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2009 Issues

December 2009

2009decembercover

Are you OK taking care of this patient?

Cheer up, you could have been a lawyer!

2009: Changing jobs, and the other side of the stethoscope

A hospitalist’s letter to Santa

Lessons learned from starting an oncology service

Going to the dark side

A look at hospitalist teaching duties

Works well with others

Making TV a teachable moment for patients

Finding the right nurse for the right patient

A walk in my best friend’s shoes

Avoiding some big holes in reimbursement

Is it time to put “no blame” in the corner?

The year in review


November 2009

2009novembercover

H1N1 is here. How will you pump up your staffing?

Getting down with OPPE

Short honeymoon

Hospitalists and patient satisfaction: Another value-added metric?

Dodging a frivolous lawsuit

Chasing more than a diagnosis

Toward a more rational tort system

Small changes promote better sleep

Do hospitalists really provide better care?

How to bill for critical care services

Dodging a frivolous lawsuit

New options for patients with cirrhosis

Liability mistakes you want to avoid


October 2009 

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Tough balancing act for teaching hospitals

Linda’s story

“We’ve come a long way, baby!”

True health care reform

What’s happening with hospitalist productivity

Hospital medicine: Too big to fail?

Dear subspecialty fellowship directors

Medicine that comes with a “warranty”

Sounding an alarm on bundled payments

Hospitalist demographics

What’s happening with hospitalist compensation

The hospital medicine job market: a changing landscape

Commas, adjectives and an occasional noun

Getting back to the issue of health care costs

Now available: swine flu vaccine

Software that takes a broad view of health care

Hospital medicine: Too big to fail?

A look at hospitalist leadership within hospitals

Smoothing out the transition from residency to practice

Getting patient flow back on track


September 2009 

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Your practice is growing. Are your leaders still a good fit?

The good and bad news from the staffing world

Hospitalists: secret agents of cost control?

A career change

My two cents on health care reform

Time for hospitalists to act

What’s in a name?

Answers to (complicated) questions on observation

The right to bare arms

Coping with hospital medicine’s success

The fall line-up of hospitalist CME

A green light for better hand hygiene

Making the most of the hospital-medicine lifestyle

Hospitalists: secret agents of cost control?

A look at hospitalist part-timers

Medication reconciliation done right

Confusing evidence emerges on insulin glargine

Lessons learned from round 1 of swine flu

Remedial resuscitation


August 2009

2009augustcover

No vacancy

Treating the whole hospital

The end of transfusion as a “default procedure”?

“I am not an internist”

What it takes to be a hospitalist

Billing midlevel consults

Developing leaders: much more than lip service

Breaking the downcoding habit

Bringing hand-carried ultrasound to the bedside

The road less traveled

Winning approaches to community coverage

The pressure is on to treat pressure ulcers

A look at hospitalist vacation time


July 2009

2009julycover

Going where the grass is greener

Getting a seat at the reform table

Health care reform: the Sermo survey

The reform solution: Cash for Clunkers

Basic Test

A walk in my best friend’s shoes

Throwing good money after bad (Doc Scream 2)

Square dance

Big game hunting

Are you seeing more patients per shift?

Making night coverage work

Guidelines widen tPA window, with caveats

Can’t tell a consult from comanagement?

Free service helps pinpoint antibiotic resistance

Hospital medicine @Twitter

What’s the ideal number of patients to see?

A window opens on gainsharing arrangements


June 2009

2009junecover

Have a problem with readmissions?

Casino billboards and hospital medicine

Wall Street, lawyers and doctors

Business as usual: the AMA’s opposition

Has the economy slowed the growth of hospital medicine?

Taking a bite out of readmissions

Is your patient leaving against medical advice?

A chance for real reform?

Transfers, procedures, discharge: How do you bill?

Not your parents’ news and CME

A passionate advocate for in-house physicians

Bouncebacks: the new LOS

Getting a sedation service off the ground

Which neurologic imaging does your patient need?

A look at hospitalist prescribing patterns


May 2009

2009maycover

Making the switch from IV to sub-Q insulin

Is it cold-turkey time for the free lunch?

Dear Mr. President

Comanagement: revisiting the rules of engagement

SHM 2009: Something is going to happen.

Earning a seat at the table

“What do you mean by ‘dizzy’?”

My professional midlife crisis

The ins and outs of prolonged service ICD-9 codes – timing and documentation

RoboHospitalist: the battle begins

The “new problem” of unnecessary readmissions

Doctors bring same-day service to treadmill testing

New toolkit helps standardize disaster-response initiatives

A virtual lounge for doctors only

Meet our editorial board

My professional midlife crisis

Making error disclosure a “team sport”

A look at hospitalist productivity


April 2009

2009aprilcover

The tug-of-war over ICU care

The hospitalist guide to consultants

ACP: the kinship report

Top hospitalists?

Moving up the leadership ladder – Prime hospitalist positions and further options

Poor communication=unrealistic expectations

Robot “hospitalist” now helps pull the night shift

Is health care reform about to arrive in your hospital?

Cutting down on “wasted beds” eases gridlock

When volume pushes hospitals over the edge

Who bills for what in comanagement?

A look at night work for hospitalists

Poor communication leads to unrealistic expectations

Pediatric literature plays catch-up on medical errors

Today’s big headlines in stroke care


March 2009

2009marchcover

Trouble getting along with the ED?

A lottery for patient compliance?

Fellowship and certification: What’s in a name?

Friend me?

The common-sense evidence behind RRTs

A new reality check for rapid response teams

Treating pain in patients maintained on methadone or buprenorphine

Where do you weigh in on rapid response teams?

Gauging the effectiveness of flu shots

For one hospitalist group, talk isn’t cheap

Do you make these common charge mistakes?

Personal discipline and “quieting of the mind”

The common-sense evidence behind RRTs

A look at paid time off for hospitalists

New advances in pneumonia care


February 2009

2009februarycover

The brave new world of electronic communications

Certification controversy, Part 2

The certification controversy

Closing the loop on readmissions

The lowdown on working locum

Do we make too much money? Version 2.0

New ways to talk the talk

Hospitalists extend their reach in U.S. hospitals

Hospitalists score big with “black-belt QI”

Find yourself in the middle of multiple doctors?

A new twist on a tool to track infections

Hospital care in the shadow of Punxsutawney Phil

Family rounds: fewer pages, better care

Which PE patients have a higher risk of adverse outcomes?


January 2009

2009januarycover

Hard times and hospital medicine

Mr. President: hospitalists and health care costs

The new “universal physician”

Who let the patients out?

Rationing: coming to a hospital near you!

hos-pit-tal-ism: Should we claim the word for our own?

What’s on the table as far as benefits?

What’s bundled and what’s not?

A new test for a young specialty

Re-engineering the “voltage drop”

Touching the trauma behind the disease

A study takes aim at rapid response teams

A new consultant with a long track record

Rationing: coming to a hospital near you!

Hospitalist compensation plans and incentives

How effective are flu shots in elderly patients?