Greater Baltimore Area
The Greater Baltimore Area chapter of SHM met June 16 at Linwood’s Restaurant in Owings Mills, Md. Dr. Suzanne Mitchell spoke on “Relating to the Patient.” The meeting, sponsored by Merck, attracted 50 hospitalists and guests from 10 HM groups.
Los Angeles
The latest Los Angeles chapter meeting was held July 29. The featured speaker was Darrell Harrington, MD, associate medical director for Graduate Medical Education and chief of the division of general internal medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Harrington delivered a presentation about maximizing DVT and PE quality measures. The chapter’s next meeting will be held in the fall.
Fellow in Hospital Medicine Spotlight
James C. Pile, MD, FACP, SFHM
Dr. Pile is an associate professor of medicine, interim director of hospital medicine, and associate program director of the internal residency program at the MetroHealth Campus of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. As a 10-year SHM member, he has been heavily involved in the growth of the Journal of Hospital Medicine, for which he is now deputy editor. He is an active member of the Annual Meeting and Education committees, and is former physician editor of The Hospitalist.
Undergraduate: Kings College in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.
Medical school: Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus.
Internship and residency: University Hospitals of Cleveland.
Fellowship: Infectious Disease, National Naval Medicine Center, Bethesda, Md.
Notable: Prior to working as a hospitalist, Dr. Pile served as a battalion surgeon with Marine infantry on the front lines of the first Gulf War. He also worked as a general practitioner and infectious-disease specialist. His current interests lie in medical education, anti-microbial stewardship, and perioperative medicine.
Quotable: “I continue to see hospital medicine being front and center in patient safety in this country. … That is our whole reason for being, essentially. I anticipate us continuing to grow and develop into the real national leaders in quality improvement in the inpatient setting.”
FYI: Dr. Pile is an avid cyclist. He recently completed a one-day, 200-mile ride, and during his time in medical school, he biked from Seattle to New York City. He loves traveling and spending time with his wife and two daughters.
— Sarah Gelotte
SHAPE the Landscape of Academic Hospital Medicine: Participate in the Academic Hospitalist Survey
The recently released State of Hospital Medicine: 2010 Report Based on 2009 Data provides an unprecedented look at the factors shaping the specialty. However, for academic hospitalists, the picture can be very different. That is why SHM and the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) are embarking on their first joint survey of academic hospitalists.
Academic HM groups—including groups at community-based teaching hospitals—can participate in the survey now through Nov. 5 by logging on to www6.mgma.com, or by contacting MGMA’s Survey Operations Department at 877-275-6462, Ext. 1895.
“Academic hospitalists and executive leaders at academic institutions need to know how they stack up against their peers in the field,” says Leslie Flores, SHM’s senior advisor for practice management. “Participating in this survey is the first step in providing an in-depth resource that identifies the major trends in academic hospital medicine.”
Like the new State of Hospital Medicine report, the academic report will provide data on hospitalist compensation and productivity, staffing information, and financial support. It also will examine the organizational structure of academic hospitalist practices and how academic hospitalists allocate their time between clinical, research, and teaching responsibilities. The new report also will feature information about medical-school and research funding.
MGMA will publish its standard academic survey results early next spring. Hospitalist-specific data will also be published in the 2011 State of Hospital Medicine report, to be released next summer.