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ORLANDO – In a time of tumult in American health care, hospital medicine can expect to see a reimagined – but not reduced – role, said the outgoing and current presidents of the Society of Hospital Medicine at Monday’s HM18 opening plenary.
Despite the many successes of the relatively young field of hospital medicine, there’s no room for complacency, said SHM’s immediate past president Ron Greeno, MD, MHM.
Dr. Greeno drew on his 25-year career in hospital medicine to frame past successes and upcoming challenges for hospital medicine in the 21st century.
As the profession defined itself and grew from the 1980s onward, “the model was challenged, and challenged significantly, mostly by our physician colleagues,” who either feared or didn’t understand the model, he said. All along, though, pioneers in hospital medicine were just trying “to figure out a way to take better care of patients in the hospital.”
The result, said Dr. Greeno, is that hospital medicine stands unique among physician specialties. “We as a specialty are in a very enviable position as we move into the post–health care reform era. More than any other specialty in the history of medicine, we are not expected to p
“Colleagues honor us by trusting us with their patients’ care … but we need to be aware that they are watching us and judging whether we are living up to our promises,” Dr. Greeno said. “So we need to be asking ourselves some tough questions. Perhaps we’re becoming too self-satisfied. Perhaps we are starting to believe our own press.”
Without an appetite for innovation as well as hard work, hospitalists could risk becoming “highly paid worker bees,” said Dr. Greeno.
“There are people who think this is happening. I know because I have talked to them while traveling around the country” as SHM president, he said. “I am not among that group. I think the best is yet to come … that we will become more integrated and have ever more impact and influence in the redesign of the U.S. health care system.”
More than anything, Dr. Greeno’s faith in the profession’s future is grounded in its human capital. Addressing the plenary attendees, he said, “You come here just to become better, to try to make things better. I see all of you who refuse to let the urgent get in the way of the important.”
In her first address as the new SHM president, Nasim Afsar, MD, SFHM, agreed that the people really do make the profession. “We will prevail because of our perseverance and our passion to be part of the solution for challenges in health care,” she said.
Dr. Afsar is chief ambulatory officer and chief medical officer for ACOs at UC Irvine Health. She said that earlier this year, she’d never felt more sure of her job security. Serving on the inpatient hospitalist service during the height of this year’s surging influenza season, Dr. Afsar saw a packed emergency department and a completely full house for her hospital. “We had to create a new hospitalist service” just to handle the volume, she said.
A sobering experience later that month, though, had her rethinking things. At a meeting of chief executive officers of health care systems, leaders spoke of hospitals transitioning from profit centers to cost centers. Some of the proposed innovations were startling: “When I heard talk of hospitals at home, and of virtual hospitals, I got a very different sense of our specialty,” said Dr. Afsar.
Still, she said, she’s confident there will be jobs for hospitalists in the future. “We can’t ignore the significant, irrefutable fact that has emerged: Value will prevail. And the only way to deliver that is population health management,” meaning the delivery of high value care at fair cost across the entire human lifespan, she said.
This call can be answered in two ways, said Dr. Afsar. “First, we have to define and deliver value for hospitalized patients every single day. Second, we have to look at what population health management means for our specialty.”
“I encourage us not to be confined by our names,” Dr. Afsar said. Rather, hospitalists will be defined by the attributes that they’ve become known for over the years: “Innovators. Problem solvers. Collaborators. Patient advocates.”
ORLANDO – In a time of tumult in American health care, hospital medicine can expect to see a reimagined – but not reduced – role, said the outgoing and current presidents of the Society of Hospital Medicine at Monday’s HM18 opening plenary.
Despite the many successes of the relatively young field of hospital medicine, there’s no room for complacency, said SHM’s immediate past president Ron Greeno, MD, MHM.
Dr. Greeno drew on his 25-year career in hospital medicine to frame past successes and upcoming challenges for hospital medicine in the 21st century.
As the profession defined itself and grew from the 1980s onward, “the model was challenged, and challenged significantly, mostly by our physician colleagues,” who either feared or didn’t understand the model, he said. All along, though, pioneers in hospital medicine were just trying “to figure out a way to take better care of patients in the hospital.”
The result, said Dr. Greeno, is that hospital medicine stands unique among physician specialties. “We as a specialty are in a very enviable position as we move into the post–health care reform era. More than any other specialty in the history of medicine, we are not expected to p
“Colleagues honor us by trusting us with their patients’ care … but we need to be aware that they are watching us and judging whether we are living up to our promises,” Dr. Greeno said. “So we need to be asking ourselves some tough questions. Perhaps we’re becoming too self-satisfied. Perhaps we are starting to believe our own press.”
Without an appetite for innovation as well as hard work, hospitalists could risk becoming “highly paid worker bees,” said Dr. Greeno.
“There are people who think this is happening. I know because I have talked to them while traveling around the country” as SHM president, he said. “I am not among that group. I think the best is yet to come … that we will become more integrated and have ever more impact and influence in the redesign of the U.S. health care system.”
More than anything, Dr. Greeno’s faith in the profession’s future is grounded in its human capital. Addressing the plenary attendees, he said, “You come here just to become better, to try to make things better. I see all of you who refuse to let the urgent get in the way of the important.”
In her first address as the new SHM president, Nasim Afsar, MD, SFHM, agreed that the people really do make the profession. “We will prevail because of our perseverance and our passion to be part of the solution for challenges in health care,” she said.
Dr. Afsar is chief ambulatory officer and chief medical officer for ACOs at UC Irvine Health. She said that earlier this year, she’d never felt more sure of her job security. Serving on the inpatient hospitalist service during the height of this year’s surging influenza season, Dr. Afsar saw a packed emergency department and a completely full house for her hospital. “We had to create a new hospitalist service” just to handle the volume, she said.
A sobering experience later that month, though, had her rethinking things. At a meeting of chief executive officers of health care systems, leaders spoke of hospitals transitioning from profit centers to cost centers. Some of the proposed innovations were startling: “When I heard talk of hospitals at home, and of virtual hospitals, I got a very different sense of our specialty,” said Dr. Afsar.
Still, she said, she’s confident there will be jobs for hospitalists in the future. “We can’t ignore the significant, irrefutable fact that has emerged: Value will prevail. And the only way to deliver that is population health management,” meaning the delivery of high value care at fair cost across the entire human lifespan, she said.
This call can be answered in two ways, said Dr. Afsar. “First, we have to define and deliver value for hospitalized patients every single day. Second, we have to look at what population health management means for our specialty.”
“I encourage us not to be confined by our names,” Dr. Afsar said. Rather, hospitalists will be defined by the attributes that they’ve become known for over the years: “Innovators. Problem solvers. Collaborators. Patient advocates.”
ORLANDO – In a time of tumult in American health care, hospital medicine can expect to see a reimagined – but not reduced – role, said the outgoing and current presidents of the Society of Hospital Medicine at Monday’s HM18 opening plenary.
Despite the many successes of the relatively young field of hospital medicine, there’s no room for complacency, said SHM’s immediate past president Ron Greeno, MD, MHM.
Dr. Greeno drew on his 25-year career in hospital medicine to frame past successes and upcoming challenges for hospital medicine in the 21st century.
As the profession defined itself and grew from the 1980s onward, “the model was challenged, and challenged significantly, mostly by our physician colleagues,” who either feared or didn’t understand the model, he said. All along, though, pioneers in hospital medicine were just trying “to figure out a way to take better care of patients in the hospital.”
The result, said Dr. Greeno, is that hospital medicine stands unique among physician specialties. “We as a specialty are in a very enviable position as we move into the post–health care reform era. More than any other specialty in the history of medicine, we are not expected to p
“Colleagues honor us by trusting us with their patients’ care … but we need to be aware that they are watching us and judging whether we are living up to our promises,” Dr. Greeno said. “So we need to be asking ourselves some tough questions. Perhaps we’re becoming too self-satisfied. Perhaps we are starting to believe our own press.”
Without an appetite for innovation as well as hard work, hospitalists could risk becoming “highly paid worker bees,” said Dr. Greeno.
“There are people who think this is happening. I know because I have talked to them while traveling around the country” as SHM president, he said. “I am not among that group. I think the best is yet to come … that we will become more integrated and have ever more impact and influence in the redesign of the U.S. health care system.”
More than anything, Dr. Greeno’s faith in the profession’s future is grounded in its human capital. Addressing the plenary attendees, he said, “You come here just to become better, to try to make things better. I see all of you who refuse to let the urgent get in the way of the important.”
In her first address as the new SHM president, Nasim Afsar, MD, SFHM, agreed that the people really do make the profession. “We will prevail because of our perseverance and our passion to be part of the solution for challenges in health care,” she said.
Dr. Afsar is chief ambulatory officer and chief medical officer for ACOs at UC Irvine Health. She said that earlier this year, she’d never felt more sure of her job security. Serving on the inpatient hospitalist service during the height of this year’s surging influenza season, Dr. Afsar saw a packed emergency department and a completely full house for her hospital. “We had to create a new hospitalist service” just to handle the volume, she said.
A sobering experience later that month, though, had her rethinking things. At a meeting of chief executive officers of health care systems, leaders spoke of hospitals transitioning from profit centers to cost centers. Some of the proposed innovations were startling: “When I heard talk of hospitals at home, and of virtual hospitals, I got a very different sense of our specialty,” said Dr. Afsar.
Still, she said, she’s confident there will be jobs for hospitalists in the future. “We can’t ignore the significant, irrefutable fact that has emerged: Value will prevail. And the only way to deliver that is population health management,” meaning the delivery of high value care at fair cost across the entire human lifespan, she said.
This call can be answered in two ways, said Dr. Afsar. “First, we have to define and deliver value for hospitalized patients every single day. Second, we have to look at what population health management means for our specialty.”
“I encourage us not to be confined by our names,” Dr. Afsar said. Rather, hospitalists will be defined by the attributes that they’ve become known for over the years: “Innovators. Problem solvers. Collaborators. Patient advocates.”