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2004 Issues

December 2004

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Profiles in palliative care

If ordinary DRGs don’t give you enough detail, try this set of codes

How a simple checklist changed one hospital’s approach to bloodstream infections

With these inpatient anticoagulation guidelines, reducing costs was just the beginning

Why less really can be more when it comes to teaching hospitals

Inserting a central line? Tips to go beyond E/M services codes


November 2004

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Growth strategies for hospitalist programs

Hospitals give inpatient immunizations a boost

Smart growth

How a medical response team can help patients before they code

November 2004 News Briefs

Want to boost the number of patients using CV drugs? Try prescribing them at discharge

Why physicians need help when talking about serious errors

Spending extra time with patients? Try prolonged services codes


October 2004

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Locked out: Why some hospitals are limiting which hospitalists can work on their wards

How glucose control eliminated mediastinitis in cardiac surgery patients

The three “R’s” of consultation codes: request, render and reply

A hospitalist by any other name?

How one hospital is bringing residents into its quality improvement efforts

October 2004 News Briefs

Ventilator-associated pnenumonia guidelines take new view of evidence

A closer look at how hospitalists practice efficient medicine


September 2004

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Hospitalist pay and productivity: How do you measure up?

Tips to avoid trouble with subsequent hospital visit codes

Resident work hour rules, Medicare pay

Why evidence-based medicine isn’t always a black-and-white matter

What happens when patients are discharged from hospice care?

How new sepsis treatments are challenging the conventional wisdom on patient care

A look at how specialty can affect physician performance in the inpatient setting


August 2004

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Building a better discharge proce

Improving post-discharge care for a difficult group

Strategies to diagnose delirium in hospitalized patients

One strategy to keep community-acquired pneumonia out of the hospital

Why the patient safety movement can be a “double-edged sword”

Study: Children admitted at night face a higher risk of death than patients admitted during the day

August 04 News Briefs

Study yields few surprises’but furthers the debate’about inpatient statins

Tackling four common myths about critical care service codes


July/June 2004

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Hospitalists and hand-offs: the problems that plague the process

Is there a time when hospitalists should just say no?

How one mentoring program helps young physicians grow as hospitalists

A novel solution for an ailing medical liability system

Co-managing surgical patients: New opportunity or “mission creep” for hospitalists?

Hospital medicine update: research highlights from 2003

Why the issues surrounding sign-outs make some physicians nervous

Challenging hospitalists to prevent needless deaths on their watch

June/July 2004 News Briefs

The dual roles of hospitalists at community teaching hospitals

New study examines the effect of statins in noncardiac surgery

Is it pulmonary edema or pleural effusion? Tips to avoid confusing medical acronyms


May 2004

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Protecting patients from errors: a look at three initiatives

How software helped solve a hospitalist’s specific problem

Medical computing news

The finances of hospice care and the role of hospitalists

The case for faster treatment for community-acquired pneumonia

May 2004 News Briefs

Tips to include your time when selecting a level of service

April 2004

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How hospitalist programs are handling rapid growth

Will the real hospitalist please stand up?

One Santa Fe group is putting the spotlight on diagnosing and treating osteoporosis

Tackling burnout before it’s too late

The struggle to build a better hospitalist

Finding simple strategies to reduce the irritating effects of noise pollution

When it comes to choosing diagnosis codes, don’t forget to give details about location


March 2004

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Timelier treatment for community-acquired pneumonia

Protecting the data on your PDA

How one group of hospitalists helped streamline the admissions process

How one hospitalist hopes to influence the government’s health policy process

Choosing ICD-9 codes for three common inpatient conditions


February 2004

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Pay incentives for hospitalists

To boost admissions (and do the right thing), these hospitalists took on nursing home duties

Strategies to prevent problems with central lines

To make its processes “lean,” this hospital took a page from the Japanese car industry

New recommendations call for tighter glucose control for hospitalized patients

February 2004 News Briefs


January 2004

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Feeling used and abused?

Finding consensus in end-of-life care

A look at statins in perioperative care

The ‘warm and fuzzy’ approach to explaining hospitalists

January 2004 News Briefs

An in-depth look at the causes of hospital drug errors