Office physicians more open to hospitalists

Most recent findings echo other studies on the issue.

By Damon Adams, amednews staff. Dec. 8, 2003.

A new study of Boston internists reflects the growing acceptance of hospitalists, according to the study's lead author.

Researchers wanted to see if attitudes about hospitalists changed after implementation of a hospitalist program. They surveyed 236 internists affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

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The physicians were asked their thoughts about hospitalists in 1998 when Beth Israel didn't have a hospitalist service, then again in 2000, after the medical center had a program in place.

The study in the Oct. 27 Archives of Internal Medicine found that physicians' attitudes toward a voluntary hospitalist program improved.

"It really kind of debunks concerns about the hospitalist model, at least in physicians' perceptions of how if affects patient care," said Andrew Auerbach, MD, lead study author, a hospitalist and assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine. "It turns out most people were a lot happier after [the hospitalist service] was implemented"

In 2000, more doctors said using a hospitalist service improves quality of care, the study said, and fewer agreed that inpatient care was best directed by the physician who has a long-term relationship with the patient.

There are more than 7,000 hospitalists.

The study said older doctors were more likely to favor the hospitalist program while doctors with busier inpatient practices were more negative.

The findings are similar to those found by previous studies, including a 2000 article in the American Journal of Medicine that said physicians with initial concerns about hospitalists and quality of care usually accept the system after implementation.

There were a few hundred hospitalists in the mid-1990s, but their ranks have grown to more than 7,000 today, said the Society of Hospital Medicine, which represents hospitalists. By 2010, that amount may triple, experts said.

Clearly, there is more acceptance of hospitalists, Dr. Auerbach said.

"Part of it is natural acceptance of change," he said. "And a lot of these [concerns] are going to be nonissues at hospitals that have good, attentive hospitalist groups."