It is unfortunate that some states, driven by a small vocal group of consumers or sometimes by just one legislator, can single out hospitalists for scrutiny and regulation. Dr. Rifkin found out how important and necessary it is to provide education to the involved legislators, as some professed knowing few of the details of the hospital medicine movement.
While you might be sitting in Texas or Minnesota or California and wondering what all of this has to do with you, know that a wildfire can start from a smoldering ember. SHM must vigilantly monitor the actions of local legislatures and regulators so that in their misunderstanding of hospital medicine or in their concerns for changes in the healthcare system they do not attempt to use the state or federal legislatures for their remedies.
Hospital medicine is new, and we are challenging the status quo. While we are driven by a goal of creating a more efficient healthcare system, driven by accountability and data, some will see the turbulence of change and attempt to rein this in. While some places have seen significant improvements, hospital medicine is still very much in its growth and evolutionary phase. This is the time to have the ability for flexibility and even experimentation in the best sense of the word. It is important not to be stifled by overregulation. At the same time, hospitalists need to be aware that we are no longer a boutique specialty off on the margins of healthcare. Hospital medicine is front and center at more than 2,000 hospitals and with 15,000 hospitalists nationwide too large to be ignored.
Expect more attempts to legislate how hospitalists practice. One SHM member’s e-mail brought the full strength of SHM to quash the wrong bill in Connecticut. We need your local eyes to let us know what is happening out in the real world. In the meantime SHM will work hard to develop the bench strength to be able to rise to your challenges. TH
Dr. Wellikson has been CEO of SHM since 2000.