Leaders 2011: The Year in Review

JANUARY

Dr. Matthew Schreiber is the chief medical officer at Piedmont Hospital, the flagship facility of Piedmont Healthcare system in Atlanta. He implemented systems changes at the hospital aimed at improving care and satisfaction. He discussed his experience with setting up a sort of experimental hospitalist unit at Piedmont Hospital that looked at length of stay; readmission rates; and the satisfaction of patients, physicians, and staff.

FEBRUARY

Dr. Bradley Flansbaum, of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and a founding member of the Society of Hospital Medicine, said that he's weathered personnel changes, financial setbacks, and takeovers by larger systems during his 15 years as a hospitalist working in New York. He shared his thoughts on hospital functions, economics, and health policy.

MARCH

Dr. Amir K. Jaffer, the division chief of hospital medicine at the University of Miami, is involved in patient care, teaching, quality improvement, administration, and research. He described some of the challenges facing the specialty and what he enjoys about hospital medicine.

APRIL

Dr. Daniel Rauch, associate director of pediatrics at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, N.Y., and associate professor of pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, is a founder of the pediatric hospital medicine movement. He explored the importance of mentoring and the potential impact of the controversial health reform law.

MAY

Dr. Bradley T. Rosen serves as the medical director for the Inpatient Specialty Program, a nonteaching hospitalist team at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He has worked the last several years to help publicize the growing proceduralist movement. He discussed where the proceduralist movement is likely to go in the future.

JUNE

Dr. Raj Srivastava, of the department of pediatrics at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, chairs Pediatric Research in Inpatient Settings (PRIS), a hospitalist-run research network. He is leading the effort to find answers to the most pressing questions on quality, cost-effectiveness, and patient safety in the care of hospitalized children. He shared his thoughts on future directions for PRIS and pediatric hospital medicine.

JULY

Dr. Mitchell Wilson, chief medical officer for Eagle Hospital Physicians in Atlanta, is a national expert on how to incorporate NPs and PAs into hospitalist practices with the goal of improving patient care, the bottom line, and physician satisfaction. He explained how nonphysician providers can be part of the care team and why this trend is growing.

AUGUST

Dr. Erin Stucky Fisher of the University of California, San Diego, and Rady Children's Hospital, described her views on educating fellows, recognition for pediatric hospitalists, and delivering evidence-based medicine within electronic health care systems.

SEPTEMBER

Dr. David Likosky, of Evergreen Hospital Medical Center in Kirkland, Wash., is helping to shape the future for neurologists who practice primarily in the hospital. He discussed the growing field of neurohospitalists and explained how these specialists can help their medicine hospitalist colleagues.

OCTOBER

Dr. Jeffrey L. Greenwald, a hospitalist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, has spent the last several years testing strategies to improve the way hospitalists handle the discharge process. He explained the paradigm shift that is going on in the way hospitalists plan for discharge.

NOVEMBER

Dr. Kendall M. Rogers, the division chief of hospital medicine at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, offered advice on how to succeed in a quality improvement initiative and about how aspiring hospitalists can prepare for future leadership roles.

DECEMBER

Dr. Lauren Doctoroff, an academic hospitalist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, is medical director for the post-discharge clinic run jointly by Beth Israel and the hospital’s primary care practice, HealthCare Associates. She explained what led to the opening of the clinic and how working there has helped to make her a better hospitalist.