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How Do Patients Perceive Hospitalists?

For a number of reasons, many patients prefer Hospitalists. First, since Hospitalists practice on site in the hospital, they are present whenever the patient or family member has a question regarding care. Patients no longer need to wait until their physician makes rounds to get answers. Second, by being located in the hospital, Hospitalists know how to expedite and improve care within that environment. They are familiar with all of the key individuals in the hospital, including medical and surgery consultants, discharge planners, and others. Third, Hospitalists can better facilitate connections with post-acute providers, such as home health care, skilled nursing care, specialized rehabilitation and others.

Does the Use of Hospitalists Save Money?

Yes. Studies show that inpatient specialists can reduce hospital lengths of stay by more than 30 percent and hospital costs by up to 20 percent. Case studies compiled by The Advisory Board of Washington, D.C. demonstrate that Hospitalists were successful in reducing lengths of stay and costs per case across every geographic region in the United States. That is one of the reasons why hospitals, insurers, and economic and quality forces are propelling the shift to Hospitalists as a way to improve the efficiency of care for hospitalized patients.

What Value do Hospitalists Provide to the Physician Community?

Thanks to increases in medical technology, more and more care is being delivered in the physician’s office. Today, the average primary care physician has one or two hospitalized patients per week today, versus 10-12 patients 20 years ago. Working with a Hospitalist provides primary care physicians the ability to focus their attention on their office practices and better refine these needed outpatient skills, while at the same time knowing that their in-hospital patients are receiving the best care possible from specialists trained in that field. This is particularly important because hospital patients today are more complex and more acutely ill than in the past. Because of this, Hospital Medicine requires a decidedly different skill set than outpatient medicine – a skill set that Hospitalists are particularly experienced with and competent to handle.

How do Hospitalists Contribute to Patient Care from a Clinical Standpoint?

Practice generally makes perfect in healthcare. The average U.S. primary care physician spends only 12 percent of his or her time with hospitalized patients. That means that the typical primary care physician is unlikely to see any one condition requiring hospitalization more than three times per year (according to a study by The Advisory Board in Washington, D.C.). Hospitalists bring to patients an expertise in the application and coordination of care for common acute disorders that is far beyond what a traditional primary care physician would be able to provide. Because of this unusually deep understanding of inpatient care, Hospitalists are able to recognize and diagnose unusual disorders, anticipate problems and rapidly respond to crises or changes in a patient's condition. Hospitalists also have been shown to add value beyond patient care by taking a leadership role in quality and patient safety initiatives and by serving on important hospital committees, such as pharmacy and therapeutics committees. Hospitalists also help to reduce the widespread regional variation in clinical practices. Such variation has been proven to be a major contributor to medical errors in hospitals.