Dr. Greeno also says the code may more effectively demonstrate to CMS that hospitalists do not have enough PQRS metrics to adequately qualify for value-based purchasing.
Yet challenges will remain that a specialty code cannot address. “A pediatric hospitalist may not want to be compared to an adult hospitalist. A critical-access hospitalist doesn’t want to be compared to a hospitalist in a tertiary academic medical center,” Dr. Sears says. “I don’t think it’s an end-all, be-all, but it’s a place to start.”
SHM will continue to actively push CMS to implement the code, Dr. Greeno says, and it will develop strategies for educating members to help them make the decision that is right for them or their group.
Jimenez believes SHM will be capable of doing much more with the data that emerge through robust use of the code.
“Right now, in the industry, big data is it, and the more you can segregate or report on the specifics of data, the better you are at identifying trends,” she says. “We don’t even know yet about clinical outcomes: Are hospitalists’ patients seeing a better outcome of patient experience versus waiting all day to see a family physician? Are there shorter admission times? Trying to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs are two things CMS is desperately interested in.”
Kelly April Tyrrell is a freelance writer in Madison, Wis.