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2007 Issues

December 2007

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“Tuck-in” services: good business or babysitting?

MD, MBA

How should we define a full-time equivalent?

Night shifts: great for programs, hazardous to your health?

Wanted: part-time physicians

The making of a hospitalist

How to make rapid flu tests work in the hospital setting

Upper GI bleeding: Who’s at risk for rebleeds?

Strategies to help you survive hospital politics

Pediatric hospitalists have a “no pain, all gain” opportunity

Hospitalists take charge at “next-generation” hospital

Does disclosing errors help or hurt your chances of being sued?

How to maximize reimbursement when documenting a patient history

We want to hear from you


November 2007

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Rehabbing your hospitalist practice

24/7, shift work and vacation time

Do we make too much money?

How to get what you want when you’re negotiating

Learning the fine art of negotiation

“House doctors” and/or hospitalists?

An introduction

Does your group need a serious renovation?

Evidence mounts in favor of hospitalists for sicker patients

Answers to your questions about observation and consult codes

Start, stop and consider: what new evidence says about CAP

Medication reconciliation hurdles: one hospital’s experience

Hospital capacity and adverse events: Is there a connection?

Strategies for teaching handoffs to housestaff

A procedures service provides earlier discharges and safer care


October 2007

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In close quarters: when hospitalist groups compete

Common mistakes to avoid on that first job interview

The ins and outs of billing for procedures

Competition

Signing out patients

A big boost for patient safety “and for hospital medicine

E-mails push patient sign-outs beyond the hospital walls

Tamping down the vicious cycle of atrial fibrillation

Getting squeezed: emerging trends in pediatric inpatient services

Going beyond daily census with new hospitalist services

The new crackdown on “preventable” complications


September 2007

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Strategies to grow your career

Want to super-size that sign-on bonus?

A look at the controversies in managing sepsis

How will your career choices affect the hospitalist workforce?

A quick response to hospitals’ “dirty little secret”: inpatient strokes

Theory and practice: a look at how to marry the two in quality improvement

A new approach helps keep patients out of the hospital

How to diagnose and treat Clostridium difficile

New and revised ICD-9 codes that will affect hospitalists


August 2007

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Should you split your service into rounders and admitters?

What immigration problems mean for hospital medicine

Taking the temperature of a practice’s financial health

How pop-up reminders can boost your score on quality measures

Hospitalists and LTACs: For some physicians, it’s a perfect fit

Strategies to treat your tough nephrology cases

Tips for calculating a total daily dose of insulin

Industry think tank: Today’s boom times could be tomorrow’s crisis

How to get paid what you deserve for observation services

Higher MRSA rates reported, more


July 2007

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Taking charge of observation units

When an employer asks for a commitment up-front

New pay-for-reporting program sets its sights on individual physicians

When treating ACS, focus on “the donut,” not just “the hole”

How one hospital reduced waiting times for PICCs

Having trouble getting out in front of alcohol withdrawal?

A reality check for pay-for-performance programs

High hospital occupancy, advance directives, more

How should you bill for critical care services?


June 2007

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Having a hard time taking a vacation?

Running ragged? Try these 12 time-savers

Hospital medicine’s new think tank; pay-for-reporting update

A new voice emerges from hospital medicine

How “rules of engagement” can help bridge the divide between surgery and medicine

Breaking through denial to address the death in the room

To boost patient safety, focus on the evidence, not the buzz

Which codes do you use when observation spans several days?

How one portal functions as a gateway to information and referrals

Strategies to break the vicious cycle of COPD relapses

Taking the guesswork out of managing chest pain patients


May 2007

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Hospital medicine’s management shuffle

Job hunting? Keep an eye out for these red flags

Looking for resources for hospitalists? Try our new and improved Web site

When time is money, you need a better way to divvy up patients

Vancomycin roars back as front-line therapy

Family medicine hospitalists: separate and unequal?

Who should you call for patients with carotid stenosis?

New CAP guidelines take the pressure off physicians

Answers to your questions about discharge services and add-on codes


April 2007

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Moving glucose targets beyond the ICU

How to craft the perfect CV

NPI deadline, perioperative errors, more

Hospitalist programs: a new bottom line in American medicine?

It’s a match: Creating hospitalist-midlevel teams brings big benefits

Can hospital medicine save medical care in the heartland?

Look what specialties are turning to the hospital medicine model

Solving the riddle of inter-related endocrinopathies

Learning to take TIAs seriously

The wrong stuff: big gaps in discharge communications

To shut down central-line infections, try targeting attitudes

Spending more time with non-critical patients? Here’s how to bill


 

March 2007

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Which scheduling strategies work the best?

Choosing the right level of complexity in medical decision-making

How to ace the job interview process

Wristband initiative gives patient safety a new palette

PFP demonstration project: how much of a success?

Family physicians: shut out of certification?

Why hospitalists may need a dose of self-assertiveness

How well are you managing pain in addicted patients?

HIV screening: not just for outpatients any more

Rethinking the timing of therapies for acute ischemic stroke


February 2007

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Is the “revolving door” derailing your practice?

It’s time to rethink old sterotypes about different practice models

Making perioperative beta-blockade happen at your hospital

One Boston hospital gives executive walk rounds a grassroots twist

Why you should “walk, not run” toward certain patient safety initiatives

Feel uncomfortable talking about end-of-life care? Try these strategies

Can groups find stability by changing their ways?

Supervising residents? Here’s what you need to do to get paid

Post-MI fatigue, malaise: normal reaction or signs of depression?

With Medicare pay rising, hospitalists worry they’ll be shut out of new bonuses


January 2007

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Midlevels make a rocky entrance into hospital medicine

Discharging a frail, elderly patient? Try reviewing function, not just systems

Hospitalists move into palliative medicine and find many parallels

Need help developing a sixth sense in clinical problem-solving?

Briefs: Congress acts to avert physician pay cut

Lessons learned from tracking medication reconciliation at three hospitals

Market profile: What’s new with hospitalist schedules

Good news helps kick off the new year

Hospital medicine moves toward its own brand of recertification

Are you using the right tests to rule out PE?

What you need to know to document an initial hospital visit