Hospital Medicine 2010—HM10, in hospitalist parlance—is coming soon. SHM’s annual meeting continues to exceed expectations for educational content, networking opportunities, professional advancement, and fun.
HM10, which runs April 8-11, has an additional attraction this year: With the conference center just miles from Washington, D.C., HM10 will bring hospitalists closer than ever to the heart of the continued national debate over healthcare reform and delivery. Between now and then, the details of healthcare policy will no doubt change, but the intensity and impact of the decisions made in our nation’s capital are unlikely to fade.
“Washington, D.C., is always an exciting place to visit, but it’s even more attractive now for hospitalists and others involved in healthcare,” says Geri Barnes, SHM’s senior director for education and meetings. “The discussions happening in Washington now are likely to affect every corner of the healthcare sector.”
As in years past, HM10 offerings will be wide-ranging enough to include topics that will satisfy physicians, nonphysician practitioners (NPPs), and HM administrators alike.
Registration for HM09 sold out in advance—an additional incentive for early HM10 registration.
“Last year’s conference set new records and generated real excitement within the specialty,” Barnes says. “We’re confident that the program we’ve created for 2010 will do it again.”
Featured Speakers: The Stars of Hospital Care
This year’s featured presenters represent a mix of fresh, outside perspectives and familiar favorites.
Kicking off the formal agenda will be Paul Levy, president and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a 621-bed academic hospital center in Boston. In 2009, it was one of three American Hospital Association McKesson Quest for Quality Prize honorees for its efforts in eliminating preventable harm.
Dr. Whelan
Levy says he expects to expound on the patient-safety theme during his HM10 presentation. He’ll speak about his center’s “journey in preventable harm—what we’ve learned, ideas for the future, the role of transparency, and the different approaches to process improvement,” he says. Check out his blog at http://runningahospital.blogspot.com.
To wrap up the conference, HM pioneer Robert Wachter, MD, FHM, chief of the hospital medicine division, professor, and associate chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, a former SHM president, and author of the blog Wachter’s World (www.wachters world.com), will bring his perspective on HM and healthcare reform in a presentation called “How Health Care Reform Changes the Hospitalist Field . . . And Vice Versa.”
More Pre-Courses
In response to increased demand for educational content, HM10 will offer the most pre-courses ever. The pre-courses emphasize a hands-on approach to professional development. This year’s eight pre-courses—two more than last year—will run concurrently all day April 8. “Hospitalists are always looking for ways to enhance their knowledge of the specialty and sharpen their skills,” Barnes says. “The new pre-courses at HM10 were added specifically because of demand from hospitalists.”
The two new additions represent the changing needs within HM. The “Essential Neurology for the Hospitalist” pre-course, taught by David Likosky, MD, FHM, a hospitalist at Evergreen Hospital Medical Center in Kirkland, Wash., recognizes hospitalists often serve as the primary health providers for hospitalized patients with neurological disorders. The pre-course will cover the basics of neurological exams, diagnosis, and management of many of the conditions hospitalists encounter on a regular basis.