December 2017

COVER STORY: Drinking (your coffee) alone?
FEATURE: Tackling skin and soft tissue infections
ANALYSIS: Are you ordering the right DOAC dose?
Q&A: Practicing without a playbook
BY THE NUMBERS: Predicting death and other bad things
WHAT WORKS: Moving beyond small talk to real issues
MARKETPLACE: Hospital medicine: the card game
PROGRESS NOTES: How do YOU plan to spend your holiday?
POLL: A look at covering nights, weekends
From the Editor: ‘Tis the Season-to connect
November 2017

COVER STORY: Burning out?
FEATURE: When the hurricanes hit
Q&A: Most opioid scripts go to only 10% of users
BY THE NUMBERS: Patients on the move? Here’s how to bill
WHAT WORKS: How to deliver more cost-conscious care
PRACTICE CLOSEUPS: Practice directory
POLL: A look at bonuses and incentives
MARKETPLACE: Boosting hand-hygiene rates
LETTERS: More on building teams with NPs/PAs
FROM THE EDITOR: New survey, perennial problem
October 2017

COVER STORY: Preventing readmissions
FEATURE: No evidence, so just stop
FEATURE: CT to PET scans: What hospitalists need to know
Q&A: Loose in a room of horrors!
BY THE NUMBERS: A dumb way to die
WHAT WORKS: Don’t buy into HCAHPS? Homegrown surveys can help
COMMENTARY: “Always”
POLL: A look at shifts, schedules
NEWS BRIEFS: Only 10% of opioid users account for most scripts
FROM THE EDITOR: Really improving patient experience
September 2017

COVER STORY: Building your team with NPs/PAs
FEATURE: Is that patient really allergic to penicillin?
FEATURE: Hospital medicine and opioids
Q&A: Are you over-testing troponins?
BY THE NUMBERS: The ins and outs of observation billing
WHAT WORKS: Documentation: getting residents up to speed
COMMENTARY: Hospital medicine in the nation’s heroin capital
PROGRESS NOTES: Confessions of specialists
POLL: What do you do at discharge?
NEWS BRIEFS: Majority of U.S. doctors now support single payer
FROM THE EDITOR: The opioid epidemic: the professional and personal
August 2017

COVER STORY: Are you struggling with early discharges?
FEATURE: ID emergencies
FEATURE: Apps at the bedside
FEATURE: C. diff infections: Going from “worst in the nation” to “best in the state”
ANALYSIS: Treating addiction in the hospital, not just withdrawal
Q&A: Are you writing too many NPO orders?
WHAT WORKS: On the road: bridging inpatient-outpatient care
POLL: A look at academic hospitalists
PROFILE: Making specialty care accessible
NEWS BRIEFS: Mortality: It pays to have health insurance
FROM THE EDITOR: How well do you work with others?
July 2017

COVER STORY:The white coats vs. the blue suits
FEATURE: Periop snafus: What went wrong?
ANALYSIS: Embracing e-consults
BY THE NUMBERS: Know yourself
WHAT WORKS: Making the most of a step-down unit
COMMENTARY: The case against discharge before noon
POLL: Do you feel respected?
PROGRESS NOTES: Opiates and the media
NEWS BRIEFS: Major teaching hospitals score low mortality rates
LETTERS: More on sharing an ED-hospital medicine director
FROM THE EDITOR: Doctors vs. administrators: Can they get along?
June 2017

COVER STORY: How to onboard new hires
FEATURE: Tele-hospital medicine branches out
Q&A: Timing is everything in preventing C. diff
BY THE NUMBERS: Bend, don’t break
WHAT WORKS: Can comanagement help reduce burnout?
COMMENTARY: F%@* cancer: Tattoos and personal connections
MARKETPLACE: End-of-life planning made easy
POLL: A look at patient encounters
NEWS BRIEFS: Bad news for (low-volume) older hospitalists
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: More on observation status
FROM THE EDITOR: Burnout front and center
May 2017

COVER STORY: Can’t stop your patients from leaving AMA?
FEATURE: The problems that derail QI projects
Q&A: Is quality improvement cost-effective?
ON THE WARDS: Honest mistakes that can get you sued
BY THE NUMBERS: Billing palliative care services
WHAT WORKS: Fighting with the ED?
COMMENTARY: The case for immigration reform
PROGRESS NOTES: If airports were like hospitals…
NEWS BRIEFS: Inequities in U.S. health care
FROM THE EDITOR: QI: the good, the bad and the cost-effective
April 2017

COVER STORY: Should you be holding bedside rounds?
FEATURE: How to manage neurologic emergencies
ANALYSIS: Are you data literate?
ON THE WARDS: The risks of being popular – and how to manage them
WHAT WORKS: Do you need to embed a pharmacist?
BY THE NUMBERS: Up, down and all around
COMMENTARY: An uncommon career move
PROGRESS NOTES: The illusion of observation status
POLL: Do you like your job?
NEWS BRIEFS: Hospitalists who spend more don’t have better outcomes
LETTERS: More on antibiotic stewardship
FROM THE EDITOR: Team building
March 2017

COVER STORY: How to succeed with bundled payments
FEATURE: What’s new in treating ulcerative colitis and diverticulitis
ANALYSIS: Why do residents order unnecessary tests?
Q&A: Antibiotic overuse in asthma patients
WHAT WORKS: A structured approach to opiate dosing
CODING: Billing two visits a day for one patient? Not so fast
COMMENTARY: Geography vs. continuity
PROFILE: Down home on the (hospital) farm
POLL: What do you do besides patient care?
FROM THE EDITOR: Are bundled payments a sure thing?
February 2017

COVER STORY: Prescribing too many antibiotics?
FEATURE: Four ACS pearls for hospitalists
ANALYSIS: What are women doctors doing right?
BY THE NUMBERS: Do your residents have documentation skills?
WHAT WORKS: Need to improve handoffs
POLL: What are your biggest problems?
BACK-TALK: A hospitalist wish list for 2017
PROGRESS NOTES: The physical exam by specialty
FROM THE EDITOR: New urgency to antibiotic stewardship
JANUARY 2017

COVER STORY: What’s the best day of the week to go back on service?
FEATURE: Time to rethink pneumonia treatment strategies?
ANALYSIS: Is it risky to extubate patients at night?
Q&A: Pushback on readmission penalties
BY THE NUMBERS: An honest day’s work
WHAT WORKS: NP hospitalists: the right rural staffing model?
PROFILE: Bringing nonphysicians into the fold
POLL: A look at shifts, rates
FROM THE EDITOR: Maximizing continuity