Comments on: Is Medicare policy responsible for hospitalists?

By: The Happy Hospitalist

The Happy Hospitalist — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:31:00 +0000

I know that my hospitalist group blows away the numbers which were reported last year. And taken as fact. It’s not even close. In fact, it’s an embarrasment to to be on the losing side of the equation. When you have a well run hospitalist group, you get excellent quality, decreased costs both real and intangible with no drop off in quality delivered.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:09:00 +0000

do we know they have effectively reduced alos? i guess it depends on how you define effectively? ditto for significant inpatient costs?
from my perspective, the data for those claims is underwhelming.
that is not to say the hospitalists do not provide a very valuable service–i certainly believe they do. respectfully, i’m just not sure about the claims made by above poster.

By: David Harlow

David Harlow — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:34:00 +0000

Clowns or no, this ship has sailed – about half of hospitals nationwide employ hospitalists and they have effectively reduced ALOS and inpt costs significantly. No turning back the clock.

The last piece of the feedback loop would be redirecting some of that savings to PCPs.