TRANSITIONS OF CARE

HM: A Difference-Maker

Study author says hospitalists should be at the forefront of readmission reform

By Jason Carris

The author of a new study that shows 20% of Medicare patient discharges are readmitted within 30 days thinks hospitalists can—and should—take a lead role in reducing those rates by improving patient transitions from hospital to home.

The study, released today in the New England Journal of Medicine, also shows that half of nonsurgical patients are readmitted to the hospital without seeing an outpatient doctor, and the unplanned rehospitalization cost Medicare $17.4 billion in 2004.

[READ FULL ARTICLE]

[READ MORE]

[READ MORE]

PATIENT SATISFACTION

There Until the End

Hospitalists’ role important to palliative-care patients

By Richard Quinn

Patients with advanced cancer who have end-of-life conversations with palliative-care physicians have lower treatment costs, according to a March 9 report in the Archives of Internal Medicine (2009;169(5):480-488). Two other articles in the same issue examine dying patients' feelings of abandonment by physicians.

As more hospitalists move into palliative care, these studies confirm that working with patients in their final days is beneficial for the patient and the hospital.

[READ FULL ARTICLE]

SUBSCRIBE   |   CONTACT US   |  SOCIETY OF HOSPITAL MEDICINE   |   THE HOSPITALIST
ALL CONTENTS ©2009 SHM

You are receiving this e-mail because you are subscribed to the eWire with the e-mail address #EMAILADDR#.

The Hospitalist eWire is published by John Wiley & Sons, 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030

Please go here to manage your e-mail subscription preferences.