Hospitalists: Do They Improve Patient Care?

Abstract

In response to the changes in the delivery of health care, the concept of using hospitalists to care for inpatients has been steadily gaining popularity. Theoretically, hospitalists could deliver cost-effective quality health care to hospitalized patients. Because the currently available literature provides insufficient data on the impact of hospitalists on patient care and because many of the currently practicing hospitalists are trained in pulmonary and critical care medicine, we will review some of the available information on hospitalists and intensivists in an effort to provide an overview of their potential impact on patient care. Various studies of hospitalist programs demonstrate that there might be a significant reduction in length of stay as well as the cost of inpatient care. In addition, some of the intensivist studies suggest potential reduction in length of stay and mortality. Most of the data available, however, are methodologically weak and are anecdotal. Thus, there is an urgent need for well-designed, prospective, controlled studies to evaluate the effect of hospitalist care on outcome measures such as length of stay, cost, patient satisfaction, and quality of care. In addition, studies examining the indirect effects of hospitalists on outpatient resource use are also needed.

Key Words:

Hospitalist - intensivist - managed care - traditional medicine - cost-effective health care