The Hospitalist Blog

A recently released study by the American Hospital Association confirms of nearly 5,000 community hospitals confirms what many of us have already understand. The “penetration ratio” of community hospitals that utilize hospitalists is 58%; for those facilities over 200 beds the ratio jumps to 83%. 

Less well understood is the penetration of hospitalists into other inpatient facilities. At IPC we now have practice groups established in pediatric hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, long-term acute care facilities and skilled nursing facilities all across the country. Each facility type has its own dynamic and challenge, but the demand for hospitalist services at these facilities is growing at a rapid rate.  

It looks to me like the opening of a new frontier. Penetration is still in its early phases, but this trend will open up new vistas for hospitalists, creating opportunities to “follow” patients as they transition care from one facility type to another. It seems to me that non-acute penetration today is about where  acute care was five or six years ago.  

The fact that hospitalists are providing services to such a wide variety of facility types is a testament to the tremendous flexibility and adaptability our specialty is capable of offering to the inpatient care system as our specialty continues to evolve. There is virtually no inpatient care setting in which hospitalists cannot, should not or will not practice. Perhaps, at the end of the day, this is our greatest strength.

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 at 3:09 pm and is filed under A Hospitalist's thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.