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Hospitalist Service Ensures Quality Patient Care

As primary care physicians strive to provide the best care for their hospitalized patients, a new service is lending a hand to coordinate and ensure an individual’s continuity of care from admission to discharge. It is Vail Valley Medical Center’s new Hospitalist Service which provides specialized inpatient care. The plan to bring aboard a Hospitalist Service comes from the recognized benefits of Hospitalists on a national level.  Vail Valley Medical Center Medical Staff and Administration felt their specialized expertise, skills and knowledge could help serve VVMC’s patient populations.

“Hospitalists are experts in inpatient medicine and can provide patients with continuity of care throughout their hospital stay.”

The tradition of Hospitalists originated some 20 to 25 years ago when community primary care physicians would spend half of their patient care time in hospitals.  Physicians at that time rotated hospital duty and “on call” time with partners. As health care evolved and patient care migrated to the office and outpatient areas, physicians spent less time on inpatient care.

A Hospitalist is a medical doctor, usually an internist, who specializes in inpatient care. 

The Hospitalist’s focus is to provide patients with around-the-clock coordination of care.

Hospitalists are not just specialists in patient care but are also experts in hospital processes.  They can order tests, write prescriptions and coordinate other medical services for a patient. They communicate often with patients and their families and can answer specific medical questions. If a patient doesn’t have a primary care provider, a Hospitalist can assist to coordinate one.

The Hospitalist Service will foster a team approach in providing quality patient care.  Currently, about 7,500 Hospitalists work throughout the country, with a majority of them serving as general internal medicine physicians.  With the health care profession’s recent emphasis on patient safety and stricter guidelines directed by governing agencies, it is expected that the demand for Hospitalists will grow to 20,000 in the next decade.  People who are hospitalized today are usually very ill with longer hospital stays.

Initial studies indicate that Hospitalist programs have translated to improved clinical outcomes, shorter patient stays with fewer readmissions and an overall reduction in hospital costs.

“We’d like to think that VVMC is ahead of regulations regarding patient safety and quality,” VVMC Administration said. “Various federal agencies and accrediting bodies have become very interested in making sure that hospitals initiate best clinical practices. We’re looking at incorporating care processes to ensure that we are implementing the highest quality of care. Hospitalists will assist us in our efforts to develop processes of care that will help us avoid errors, omissions or delays in managing our patients with complex medical conditions.”

“The Hospitalist specialty prides themselves in finding solutions to 'systems' problems in organization and structure relating to our inpatient care.”  For now we look forward to the presence and capabilities of this specialized service throughout the medical center.  We also hope their presence will help enhance a level of confidence and service quality attitude among patients and staff.