Digital Dilemma for Hospital Medicine Physicians
The September 2009 issue of The Hospitalist does an overview of the HITECH Stimulus act and what Hospitalists face in terms of implementing EHRs, not getting left behind, and facing privacy and communication obstacles.

Added note: What’s the dilemma? The boxed sidebar entitled “DON’T GET LEFT BEHIND” describes the dilemma, though the article and my brief summary above should have pointed this out. According to the Society of Hospital Medicine  ”The term ‘hospitalist’ refers to physicians whose practice emphasizes providing care for hospitalized patients.” Yet, as the sidebar points out that the hospitalist must get involved from the earliest stages, taking time away from their immediate focus of caring directly for patients, to work through what may seem tedious discussions and activities to make EHR adoption successful: attend meetings with hospital leaders and IT about adoption; speak up with your concerns; participate in design forums, testing, and feedback sessions; and plan ahead.

Hospital Medicine and Hospitalists
Web site for Society of Hospital Medicine:
http://www.hospitalmedicine.org
The Society for Hospital Medicine estimates that there are about 20,000 hospitalists in the country, with 30,000 expected by the end of the decade. In June 2009, the American Medical Association approved recommendations for 15 Prinicipals for Developing Sustainable and Successful Hospitalist Programs. While the AMA does not represent the majority of physicians, it does maintain a generally accepted database of all US physicians and its official specialty count for US Hospitalists was about 110 at the end of 2008. This specialty was added relatively recently to the AMA’s physician database.

Thanks to a LinkedIn member for noting that the original brief summary needed more value, and not just another click before the full text.