Hospitalists are becoming more powerful by the day.

Bob Wachter talks about how hospitalists, the fasting growing medical profession in history, have become the “active bed managers” at a teaching hospital in Maryland. Described as an “air traffic controller for all medical patients,” this thankless task involves expediting and evaluating all inpatient admissions.

It was found that when hospitalists were in charge, both the emergency department length of stay and the time that the ED was diverted dropped dramatically.

If such a program were implemented successfully nationwide, hospitalists further cement both their value and necessity.

Hospitalist programs are often money-losers for medical institutions, but they’re quickly finding ways to make themselves indispensable.