexual orientation. With the election results, what will change about how I treat you at the bedside? Nothing.

I may know about your criminal past. I see that tattoo underneath your gown. I hear your profanity-filled screed because you won’t get that MRI today. I know you don’t follow the treatment plan, that you are here illegally or that you are a refugee from another country.

I will still care for you no matter what. It’s one of the blessed things we instill in each other in medicine.

I saw someone like you recently: 28 years old, working hard, with two jobs, neither of which provided insurance. She was doing well, without health problems, but then she became fatigued and swollen. She came to the ER after weeks of suffering with what turned out to be failing kidneys. Lupus. She required expensive medications that would aim to reverse her kidney disease. She left the hospital not knowing what would happen next, as there was no way she could afford the treatment. The fates of medicine handed her an unexpected illness, and we had no good way to reassure her of what would come next. I am sorry that more patients without insurance will arrive, instead of the steady decline I had been used to the past few years.

You also remind me of another patient I saw last week. She was sweet in the face, smiling despite her travails, and wore the skimpy gown with pride. She had some fluid just outside her lung that shouldn’t be there: a pleural effusion. We discussed the different possible diagnoses. She had cancer in the past, surgically treated and presumably cured. Was this the cancer back? Was it an infection, easily treated? We couldn’t tell by the exam or the x-ray.

On Tuesday, we took the fluid out. The results trickled in slowly, and initial tests suggested it was benign. We allowed a smile, but final tests were pending. What will turn up? When the final results return? Can we dance in the room with joy? Or will we hold hands, bear the cross, shed a tear, but then lift our heads up and know we will fight for another day, and another day, and not stop fighting until the cancer upon us is gone?
 

Read the full post at www.hospitalleader.org.
 

Also on The Hospital Leader blog ...

Post: An open letter to hospital executives about their hospitalist programs

By Leslie Flores, MHA, SFHM

Post: What’s under the hood? A quick look at hospital expenses

By Brad Flansbaum, DO, MPH, MHM

Post: A quick lesson on bundled payments

By John Nelson, MD, MHM

Post: The ABIM Has new plans for MOC and wants your opinion. Give it to ’em!

By Burke Kealey, MD, SFHM

To my next patient:

I often avoid putting my politics on my sleeve, as I don’t want that to get in the way of our relationship. I want you to know that I treat you as a fellow human being, no matter your race, gender, sexual orientation. With the election results, what will change about how I treat you at the bedside? Nothing.

I may know about your criminal past. I see that tattoo underneath your gown. I hear your profanity-filled screed because you won’t get that MRI today. I know you don’t follow the treatment plan, that you are here illegally or that you are a refugee from another country.

I will still care for you no matter what. It’s one of the blessed things we instill in each other in medicine.

I saw someone like you recently: 28 years old, working hard, with two jobs, neither of which provided insurance. She was doing well, without health problems, but then she became fatigued and swollen. She came to the ER after weeks of suffering with what turned out to be failing kidneys. Lupus. She required expensive medications that would aim to reverse her kidney disease. She left the hospital not knowing what would happen next, as there was no way she could afford the treatment. The fates of medicine handed her an unexpected illness, and we had no good way to reassure her of what would come next. I am sorry that more patients without insurance will arrive, instead of the steady decline I had been used to the past few years.

You also remind me of another patient I saw last week. She was sweet in the face, smiling despite her travails, and wore the skimpy gown with pride. She had some fluid just outside her lung that shouldn’t be there: a pleural effusion. We discussed the different possible diagnoses. She had cancer in the past, surgically treated and presumably cured. Was this the cancer back? Was it an infection, easily treated? We couldn’t tell by the exam or the x-ray.

On Tuesday, we took the fluid out. The results trickled in slowly, and initial tests suggested it was benign. We allowed a smile, but final tests were pending. What will turn up? When the final results return? Can we dance in the room with joy? Or will we hold hands, bear the cross, shed a tear, but then lift our heads up and know we will fight for another day, and another day, and not stop fighting until the cancer upon us is gone?
 

Read the full post at www.hospitalleader.org.
 

Also on The Hospital Leader blog ...

Post: An open letter to hospital executives about their hospitalist programs

By Leslie Flores, MHA, SFHM

Post: What’s under the hood? A quick look at hospital expenses

By Brad Flansbaum, DO, MPH, MHM

Post: A quick lesson on bundled payments

By John Nelson, MD, MHM

Post: The ABIM Has new plans for MOC and wants your opinion. Give it to ’em!

By Burke Kealey, MD, SFHM

To my next patient:

I often avoid putting my politics on my sleeve, as I don’t want that to get in the way of our relationship. I want you to know that I treat you as a fellow human being, no matter your race, gender, sexual orientation. With the election results, what will change about how I treat you at the bedside? Nothing.

I may know about your criminal past. I see that tattoo underneath your gown. I hear your profanity-filled screed because you won’t get that MRI today. I know you don’t follow the treatment plan, that you are here illegally or that you are a refugee from another country.

I will still care for you no matter what. It’s one of the blessed things we instill in each other in medicine.

I saw someone like you recently: 28 years old, working hard, with two jobs, neither of which provided insurance. She was doing well, without health problems, but then she became fatigued and swollen. She came to the ER after weeks of suffering with what turned out to be failing kidneys. Lupus. She required expensive medications that would aim to reverse her kidney disease. She left the hospital not knowing what would happen next, as there was no way she could afford the treatment. The fates of medicine handed her an unexpected illness, and we had no good way to reassure her of what would come next. I am sorry that more patients without insurance will arrive, instead of the steady decline I had been used to the past few years.

You also remind me of another patient I saw last week. She was sweet in the face, smiling despite her travails, and wore the skimpy gown with pride. She had some fluid just outside her lung that shouldn’t be there: a pleural effusion. We discussed the different possible diagnoses. She had cancer in the past, surgically treated and presumably cured. Was this the cancer back? Was it an infection, easily treated? We couldn’t tell by the exam or the x-ray.

On Tuesday, we took the fluid out. The results trickled in slowly, and initial tests suggested it was benign. We allowed a smile, but final tests were pending. What will turn up? When the final results return? Can we dance in the room with joy? Or will we hold hands, bear the cross, shed a tear, but then lift our heads up and know we will fight for another day, and another day, and not stop fighting until the cancer upon us is gone?
 

Read the full post at www.hospitalleader.org.
 

Also on The Hospital Leader blog ...

Post: An open letter to hospital executives about their hospitalist programs

By Leslie Flores, MHA, SFHM

Post: What’s under the hood? A quick look at hospital expenses

By Brad Flansbaum, DO, MPH, MHM

Post: A quick lesson on bundled payments

By John Nelson, MD, MHM

Post: The ABIM Has new plans for MOC and wants your opinion. Give it to ’em!

By Burke Kealey, MD, SFHM

Editor’s note: Each month, SHM puts the spotlight on some of our most active members who are making substantial contributions to hospital medicine.

Visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/getinvolved for more information on how you can help SHM improve the care of hospitalized patients.

Dr. Venkataraman Palabindala, FHM, is a hospitalist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. Dr. Palabindala is an active member of SHM’s IT Committee and has been instrumental in growing the Gulf States Chapter.

Once I learned about SHM and the wealth of activities and opportunities membership offered from a few of my attendings, I applied to be part of the Leadership Committee. I attended every meeting and kept my committee work as a top priority. At the time, with little experience in hospital medicine, I knew I might not have as much to contribute as the rest, but my goal was to learn as much as I could. Never once did I feel that my voice was any more or less valuable than those of the rest of the committee members; our committee work was truly a collaborative effort.

As my career in hospital medicine has evolved, so have my contributions to SHM’s committees; I now am a proud member of the IT Committee. We’re currently working on a white paper about hospitalists’ attitudes toward electronic health record (EHR) systems and look forward to sharing more about that next month.

In addition, throughout my time with SHM, I have become a Fellow in Hospital Medicine, attended two “Hill Days” to learn about the policies, and made a concerted effort to be present at as many meetings as possible, especially SHM’s annual meetings. The networking, coupled with the workshops and lectures, is unparalleled. I have missed only one annual meeting, and I feel like I missed a Thanksgiving dinner with my family!

Q: Can you tell us about your role in the revitalization of the Gulf States Chapter and the Chapter Development Program?

A: During my time as a member of the SHM Leadership Committee, I quickly realized that hospitalists in small cities like Dothan, Ala., were not as exposed to networking and education activities as were those in big cities. To unite hospitalists in that area of the country, I founded the Wiregrass Chapter; obtaining 20 signatures to start it was an uphill task. After Dan Dressler, MD, [in Atlanta] and I gave a talk about updates in hospital medicine, the Wiregrass Chapter was awarded the Silver Chapter Award [after its first year in inception], and everything changed. The buzz around the chapter helped it continue to grow.

After I moved to Jackson, I applied for a pilot funding project to start a Jackson Chapter, as I realized the Gulf States Chapter was a bit far away. I thought a local chapter would bring all hospitalists in this area together. However, I received a call from Lisa Chester, our chapter liaison at SHM, about being a part of the Gulf States Chapter and serving as a catalyst to revitalize the chapter.

I was thrilled to work with Randy Roth, MD, and Steven Deitelzweig, MD; both are hospitalist leaders in this area. The Chapter Development Program surely helped us to create new goals and develop a realistic timeline. It kept us on track to achieve what we originally set out to do. By creating coupons to encourage membership and arranging more local meetings using this fund, we have been able to experience even more success. We are now recognizing that residents are very excited about SHM meetings and are identifying young leaders to be part of the hospital medicine movement.

Q: How has your participation in HMX – and, more broadly, engagement with SHM – helped you improve your practice?

A: HMX [connect.hospitalmedicine.org] is a great platform for asking questions and exchanging ideas. Being active on HMX has helped me learn important information about performance metrics, observation unit models, EHRs, coding and billing questions, and sometimes even ethical questions.

Although I still have mentors helping me, I know if I post a question on HMX, that I will get many ideas from hospitalists across the nation. I also make it a point to encourage friends every month to download the HMX app on their phones and present it as a valuable resource to my students and residents. As hospitalists, this is our forum with experts available all the time.

To encourage others to use the platform and make myself and fellow committee members accessible to other members, we actively take turns assuming responsibility for maintaining the momentum on HMX by finding intriguing topics of discussion.

Q: As we ring in 2017 after a year of many changes for HM and the health care system in general, what do you see as the biggest HM opportunities this year?

A: We know physician retention and burnout are some of the biggest challenges in hospital medicine. Given the pace at which we are growing as a specialty, I would like to see more time dedicated to addressing and attempting to alleviate these specific issues.

Also, now that hospitalists have left their stamp on inpatient medicine, specialties like critical care, nephrology, cardiology, and ob.gyn. are moving toward this model. We need to do everything we can to integrate them into our pool, move forward together, and learn from each other.

Lastly, mentorship is of paramount importance as we head into the future. We must encourage young hospitalists to mentor students and residents and recruit them to be part of SHM when they return home.

Brett Radler is SHM’s communications specialist.

Editor’s note: Each month, SHM puts the spotlight on some of our most active members who are making substantial contributions to hospital medicine.

Visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/getinvolved for more information on how you can help SHM improve the care of hospitalized patients.

Dr. Venkataraman Palabindala, FHM, is a hospitalist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. Dr. Palabindala is an active member of SHM’s IT Committee and has been instrumental in growing the Gulf States Chapter.

Once I learned about SHM and the wealth of activities and opportunities membership offered from a few of my attendings, I applied to be part of the Leadership Committee. I attended every meeting and kept my committee work as a top priority. At the time, with little experience in hospital medicine, I knew I might not have as much to contribute as the rest, but my goal was to learn as much as I could. Never once did I feel that my voice was any more or less valuable than those of the rest of the committee members; our committee work was truly a collaborative effort.

As my career in hospital medicine has evolved, so have my contributions to SHM’s committees; I now am a proud member of the IT Committee. We’re currently working on a white paper about hospitalists’ attitudes toward electronic health record (EHR) systems and look forward to sharing more about that next month.

In addition, throughout my time with SHM, I have become a Fellow in Hospital Medicine, attended two “Hill Days” to learn about the policies, and made a concerted effort to be present at as many meetings as possible, especially SHM’s annual meetings. The networking, coupled with the workshops and lectures, is unparalleled. I have missed only one annual meeting, and I feel like I missed a Thanksgiving dinner with my family!

Q: Can you tell us about your role in the revitalization of the Gulf States Chapter and the Chapter Development Program?

A: During my time as a member of the SHM Leadership Committee, I quickly realized that hospitalists in small cities like Dothan, Ala., were not as exposed to networking and education activities as were those in big cities. To unite hospitalists in that area of the country, I founded the Wiregrass Chapter; obtaining 20 signatures to start it was an uphill task. After Dan Dressler, MD, [in Atlanta] and I gave a talk about updates in hospital medicine, the Wiregrass Chapter was awarded the Silver Chapter Award [after its first year in inception], and everything changed. The buzz around the chapter helped it continue to grow.

After I moved to Jackson, I applied for a pilot funding project to start a Jackson Chapter, as I realized the Gulf States Chapter was a bit far away. I thought a local chapter would bring all hospitalists in this area together. However, I received a call from Lisa Chester, our chapter liaison at SHM, about being a part of the Gulf States Chapter and serving as a catalyst to revitalize the chapter.

I was thrilled to work with Randy Roth, MD, and Steven Deitelzweig, MD; both are hospitalist leaders in this area. The Chapter Development Program surely helped us to create new goals and develop a realistic timeline. It kept us on track to achieve what we originally set out to do. By creating coupons to encourage membership and arranging more local meetings using this fund, we have been able to experience even more success. We are now recognizing that residents are very excited about SHM meetings and are identifying young leaders to be part of the hospital medicine movement.

Q: How has your participation in HMX – and, more broadly, engagement with SHM – helped you improve your practice?

A: HMX [connect.hospitalmedicine.org] is a great platform for asking questions and exchanging ideas. Being active on HMX has helped me learn important information about performance metrics, observation unit models, EHRs, coding and billing questions, and sometimes even ethical questions.

Although I still have mentors helping me, I know if I post a question on HMX, that I will get many ideas from hospitalists across the nation. I also make it a point to encourage friends every month to download the HMX app on their phones and present it as a valuable resource to my students and residents. As hospitalists, this is our forum with experts available all the time.

To encourage others to use the platform and make myself and fellow committee members accessible to other members, we actively take turns assuming responsibility for maintaining the momentum on HMX by finding intriguing topics of discussion.

Q: As we ring in 2017 after a year of many changes for HM and the health care system in general, what do you see as the biggest HM opportunities this year?

A: We know physician retention and burnout are some of the biggest challenges in hospital medicine. Given the pace at which we are growing as a specialty, I would like to see more time dedicated to addressing and attempting to alleviate these specific issues.

Also, now that hospitalists have left their stamp on inpatient medicine, specialties like critical care, nephrology, cardiology, and ob.gyn. are moving toward this model. We need to do everything we can to integrate them into our pool, move forward together, and learn from each other.

Lastly, mentorship is of paramount importance as we head into the future. We must encourage young hospitalists to mentor students and residents and recruit them to be part of SHM when they return home.

Brett Radler is SHM’s communications specialist.

Editor’s note: Each month, SHM puts the spotlight on some of our most active members who are making substantial contributions to hospital medicine.

Visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/getinvolved for more information on how you can help SHM improve the care of hospitalized patients.

Dr. Venkataraman Palabindala, FHM, is a hospitalist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. Dr. Palabindala is an active member of SHM’s IT Committee and has been instrumental in growing the Gulf States Chapter.

Once I learned about SHM and the wealth of activities and opportunities membership offered from a few of my attendings, I applied to be part of the Leadership Committee. I attended every meeting and kept my committee work as a top priority. At the time, with little experience in hospital medicine, I knew I might not have as much to contribute as the rest, but my goal was to learn as much as I could. Never once did I feel that my voice was any more or less valuable than those of the rest of the committee members; our committee work was truly a collaborative effort.

As my career in hospital medicine has evolved, so have my contributions to SHM’s committees; I now am a proud member of the IT Committee. We’re currently working on a white paper about hospitalists’ attitudes toward electronic health record (EHR) systems and look forward to sharing more about that next month.

In addition, throughout my time with SHM, I have become a Fellow in Hospital Medicine, attended two “Hill Days” to learn about the policies, and made a concerted effort to be present at as many meetings as possible, especially SHM’s annual meetings. The networking, coupled with the workshops and lectures, is unparalleled. I have missed only one annual meeting, and I feel like I missed a Thanksgiving dinner with my family!

Q: Can you tell us about your role in the revitalization of the Gulf States Chapter and the Chapter Development Program?

A: During my time as a member of the SHM Leadership Committee, I quickly realized that hospitalists in small cities like Dothan, Ala., were not as exposed to networking and education activities as were those in big cities. To unite hospitalists in that area of the country, I founded the Wiregrass Chapter; obtaining 20 signatures to start it was an uphill task. After Dan Dressler, MD, [in Atlanta] and I gave a talk about updates in hospital medicine, the Wiregrass Chapter was awarded the Silver Chapter Award [after its first year in inception], and everything changed. The buzz around the chapter helped it continue to grow.

After I moved to Jackson, I applied for a pilot funding project to start a Jackson Chapter, as I realized the Gulf States Chapter was a bit far away. I thought a local chapter would bring all hospitalists in this area together. However, I received a call from Lisa Chester, our chapter liaison at SHM, about being a part of the Gulf States Chapter and serving as a catalyst to revitalize the chapter.

I was thrilled to work with Randy Roth, MD, and Steven Deitelzweig, MD; both are hospitalist leaders in this area. The Chapter Development Program surely helped us to create new goals and develop a realistic timeline. It kept us on track to achieve what we originally set out to do. By creating coupons to encourage membership and arranging more local meetings using this fund, we have been able to experience even more success. We are now recognizing that residents are very excited about SHM meetings and are identifying young leaders to be part of the hospital medicine movement.

Q: How has your participation in HMX – and, more broadly, engagement with SHM – helped you improve your practice?

A: HMX [connect.hospitalmedicine.org] is a great platform for asking questions and exchanging ideas. Being active on HMX has helped me learn important information about performance metrics, observation unit models, EHRs, coding and billing questions, and sometimes even ethical questions.

Although I still have mentors helping me, I know if I post a question on HMX, that I will get many ideas from hospitalists across the nation. I also make it a point to encourage friends every month to download the HMX app on their phones and present it as a valuable resource to my students and residents. As hospitalists, this is our forum with experts available all the time.

To encourage others to use the platform and make myself and fellow committee members accessible to other members, we actively take turns assuming responsibility for maintaining the momentum on HMX by finding intriguing topics of discussion.

Q: As we ring in 2017 after a year of many changes for HM and the health care system in general, what do you see as the biggest HM opportunities this year?

A: We know physician retention and burnout are some of the biggest challenges in hospital medicine. Given the pace at which we are growing as a specialty, I would like to see more time dedicated to addressing and attempting to alleviate these specific issues.

Also, now that hospitalists have left their stamp on inpatient medicine, specialties like critical care, nephrology, cardiology, and ob.gyn. are moving toward this model. We need to do everything we can to integrate them into our pool, move forward together, and learn from each other.

Lastly, mentorship is of paramount importance as we head into the future. We must encourage young hospitalists to mentor students and residents and recruit them to be part of SHM when they return home.

Brett Radler is SHM’s communications specialist.

Editor’s note: “Everything We Say and Do” is an informational series developed by SHM’s Patient Experience Committee to provide readers with thoughtful and actionable communication tactics that have great potential to positively impact patients’ experience of care. Each article will focus on how the contributor applies one or more of the “key communication” tactics in practice to maintain provider accountability for “everything we say and do that affects our patients’ thoughts, feelings, and well-being.”

Thomas Northcut/Thinkstock

What I say and do

I inform my patients that I have reviewed their chart and that I am familiar with their diagnosis.

Why I do it

In the hospital setting, in particular, patients are concerned about communication between their various healthcare professionals. Many times, the patient’s primary-care provider works strictly in the outpatient setting, so the hospitalist is the person who assumes total care of the patient throughout hospitalization. This understandably creates anxiety for patients and families because they wonder if the hospitalist really knows their medical history. One way to alleviate this anxiety is to review your patients’ charts prior to speaking with them and to verbally let your patients know you are familiar with their diagnoses.

How I do it

Step 1: Before entering the room, I review my patient’s chart. If I am taking over the service from my colleague, I review all notes from the current hospitalization to ensure I understand everything that has happened. I also review tests, procedures, and radiographic studies. To gain a better understanding of my patient, I read the most recent discharge summary and outpatient clinic note. Likewise, if I am admitting a new patient to the hospital, before entering the room to do the history and physical examination, I review recent hospitalizations, clinic notes, and emergency department visits.

I also like to review the chart to see if I have taken care of the patient before. Patients often remember me even though I may not remember them, so reviewing my prior notes may be helpful. Thankfully, my electronic health record (EHR) has a search function where I can enter my name or any other keyword and it searches for patient records based on this keyword.

Step 2: Even though reading the chart and being informed about my patient is important, it is only the first step. The next step is to let my patient and family know that I have read the chart and that I am up-to-date on my patient’s diagnosis. I feel it is very important for me to verbalize that I have read the chart because without doing this, my patients never really know that I took the time prior to entering the room to learn about them.

I might say:

• “I was reviewing your chart before I came in, and I saw that your daughter brought you to the hospital for chest pain.”
• “I read your chart and saw that you have been to the emergency room twice in the last week.”
• “I read your primary-care doctor’s note, and I saw that she recently treated you for pneumonia.”
• “I read your chart, and I wanted to confirm a few things I read to ensure we are on the same page.”

There are many different ways you can phrase this, but the important point is to make sure your patients know you read the chart by specifically referencing something you learned. This helps your patients feel more confident that you know their medical history.

I know some of the doctors reading this column see patients in the outpatient setting. One way to help yourself remember pertinent facts about a patient’s medical history is to include these facts in a specific place in your clinic note. That way, prior to seeing the patient, you can always review your last note and know the important information about your patient’s medical history will always be in the same place in each note. Another tip is to use your EHR’s note function. My EHR has “sticky notes,” and they provide a place for the PCP to store information about the patient without it becoming part of the permanent medical record.
 

These notes allow the PCP to record important events that happen between one clinic visit and the next. Thus, when the patient returns to the clinic, the PCP opens the chart, reviews the sticky note, and enters the exam room prepared to discuss significant events in the patient’s recent medical history.

In the end, it does not matter which technique you use. It simply matters that you take time to review your patient’s chart prior to entering the room and that you verbalize what you have learned. In patients, this inspires confidence and trust and helps alleviate concerns that the physician does not know important information in their medical history. 

Dr. Dorrah is regional medical director for quality and the patient experience at Baylor Scott & White Health in Round Rock, Tex. She is a member of SHM’s Patient Experience Committee.

Editor’s note: “Everything We Say and Do” is an informational series developed by SHM’s Patient Experience Committee to provide readers with thoughtful and actionable communication tactics that have great potential to positively impact patients’ experience of care. Each article will focus on how the contributor applies one or more of the “key communication” tactics in practice to maintain provider accountability for “everything we say and do that affects our patients’ thoughts, feelings, and well-being.”

Thomas Northcut/Thinkstock

What I say and do

I inform my patients that I have reviewed their chart and that I am familiar with their diagnosis.

Why I do it

In the hospital setting, in particular, patients are concerned about communication between their various healthcare professionals. Many times, the patient’s primary-care provider works strictly in the outpatient setting, so the hospitalist is the person who assumes total care of the patient throughout hospitalization. This understandably creates anxiety for patients and families because they wonder if the hospitalist really knows their medical history. One way to alleviate this anxiety is to review your patients’ charts prior to speaking with them and to verbally let your patients know you are familiar with their diagnoses.

How I do it

Step 1: Before entering the room, I review my patient’s chart. If I am taking over the service from my colleague, I review all notes from the current hospitalization to ensure I understand everything that has happened. I also review tests, procedures, and radiographic studies. To gain a better understanding of my patient, I read the most recent discharge summary and outpatient clinic note. Likewise, if I am admitting a new patient to the hospital, before entering the room to do the history and physical examination, I review recent hospitalizations, clinic notes, and emergency department visits.

I also like to review the chart to see if I have taken care of the patient before. Patients often remember me even though I may not remember them, so reviewing my prior notes may be helpful. Thankfully, my electronic health record (EHR) has a search function where I can enter my name or any other keyword and it searches for patient records based on this keyword.

Step 2: Even though reading the chart and being informed about my patient is important, it is only the first step. The next step is to let my patient and family know that I have read the chart and that I am up-to-date on my patient’s diagnosis. I feel it is very important for me to verbalize that I have read the chart because without doing this, my patients never really know that I took the time prior to entering the room to learn about them.

I might say:

• “I was reviewing your chart before I came in, and I saw that your daughter brought you to the hospital for chest pain.”
• “I read your chart and saw that you have been to the emergency room twice in the last week.”
• “I read your primary-care doctor’s note, and I saw that she recently treated you for pneumonia.”
• “I read your chart, and I wanted to confirm a few things I read to ensure we are on the same page.”

There are many different ways you can phrase this, but the important point is to make sure your patients know you read the chart by specifically referencing something you learned. This helps your patients feel more confident that you know their medical history.

I know some of the doctors reading this column see patients in the outpatient setting. One way to help yourself remember pertinent facts about a patient’s medical history is to include these facts in a specific place in your clinic note. That way, prior to seeing the patient, you can always review your last note and know the important information about your patient’s medical history will always be in the same place in each note. Another tip is to use your EHR’s note function. My EHR has “sticky notes,” and they provide a place for the PCP to store information about the patient without it becoming part of the permanent medical record.
 

These notes allow the PCP to record important events that happen between one clinic visit and the next. Thus, when the patient returns to the clinic, the PCP opens the chart, reviews the sticky note, and enters the exam room prepared to discuss significant events in the patient’s recent medical history.

In the end, it does not matter which technique you use. It simply matters that you take time to review your patient’s chart prior to entering the room and that you verbalize what you have learned. In patients, this inspires confidence and trust and helps alleviate concerns that the physician does not know important information in their medical history. 

Dr. Dorrah is regional medical director for quality and the patient experience at Baylor Scott & White Health in Round Rock, Tex. She is a member of SHM’s Patient Experience Committee.

Editor’s note: “Everything We Say and Do” is an informational series developed by SHM’s Patient Experience Committee to provide readers with thoughtful and actionable communication tactics that have great potential to positively impact patients’ experience of care. Each article will focus on how the contributor applies one or more of the “key communication” tactics in practice to maintain provider accountability for “everything we say and do that affects our patients’ thoughts, feelings, and well-being.”

Thomas Northcut/Thinkstock

What I say and do

I inform my patients that I have reviewed their chart and that I am familiar with their diagnosis.

Why I do it

In the hospital setting, in particular, patients are concerned about communication between their various healthcare professionals. Many times, the patient’s primary-care provider works strictly in the outpatient setting, so the hospitalist is the person who assumes total care of the patient throughout hospitalization. This understandably creates anxiety for patients and families because they wonder if the hospitalist really knows their medical history. One way to alleviate this anxiety is to review your patients’ charts prior to speaking with them and to verbally let your patients know you are familiar with their diagnoses.

How I do it

Step 1: Before entering the room, I review my patient’s chart. If I am taking over the service from my colleague, I review all notes from the current hospitalization to ensure I understand everything that has happened. I also review tests, procedures, and radiographic studies. To gain a better understanding of my patient, I read the most recent discharge summary and outpatient clinic note. Likewise, if I am admitting a new patient to the hospital, before entering the room to do the history and physical examination, I review recent hospitalizations, clinic notes, and emergency department visits.

I also like to review the chart to see if I have taken care of the patient before. Patients often remember me even though I may not remember them, so reviewing my prior notes may be helpful. Thankfully, my electronic health record (EHR) has a search function where I can enter my name or any other keyword and it searches for patient records based on this keyword.

Step 2: Even though reading the chart and being informed about my patient is important, it is only the first step. The next step is to let my patient and family know that I have read the chart and that I am up-to-date on my patient’s diagnosis. I feel it is very important for me to verbalize that I have read the chart because without doing this, my patients never really know that I took the time prior to entering the room to learn about them.

I might say:

• “I was reviewing your chart before I came in, and I saw that your daughter brought you to the hospital for chest pain.”
• “I read your chart and saw that you have been to the emergency room twice in the last week.”
• “I read your primary-care doctor’s note, and I saw that she recently treated you for pneumonia.”
• “I read your chart, and I wanted to confirm a few things I read to ensure we are on the same page.”

There are many different ways you can phrase this, but the important point is to make sure your patients know you read the chart by specifically referencing something you learned. This helps your patients feel more confident that you know their medical history.

I know some of the doctors reading this column see patients in the outpatient setting. One way to help yourself remember pertinent facts about a patient’s medical history is to include these facts in a specific place in your clinic note. That way, prior to seeing the patient, you can always review your last note and know the important information about your patient’s medical history will always be in the same place in each note. Another tip is to use your EHR’s note function. My EHR has “sticky notes,” and they provide a place for the PCP to store information about the patient without it becoming part of the permanent medical record.
 

These notes allow the PCP to record important events that happen between one clinic visit and the next. Thus, when the patient returns to the clinic, the PCP opens the chart, reviews the sticky note, and enters the exam room prepared to discuss significant events in the patient’s recent medical history.

In the end, it does not matter which technique you use. It simply matters that you take time to review your patient’s chart prior to entering the room and that you verbalize what you have learned. In patients, this inspires confidence and trust and helps alleviate concerns that the physician does not know important information in their medical history. 

Dr. Dorrah is regional medical director for quality and the patient experience at Baylor Scott & White Health in Round Rock, Tex. She is a member of SHM’s Patient Experience Committee.

SHM recently enrolled 10 hospitals in the United States in a one-year mentored implementation program to reduce adverse events associated with opioid prescribing. Each hospital will have an assigned physician mentor to guide them through:

• A needs assessment.
• Formal selection of data collection measures.
• Outcome and process data collection on intervention units.
• Design and implementation of key interventions to enhance safety for patients in the hospital who are prescribed opioid medications.

The one-year program includes monthly calls, a site visit with the SHM physician mentor, and a formal assessment of the program’s implementation.

Visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/RADEO to view the online toolkit or download the Reducing Adverse Drug Events Related to Opioids (RADEO) Implementation Guide.

SHM recently enrolled 10 hospitals in the United States in a one-year mentored implementation program to reduce adverse events associated with opioid prescribing. Each hospital will have an assigned physician mentor to guide them through:

• A needs assessment.
• Formal selection of data collection measures.
• Outcome and process data collection on intervention units.
• Design and implementation of key interventions to enhance safety for patients in the hospital who are prescribed opioid medications.

The one-year program includes monthly calls, a site visit with the SHM physician mentor, and a formal assessment of the program’s implementation.

Visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/RADEO to view the online toolkit or download the Reducing Adverse Drug Events Related to Opioids (RADEO) Implementation Guide.

SHM recently enrolled 10 hospitals in the United States in a one-year mentored implementation program to reduce adverse events associated with opioid prescribing. Each hospital will have an assigned physician mentor to guide them through:

• A needs assessment.
• Formal selection of data collection measures.
• Outcome and process data collection on intervention units.
• Design and implementation of key interventions to enhance safety for patients in the hospital who are prescribed opioid medications.

The one-year program includes monthly calls, a site visit with the SHM physician mentor, and a formal assessment of the program’s implementation.

Visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/RADEO to view the online toolkit or download the Reducing Adverse Drug Events Related to Opioids (RADEO) Implementation Guide.

Looking for more? Seize the opportunity to learn from an elite group of experts. Earn additional CME credits, broaden your skills, and fine-tune your practice. Immerse yourself in a day of learning by enrolling in one six pre-courses on May 1. Visit www.hospitalmedicine2017.org/precourse to view course topics, agendas, faculty, and more.

Looking for more? Seize the opportunity to learn from an elite group of experts. Earn additional CME credits, broaden your skills, and fine-tune your practice. Immerse yourself in a day of learning by enrolling in one six pre-courses on May 1. Visit www.hospitalmedicine2017.org/precourse to view course topics, agendas, faculty, and more.

Looking for more? Seize the opportunity to learn from an elite group of experts. Earn additional CME credits, broaden your skills, and fine-tune your practice. Immerse yourself in a day of learning by enrolling in one six pre-courses on May 1. Visit www.hospitalmedicine2017.org/precourse to view course topics, agendas, faculty, and more.

Editor’s note: Each month, SHM puts the spotlight on some of our most active members who are making substantial contributions to hospital medicine. Log on to www.hospitalmedicine.org/getinvolved for more information on how you can lend your expertise to help SHM improve the care of hospitalized patients.

This month, The Hospitalist spotlights Scott Kaatz, DO, MSc, FACP, SFHM, a hospitalist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. In addition to being an active SHM member, he is immediate past president of SHM’s Michigan Chapter and has been involved in multiple mentored implementation (MI) programs offered by SHM’s Center for Hospital Innovation and Improvement.

Question: What inspired you to begin working in hospital medicine and later join and become so involved with SHM?

Answer: For most of my career, I’ve been at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, including during my internal medicine residency. After residency, I was a primary-care physician there, and I rounded three to four months out of the year in the hospital with traditional house staff model. Four years ago, I transitioned to another role as a chief quality officer at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Mich. While in Flint, I didn’t have a clinic and was strictly a hospitalist, spending about four months a year rounding.

When my career path led me to mostly inpatient work in the hospital, I became more involved not only with hospital medicine but with SHM. As of this past June, I went back home to Henry Ford as a full-time hospitalist. I now focus my attention on hospital medicine for eight months of the year, with some protected time for faculty development and scholarly activities for residents and junior faculty in the division of hospital medicine.

Q: How has your involvement with SHM’s mentored implementation programs impacted your practice and led to improved patient care?

A: After participating in the venous thromboembolism (VTE) mentored implementation program, I became a participant as a mentee site for I-PASS, a program focused on improving communication between providers during patient handoffs. During my time with the I-PASS team, I could sense the commitment and energy to improving handoffs not only at my site but at other participant sites nationwide during our regular check-in calls. Mentored implementation programs are brilliant because they go beyond providing sites with data, a few research papers, and some written recommendations. They really dig down into the true spirit of mentoring with a team.

At Hurley Medical Center, we went “all in” with our pediatric residency. What was most encouraging was that by the end of the year, the I-PASS recommendations and processes were standard practice and fully integrated into the culture and workflow of the care teams.

I applaud these programs tremendously. That’s really how you impact change, and it’s the spark, energy, and momentum from both mentors and mentees that keeps the team on track.

Q: You are the immediate past president of the Michigan Chapter of SHM. What have been some of the biggest benefits of being involved with an SHM chapter?

A: When I first became involved with SHM, there had been a Northern Michigan Chapter, but since SHM seeks to have regional chapters that cater to local audiences, I and some of my colleagues set out to develop a Southern Michigan Chapter. We developed our chapter and designed our meetings with support from SHM’s Chapter Support Committee.

At a typical meeting, we typically host an hour of cocktails with some hors d’oeuvres to provide an opportunity for networking and fellowship. The personal connections are at the heart of these meetings. From the content side, we always have a speaker to talk about issues germane to hospitalists. These are not just run-of-the-mill grand rounds discussions but rather information on clinical updates or the business and policy side of hospital medicine.

In our chapter, we also cycle leadership each year, using a “see one, do one, teach one” approach with our vice president-elect, president, and immediate past president to ensure proper development and continuity.

Moving forward, we are trying to reach out to medical students on a more regular basis. If you’re in your third year of medical school, it’s beneficial to start talking informally to hospitalists from multiple organizations in the state and get a feel for what a career in hospital medicine is like. How amazing would it be to walk in and interview for residency with a person you had dinner with a few months ago?

Q: SHM’s Board of Directors recently approved a Chapter Development Fund to support innovative initiatives that drive engagement on a local level. Explain the potential impact you see this having on chapters and, more broadly, SHM’s membership and hospital medicine.

A: Since our chapter’s inception, we have been able to expand our reach and stream our content to other parts of the state on the Internet. Part of the reason we have been able to do this is due to support from a Chapter Development Fund recently approved by SHM’s Board of Directors. As a result, we have turned our Southern Michigan Chapter into a statewide chapter with virtual sites. At the last meeting, we had over 75 attendees between our physical site and our “satellite site” in Michigan.

Our next project is to apply for funding to provide first- and second-year residents with free membership for a year through our chapter to expose them to the resources SHM has available to them and get their foot in the door with the organization. At a recent co-sponsored statewide meeting with the American College of Physicians, we were able to sign up 20 residents as new members of SHM, and our chapter paid their dues as an investment into our specialty.

Q: Any closing thoughts?

A: If there’s one thing I haven’t yet shared that I feel quite passionately about, it’s that SHM has such a robust library of educational resources that all hospitalists should be aware of, especially SHM’s annual meeting. It’s extraordinarily clinical and features a sizeable amount of content for grassroots clinicians and hospital leaders, including the best speakers in the field. On top of the educational components, the networking possibilities with hospitalists across the country make the annual meeting a prime example of the value SHM offers.

I’ve also been fortunate to have been involved with developing enduring materials on SHM’s Learning Portal, some of which are available without cost due to grant funding. The fact that SHM has pursued this funding and made some of these resources available to hospitalists outside of SHM’s membership embodies the organization’s mission of not only teaching doctors how to take better care of patients but helping patients get better—one of many reasons I am proud to be an active member. TH

Editor’s note: Each month, SHM puts the spotlight on some of our most active members who are making substantial contributions to hospital medicine. Log on to www.hospitalmedicine.org/getinvolved for more information on how you can lend your expertise to help SHM improve the care of hospitalized patients.

This month, The Hospitalist spotlights Scott Kaatz, DO, MSc, FACP, SFHM, a hospitalist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. In addition to being an active SHM member, he is immediate past president of SHM’s Michigan Chapter and has been involved in multiple mentored implementation (MI) programs offered by SHM’s Center for Hospital Innovation and Improvement.

Question: What inspired you to begin working in hospital medicine and later join and become so involved with SHM?

Answer: For most of my career, I’ve been at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, including during my internal medicine residency. After residency, I was a primary-care physician there, and I rounded three to four months out of the year in the hospital with traditional house staff model. Four years ago, I transitioned to another role as a chief quality officer at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Mich. While in Flint, I didn’t have a clinic and was strictly a hospitalist, spending about four months a year rounding.

When my career path led me to mostly inpatient work in the hospital, I became more involved not only with hospital medicine but with SHM. As of this past June, I went back home to Henry Ford as a full-time hospitalist. I now focus my attention on hospital medicine for eight months of the year, with some protected time for faculty development and scholarly activities for residents and junior faculty in the division of hospital medicine.

Q: How has your involvement with SHM’s mentored implementation programs impacted your practice and led to improved patient care?

A: After participating in the venous thromboembolism (VTE) mentored implementation program, I became a participant as a mentee site for I-PASS, a program focused on improving communication between providers during patient handoffs. During my time with the I-PASS team, I could sense the commitment and energy to improving handoffs not only at my site but at other participant sites nationwide during our regular check-in calls. Mentored implementation programs are brilliant because they go beyond providing sites with data, a few research papers, and some written recommendations. They really dig down into the true spirit of mentoring with a team.

At Hurley Medical Center, we went “all in” with our pediatric residency. What was most encouraging was that by the end of the year, the I-PASS recommendations and processes were standard practice and fully integrated into the culture and workflow of the care teams.

I applaud these programs tremendously. That’s really how you impact change, and it’s the spark, energy, and momentum from both mentors and mentees that keeps the team on track.

Q: You are the immediate past president of the Michigan Chapter of SHM. What have been some of the biggest benefits of being involved with an SHM chapter?

A: When I first became involved with SHM, there had been a Northern Michigan Chapter, but since SHM seeks to have regional chapters that cater to local audiences, I and some of my colleagues set out to develop a Southern Michigan Chapter. We developed our chapter and designed our meetings with support from SHM’s Chapter Support Committee.

At a typical meeting, we typically host an hour of cocktails with some hors d’oeuvres to provide an opportunity for networking and fellowship. The personal connections are at the heart of these meetings. From the content side, we always have a speaker to talk about issues germane to hospitalists. These are not just run-of-the-mill grand rounds discussions but rather information on clinical updates or the business and policy side of hospital medicine.

In our chapter, we also cycle leadership each year, using a “see one, do one, teach one” approach with our vice president-elect, president, and immediate past president to ensure proper development and continuity.

Moving forward, we are trying to reach out to medical students on a more regular basis. If you’re in your third year of medical school, it’s beneficial to start talking informally to hospitalists from multiple organizations in the state and get a feel for what a career in hospital medicine is like. How amazing would it be to walk in and interview for residency with a person you had dinner with a few months ago?

Q: SHM’s Board of Directors recently approved a Chapter Development Fund to support innovative initiatives that drive engagement on a local level. Explain the potential impact you see this having on chapters and, more broadly, SHM’s membership and hospital medicine.

A: Since our chapter’s inception, we have been able to expand our reach and stream our content to other parts of the state on the Internet. Part of the reason we have been able to do this is due to support from a Chapter Development Fund recently approved by SHM’s Board of Directors. As a result, we have turned our Southern Michigan Chapter into a statewide chapter with virtual sites. At the last meeting, we had over 75 attendees between our physical site and our “satellite site” in Michigan.

Our next project is to apply for funding to provide first- and second-year residents with free membership for a year through our chapter to expose them to the resources SHM has available to them and get their foot in the door with the organization. At a recent co-sponsored statewide meeting with the American College of Physicians, we were able to sign up 20 residents as new members of SHM, and our chapter paid their dues as an investment into our specialty.

Q: Any closing thoughts?

A: If there’s one thing I haven’t yet shared that I feel quite passionately about, it’s that SHM has such a robust library of educational resources that all hospitalists should be aware of, especially SHM’s annual meeting. It’s extraordinarily clinical and features a sizeable amount of content for grassroots clinicians and hospital leaders, including the best speakers in the field. On top of the educational components, the networking possibilities with hospitalists across the country make the annual meeting a prime example of the value SHM offers.

I’ve also been fortunate to have been involved with developing enduring materials on SHM’s Learning Portal, some of which are available without cost due to grant funding. The fact that SHM has pursued this funding and made some of these resources available to hospitalists outside of SHM’s membership embodies the organization’s mission of not only teaching doctors how to take better care of patients but helping patients get better—one of many reasons I am proud to be an active member. TH

Editor’s note: Each month, SHM puts the spotlight on some of our most active members who are making substantial contributions to hospital medicine. Log on to www.hospitalmedicine.org/getinvolved for more information on how you can lend your expertise to help SHM improve the care of hospitalized patients.

This month, The Hospitalist spotlights Scott Kaatz, DO, MSc, FACP, SFHM, a hospitalist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. In addition to being an active SHM member, he is immediate past president of SHM’s Michigan Chapter and has been involved in multiple mentored implementation (MI) programs offered by SHM’s Center for Hospital Innovation and Improvement.

Question: What inspired you to begin working in hospital medicine and later join and become so involved with SHM?

Answer: For most of my career, I’ve been at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, including during my internal medicine residency. After residency, I was a primary-care physician there, and I rounded three to four months out of the year in the hospital with traditional house staff model. Four years ago, I transitioned to another role as a chief quality officer at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Mich. While in Flint, I didn’t have a clinic and was strictly a hospitalist, spending about four months a year rounding.

When my career path led me to mostly inpatient work in the hospital, I became more involved not only with hospital medicine but with SHM. As of this past June, I went back home to Henry Ford as a full-time hospitalist. I now focus my attention on hospital medicine for eight months of the year, with some protected time for faculty development and scholarly activities for residents and junior faculty in the division of hospital medicine.

Q: How has your involvement with SHM’s mentored implementation programs impacted your practice and led to improved patient care?

A: After participating in the venous thromboembolism (VTE) mentored implementation program, I became a participant as a mentee site for I-PASS, a program focused on improving communication between providers during patient handoffs. During my time with the I-PASS team, I could sense the commitment and energy to improving handoffs not only at my site but at other participant sites nationwide during our regular check-in calls. Mentored implementation programs are brilliant because they go beyond providing sites with data, a few research papers, and some written recommendations. They really dig down into the true spirit of mentoring with a team.

At Hurley Medical Center, we went “all in” with our pediatric residency. What was most encouraging was that by the end of the year, the I-PASS recommendations and processes were standard practice and fully integrated into the culture and workflow of the care teams.

I applaud these programs tremendously. That’s really how you impact change, and it’s the spark, energy, and momentum from both mentors and mentees that keeps the team on track.

Q: You are the immediate past president of the Michigan Chapter of SHM. What have been some of the biggest benefits of being involved with an SHM chapter?

A: When I first became involved with SHM, there had been a Northern Michigan Chapter, but since SHM seeks to have regional chapters that cater to local audiences, I and some of my colleagues set out to develop a Southern Michigan Chapter. We developed our chapter and designed our meetings with support from SHM’s Chapter Support Committee.

At a typical meeting, we typically host an hour of cocktails with some hors d’oeuvres to provide an opportunity for networking and fellowship. The personal connections are at the heart of these meetings. From the content side, we always have a speaker to talk about issues germane to hospitalists. These are not just run-of-the-mill grand rounds discussions but rather information on clinical updates or the business and policy side of hospital medicine.

In our chapter, we also cycle leadership each year, using a “see one, do one, teach one” approach with our vice president-elect, president, and immediate past president to ensure proper development and continuity.

Moving forward, we are trying to reach out to medical students on a more regular basis. If you’re in your third year of medical school, it’s beneficial to start talking informally to hospitalists from multiple organizations in the state and get a feel for what a career in hospital medicine is like. How amazing would it be to walk in and interview for residency with a person you had dinner with a few months ago?

Q: SHM’s Board of Directors recently approved a Chapter Development Fund to support innovative initiatives that drive engagement on a local level. Explain the potential impact you see this having on chapters and, more broadly, SHM’s membership and hospital medicine.

A: Since our chapter’s inception, we have been able to expand our reach and stream our content to other parts of the state on the Internet. Part of the reason we have been able to do this is due to support from a Chapter Development Fund recently approved by SHM’s Board of Directors. As a result, we have turned our Southern Michigan Chapter into a statewide chapter with virtual sites. At the last meeting, we had over 75 attendees between our physical site and our “satellite site” in Michigan.

Our next project is to apply for funding to provide first- and second-year residents with free membership for a year through our chapter to expose them to the resources SHM has available to them and get their foot in the door with the organization. At a recent co-sponsored statewide meeting with the American College of Physicians, we were able to sign up 20 residents as new members of SHM, and our chapter paid their dues as an investment into our specialty.

Q: Any closing thoughts?

A: If there’s one thing I haven’t yet shared that I feel quite passionately about, it’s that SHM has such a robust library of educational resources that all hospitalists should be aware of, especially SHM’s annual meeting. It’s extraordinarily clinical and features a sizeable amount of content for grassroots clinicians and hospital leaders, including the best speakers in the field. On top of the educational components, the networking possibilities with hospitalists across the country make the annual meeting a prime example of the value SHM offers.

I’ve also been fortunate to have been involved with developing enduring materials on SHM’s Learning Portal, some of which are available without cost due to grant funding. The fact that SHM has pursued this funding and made some of these resources available to hospitalists outside of SHM’s membership embodies the organization’s mission of not only teaching doctors how to take better care of patients but helping patients get better—one of many reasons I am proud to be an active member. TH

Brian Harte, MD, SFHM, longtime member of the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) and now president of its Board of Directors, was recently named president of Cleveland Clinic Akron General and the Southern Region. He previously served as president of Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital, the 500-bed flagship for the Cleveland Clinic Health System.

The Hospitalist spoke with Dr. Harte about SHM’s impact on his career and how he sees hospitalists’ roles growing in an evolving health system.

Question: In your speech at Hospital Medicine 2016 in San Diego, you referenced the critical need for hospitalists to explore opportunities to grow both personally and professionally, with SHM as a means of support. How has SHM been that support for you throughout your career from hospitalist to hospitalist leader?

Answer: Hospital medicine is a fantastic career because there are so many opportunities available to us. SHM supports our members in finding their own career paths in a number of ways. For example, Leadership Academy is a valuable resource to develop leadership skills from basic to advanced. More generally, SHM provides many role models and networking opportunities to allow others to learn from hospital medicine professionals and healthcare leaders and help them advance their careers.

Q: Tell us a bit about your expanded role at Cleveland Clinic Health System and how you can leverage SHM as a way to accomplish your goals in this new position.

A: I’ve been at Cleveland Clinic for 12 years, both as a hospitalist and in a number of leadership positions. After having served as president of Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital, I have a new role now as president of one of their newly acquired hospitals in Akron, Cleveland Clinic Akron General Hospital. Both are community hospitals within the Cleveland Clinic’s integrated healthcare network.

In my new role, I will be overseeing and facilitating the process of integration, and I’m really looking forward to it as a new challenge. I am particularly interested in how other health system and hospital executives who are hospitalists within SHM can help guide me and provide advice on how they have taken on challenges, built bridges, and overseen integration within other organizations.

Q: How does the career path of a hospitalist lend itself to leadership opportunities in a way that some other specialties may not?

A: Being a hospitalist lends itself to an almost limitless set of very interesting and rewarding career paths, both within and outside of pure clinical medicine. Hospitalists tend to have a very close relationship with administration, not just around clinical issues but around performance measurement and management. Because of this, we learn on the job about what leadership really consists of and that effective hospitalists are, by definition, effective leaders. What we do every day, functioning within and ultimately leading high-performing teams, epitomizes experiential leadership development.

SHM is positioned to help guide our members both in identifying their career paths and continuing to follow that path through events like Leadership Academy, Annual Meeting, and other networking opportunities that allow them to meet other hospitalists who have already walked down similar paths. We can help guide each other in terms of avoiding some of the pitfalls we have experienced but also by discovering opportunities and how to take advantage of them.

Q: Moving forward, how can hospitalists demonstrate the value that they add to the healthcare landscape both in practice and from a leadership perspective?

A: Since hospital medicine’s inception, hospitalists have had to show the value that they add to patient care, to hospitals, and to the healthcare system. As we move into an era of alternative payment models (APMs) and healthcare reform, the need to do that for all physicians will only be greater. Hospitalists are extremely well positioned to demonstrate value partly because we have been doing that all along in terms of improving patient care, quality outcomes, or performance measurements that the hospital is keeping track of.

We’re going to have to be stronger advocates for the value we provide to the healthcare system in terms of outcomes for patients as well as cost and efficiency. I know SHM will continue to help our members and the leaders within our membership develop the skills needed to do that.

Brian Harte, MD, SFHM, longtime member of the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) and now president of its Board of Directors, was recently named president of Cleveland Clinic Akron General and the Southern Region. He previously served as president of Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital, the 500-bed flagship for the Cleveland Clinic Health System.

The Hospitalist spoke with Dr. Harte about SHM’s impact on his career and how he sees hospitalists’ roles growing in an evolving health system.

Question: In your speech at Hospital Medicine 2016 in San Diego, you referenced the critical need for hospitalists to explore opportunities to grow both personally and professionally, with SHM as a means of support. How has SHM been that support for you throughout your career from hospitalist to hospitalist leader?

Answer: Hospital medicine is a fantastic career because there are so many opportunities available to us. SHM supports our members in finding their own career paths in a number of ways. For example, Leadership Academy is a valuable resource to develop leadership skills from basic to advanced. More generally, SHM provides many role models and networking opportunities to allow others to learn from hospital medicine professionals and healthcare leaders and help them advance their careers.

Q: Tell us a bit about your expanded role at Cleveland Clinic Health System and how you can leverage SHM as a way to accomplish your goals in this new position.

A: I’ve been at Cleveland Clinic for 12 years, both as a hospitalist and in a number of leadership positions. After having served as president of Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital, I have a new role now as president of one of their newly acquired hospitals in Akron, Cleveland Clinic Akron General Hospital. Both are community hospitals within the Cleveland Clinic’s integrated healthcare network.

In my new role, I will be overseeing and facilitating the process of integration, and I’m really looking forward to it as a new challenge. I am particularly interested in how other health system and hospital executives who are hospitalists within SHM can help guide me and provide advice on how they have taken on challenges, built bridges, and overseen integration within other organizations.

Q: How does the career path of a hospitalist lend itself to leadership opportunities in a way that some other specialties may not?

A: Being a hospitalist lends itself to an almost limitless set of very interesting and rewarding career paths, both within and outside of pure clinical medicine. Hospitalists tend to have a very close relationship with administration, not just around clinical issues but around performance measurement and management. Because of this, we learn on the job about what leadership really consists of and that effective hospitalists are, by definition, effective leaders. What we do every day, functioning within and ultimately leading high-performing teams, epitomizes experiential leadership development.

SHM is positioned to help guide our members both in identifying their career paths and continuing to follow that path through events like Leadership Academy, Annual Meeting, and other networking opportunities that allow them to meet other hospitalists who have already walked down similar paths. We can help guide each other in terms of avoiding some of the pitfalls we have experienced but also by discovering opportunities and how to take advantage of them.

Q: Moving forward, how can hospitalists demonstrate the value that they add to the healthcare landscape both in practice and from a leadership perspective?

A: Since hospital medicine’s inception, hospitalists have had to show the value that they add to patient care, to hospitals, and to the healthcare system. As we move into an era of alternative payment models (APMs) and healthcare reform, the need to do that for all physicians will only be greater. Hospitalists are extremely well positioned to demonstrate value partly because we have been doing that all along in terms of improving patient care, quality outcomes, or performance measurements that the hospital is keeping track of.

We’re going to have to be stronger advocates for the value we provide to the healthcare system in terms of outcomes for patients as well as cost and efficiency. I know SHM will continue to help our members and the leaders within our membership develop the skills needed to do that.

Brian Harte, MD, SFHM, longtime member of the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) and now president of its Board of Directors, was recently named president of Cleveland Clinic Akron General and the Southern Region. He previously served as president of Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital, the 500-bed flagship for the Cleveland Clinic Health System.

The Hospitalist spoke with Dr. Harte about SHM’s impact on his career and how he sees hospitalists’ roles growing in an evolving health system.

Question: In your speech at Hospital Medicine 2016 in San Diego, you referenced the critical need for hospitalists to explore opportunities to grow both personally and professionally, with SHM as a means of support. How has SHM been that support for you throughout your career from hospitalist to hospitalist leader?

Answer: Hospital medicine is a fantastic career because there are so many opportunities available to us. SHM supports our members in finding their own career paths in a number of ways. For example, Leadership Academy is a valuable resource to develop leadership skills from basic to advanced. More generally, SHM provides many role models and networking opportunities to allow others to learn from hospital medicine professionals and healthcare leaders and help them advance their careers.

Q: Tell us a bit about your expanded role at Cleveland Clinic Health System and how you can leverage SHM as a way to accomplish your goals in this new position.

A: I’ve been at Cleveland Clinic for 12 years, both as a hospitalist and in a number of leadership positions. After having served as president of Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital, I have a new role now as president of one of their newly acquired hospitals in Akron, Cleveland Clinic Akron General Hospital. Both are community hospitals within the Cleveland Clinic’s integrated healthcare network.

In my new role, I will be overseeing and facilitating the process of integration, and I’m really looking forward to it as a new challenge. I am particularly interested in how other health system and hospital executives who are hospitalists within SHM can help guide me and provide advice on how they have taken on challenges, built bridges, and overseen integration within other organizations.

Q: How does the career path of a hospitalist lend itself to leadership opportunities in a way that some other specialties may not?

A: Being a hospitalist lends itself to an almost limitless set of very interesting and rewarding career paths, both within and outside of pure clinical medicine. Hospitalists tend to have a very close relationship with administration, not just around clinical issues but around performance measurement and management. Because of this, we learn on the job about what leadership really consists of and that effective hospitalists are, by definition, effective leaders. What we do every day, functioning within and ultimately leading high-performing teams, epitomizes experiential leadership development.

SHM is positioned to help guide our members both in identifying their career paths and continuing to follow that path through events like Leadership Academy, Annual Meeting, and other networking opportunities that allow them to meet other hospitalists who have already walked down similar paths. We can help guide each other in terms of avoiding some of the pitfalls we have experienced but also by discovering opportunities and how to take advantage of them.

Q: Moving forward, how can hospitalists demonstrate the value that they add to the healthcare landscape both in practice and from a leadership perspective?

A: Since hospital medicine’s inception, hospitalists have had to show the value that they add to patient care, to hospitals, and to the healthcare system. As we move into an era of alternative payment models (APMs) and healthcare reform, the need to do that for all physicians will only be greater. Hospitalists are extremely well positioned to demonstrate value partly because we have been doing that all along in terms of improving patient care, quality outcomes, or performance measurements that the hospital is keeping track of.

We’re going to have to be stronger advocates for the value we provide to the healthcare system in terms of outcomes for patients as well as cost and efficiency. I know SHM will continue to help our members and the leaders within our membership develop the skills needed to do that.

Editor’s note: As SHM celebrates the “Year of the Hospitalist,” we’re putting the spotlight on some of our most active members who are making substantial contributions to hospital medicine. Log on to www.hospitalmedicine.org/yoth for more information on how you can join the yearlong celebration and help SHM improve the care of hospitalized patients.

This month, The Hospitalist spotlights Moises Auron, MD, SFHM, a dual internal medicine/pediatrics hospitalist at the Cleveland Clinic. He is board certified in internal medicine and pediatrics and serves as associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University.

Question: What inspired you to begin working in hospital medicine and later join SHM?

Answer: I joined SHM as a third-year med-peds resident, influenced by my mentor and teacher, Dr. James C. Pile. I completed my medicine and perioperative consult rotation with him, and it was the first time in ages that anybody had served as such a motivating role model. He gave me a collection of The Hospitalist newsmagazines focused on perioperative medicine as well as a pack of articles around pertinent subjects for an internal medicine consultation service. It was a breath of fresh air; I found an entirely new niche in medicine. And in addition, he demonstrated to me how being a hospitalist was a fundamental pillar of patient care within the healthcare system. He showed me the elements of a thorough and pertinent system-based practice.

I met SHM CEO Dr. Larry Wellikson and the SHM team during a meeting in Philadelphia about 10 years ago and became even more acquainted with the society and its goals. I became a member on the spot. As a resident, I loved receiving both The Hospitalist and the Journal of Hospital Medicine. Both helped me also in my initial job search during my senior year of residency as well as with familiarizing myself with the latest hospital medicine literature. In short, being a member of SHM helped me cement my professional career path to hospital medicine.

Q: How has SHM provided you with resources to improve patient care and further your career?

I had the privilege of attending the Academic Hospitalist Academy and the Quality and Safety Educators Academy as well; both have helped me foster further goals in my career as well as achieve substantial professional and personal satisfaction.

The most important aspect of my membership has been becoming acquainted with a tremendous group of talented human beings, including both the SHM staff as well as hospitalist colleagues. The strength of SHM is its people: passionate providers and administrators who aim to make a better world for patients and doctors.

Q: What is your proudest moment working in hospital medicine?

A: Every single day of my job. As an academic hospitalist and a quality officer at my institution, I take tremendous pride in my job. I define ourselves as the super-internists; we are a quaternary medical center that cares for patients referred from all over the nation, and we need to elucidate obscure diagnoses and aim to offer a treatment and hope.

To me, what is more important is when I witness my residents being actively mindful about preventing harm: when they hardwire best practices such as good hand hygiene, precautions for prevention of falls, risk mitigation associated with any medical intervention … The list goes on. When I appreciate that behavior that becomes my proudest moment because I know that they will ensure the best outcomes for our patients and that I have made an impact.

Q: What do you see as the biggest opportunity for hospitalists as healthcare continues to evolve, and how can hospitalists rise to the challenge?

A: As the saying goes, “One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.” We need to anticipate the way American healthcare is being delivered. The business model is changing, and the payment system is transitioning. Quality is being leveraged as a tool to decrease costs of care.

Hospitalists need to be creative in capitalizing on each individual patient encounter to maximize communication with other members of the healthcare team and use the patient’s hospitalization time strategically. We need to be the savings experts. We can recognize areas where unnecessary expenditure is used by having a lean mind and focusing on removing waste that will not impact our patients. We are the experts on the front line—we need to share the feedback to the leadership.

Q: What advice would you give to future providers considering a career in hospital medicine?

A: Become an SHM member early in your residency, aim to present a poster, participate at an SHM meeting, and engage in the networking process. SHM offers educational initiatives (e.g., Leadership Academy, Academic Hospitalist Academy, Quality and Safety Educators Academy), quality improvement programs (e.g., BOOST and Glycemic Control), and educational content to ensure your success in the Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine exam via the SHM SPARK tool.

Why so early? Because all of these resources help to build a sense of purpose and help to answer the question, “Where do I want to be five years from now?” Networking is fundamental, especially as it gives the opportunity to develop potential mentorship relationships and create teams for future collaboration endeavors.

Editor’s note: As SHM celebrates the “Year of the Hospitalist,” we’re putting the spotlight on some of our most active members who are making substantial contributions to hospital medicine. Log on to www.hospitalmedicine.org/yoth for more information on how you can join the yearlong celebration and help SHM improve the care of hospitalized patients.

This month, The Hospitalist spotlights Moises Auron, MD, SFHM, a dual internal medicine/pediatrics hospitalist at the Cleveland Clinic. He is board certified in internal medicine and pediatrics and serves as associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University.

Question: What inspired you to begin working in hospital medicine and later join SHM?

Answer: I joined SHM as a third-year med-peds resident, influenced by my mentor and teacher, Dr. James C. Pile. I completed my medicine and perioperative consult rotation with him, and it was the first time in ages that anybody had served as such a motivating role model. He gave me a collection of The Hospitalist newsmagazines focused on perioperative medicine as well as a pack of articles around pertinent subjects for an internal medicine consultation service. It was a breath of fresh air; I found an entirely new niche in medicine. And in addition, he demonstrated to me how being a hospitalist was a fundamental pillar of patient care within the healthcare system. He showed me the elements of a thorough and pertinent system-based practice.

I met SHM CEO Dr. Larry Wellikson and the SHM team during a meeting in Philadelphia about 10 years ago and became even more acquainted with the society and its goals. I became a member on the spot. As a resident, I loved receiving both The Hospitalist and the Journal of Hospital Medicine. Both helped me also in my initial job search during my senior year of residency as well as with familiarizing myself with the latest hospital medicine literature. In short, being a member of SHM helped me cement my professional career path to hospital medicine.

Q: How has SHM provided you with resources to improve patient care and further your career?

I had the privilege of attending the Academic Hospitalist Academy and the Quality and Safety Educators Academy as well; both have helped me foster further goals in my career as well as achieve substantial professional and personal satisfaction.

The most important aspect of my membership has been becoming acquainted with a tremendous group of talented human beings, including both the SHM staff as well as hospitalist colleagues. The strength of SHM is its people: passionate providers and administrators who aim to make a better world for patients and doctors.

Q: What is your proudest moment working in hospital medicine?

A: Every single day of my job. As an academic hospitalist and a quality officer at my institution, I take tremendous pride in my job. I define ourselves as the super-internists; we are a quaternary medical center that cares for patients referred from all over the nation, and we need to elucidate obscure diagnoses and aim to offer a treatment and hope.

To me, what is more important is when I witness my residents being actively mindful about preventing harm: when they hardwire best practices such as good hand hygiene, precautions for prevention of falls, risk mitigation associated with any medical intervention … The list goes on. When I appreciate that behavior that becomes my proudest moment because I know that they will ensure the best outcomes for our patients and that I have made an impact.

Q: What do you see as the biggest opportunity for hospitalists as healthcare continues to evolve, and how can hospitalists rise to the challenge?

A: As the saying goes, “One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.” We need to anticipate the way American healthcare is being delivered. The business model is changing, and the payment system is transitioning. Quality is being leveraged as a tool to decrease costs of care.

Hospitalists need to be creative in capitalizing on each individual patient encounter to maximize communication with other members of the healthcare team and use the patient’s hospitalization time strategically. We need to be the savings experts. We can recognize areas where unnecessary expenditure is used by having a lean mind and focusing on removing waste that will not impact our patients. We are the experts on the front line—we need to share the feedback to the leadership.

Q: What advice would you give to future providers considering a career in hospital medicine?

A: Become an SHM member early in your residency, aim to present a poster, participate at an SHM meeting, and engage in the networking process. SHM offers educational initiatives (e.g., Leadership Academy, Academic Hospitalist Academy, Quality and Safety Educators Academy), quality improvement programs (e.g., BOOST and Glycemic Control), and educational content to ensure your success in the Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine exam via the SHM SPARK tool.

Why so early? Because all of these resources help to build a sense of purpose and help to answer the question, “Where do I want to be five years from now?” Networking is fundamental, especially as it gives the opportunity to develop potential mentorship relationships and create teams for future collaboration endeavors.

Editor’s note: As SHM celebrates the “Year of the Hospitalist,” we’re putting the spotlight on some of our most active members who are making substantial contributions to hospital medicine. Log on to www.hospitalmedicine.org/yoth for more information on how you can join the yearlong celebration and help SHM improve the care of hospitalized patients.

This month, The Hospitalist spotlights Moises Auron, MD, SFHM, a dual internal medicine/pediatrics hospitalist at the Cleveland Clinic. He is board certified in internal medicine and pediatrics and serves as associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University.

Question: What inspired you to begin working in hospital medicine and later join SHM?

Answer: I joined SHM as a third-year med-peds resident, influenced by my mentor and teacher, Dr. James C. Pile. I completed my medicine and perioperative consult rotation with him, and it was the first time in ages that anybody had served as such a motivating role model. He gave me a collection of The Hospitalist newsmagazines focused on perioperative medicine as well as a pack of articles around pertinent subjects for an internal medicine consultation service. It was a breath of fresh air; I found an entirely new niche in medicine. And in addition, he demonstrated to me how being a hospitalist was a fundamental pillar of patient care within the healthcare system. He showed me the elements of a thorough and pertinent system-based practice.

I met SHM CEO Dr. Larry Wellikson and the SHM team during a meeting in Philadelphia about 10 years ago and became even more acquainted with the society and its goals. I became a member on the spot. As a resident, I loved receiving both The Hospitalist and the Journal of Hospital Medicine. Both helped me also in my initial job search during my senior year of residency as well as with familiarizing myself with the latest hospital medicine literature. In short, being a member of SHM helped me cement my professional career path to hospital medicine.

Q: How has SHM provided you with resources to improve patient care and further your career?

I had the privilege of attending the Academic Hospitalist Academy and the Quality and Safety Educators Academy as well; both have helped me foster further goals in my career as well as achieve substantial professional and personal satisfaction.

The most important aspect of my membership has been becoming acquainted with a tremendous group of talented human beings, including both the SHM staff as well as hospitalist colleagues. The strength of SHM is its people: passionate providers and administrators who aim to make a better world for patients and doctors.

Q: What is your proudest moment working in hospital medicine?

A: Every single day of my job. As an academic hospitalist and a quality officer at my institution, I take tremendous pride in my job. I define ourselves as the super-internists; we are a quaternary medical center that cares for patients referred from all over the nation, and we need to elucidate obscure diagnoses and aim to offer a treatment and hope.

To me, what is more important is when I witness my residents being actively mindful about preventing harm: when they hardwire best practices such as good hand hygiene, precautions for prevention of falls, risk mitigation associated with any medical intervention … The list goes on. When I appreciate that behavior that becomes my proudest moment because I know that they will ensure the best outcomes for our patients and that I have made an impact.

Q: What do you see as the biggest opportunity for hospitalists as healthcare continues to evolve, and how can hospitalists rise to the challenge?

A: As the saying goes, “One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.” We need to anticipate the way American healthcare is being delivered. The business model is changing, and the payment system is transitioning. Quality is being leveraged as a tool to decrease costs of care.

Hospitalists need to be creative in capitalizing on each individual patient encounter to maximize communication with other members of the healthcare team and use the patient’s hospitalization time strategically. We need to be the savings experts. We can recognize areas where unnecessary expenditure is used by having a lean mind and focusing on removing waste that will not impact our patients. We are the experts on the front line—we need to share the feedback to the leadership.

Q: What advice would you give to future providers considering a career in hospital medicine?

A: Become an SHM member early in your residency, aim to present a poster, participate at an SHM meeting, and engage in the networking process. SHM offers educational initiatives (e.g., Leadership Academy, Academic Hospitalist Academy, Quality and Safety Educators Academy), quality improvement programs (e.g., BOOST and Glycemic Control), and educational content to ensure your success in the Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine exam via the SHM SPARK tool.

Why so early? Because all of these resources help to build a sense of purpose and help to answer the question, “Where do I want to be five years from now?” Networking is fundamental, especially as it gives the opportunity to develop potential mentorship relationships and create teams for future collaboration endeavors.