Hospitalist specialty code becomes official designation
On April 3, 2017, “hospitalist” becomes an official specialty designation under Medicare – the code itself is C6. Starting on that date, hospitalists can change their specialty designation on the Medicare enrollment application. Specialty codes are self-designated and describe the kind of medicine that health care providers practice. Appropriate use of specialty codes helps distinguish differences among providers and improves the quality of utilization data. SHM applied for a specialty code for hospitalists nearly 3 years ago, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved the application in February 2016.
Stand with your fellow hospitalists and make sure to declare “I’m a C6.”
Assess your knowledge in hospital medicine with SPARK ONE
SHM recently launched SPARK ONE, a comprehensive online self-assessment tool created specifically for hospital medicine professionals. The activity contains 450-plus vignette-style multiple-choice questions covering 100% of the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine (FPHM) exam blueprint. This online tool is your complete resource for successfully preparing for the FPHM exam, or assessing your general knowledge in hospital medicine.
Used as a self-paced study guide, it engages learners through an open-book format, allowing users to review detailed learning objectives and discussion points, and define individual areas of strengths and weaknesses. Identify knowledge gaps, see how you compare to your peers, create mini quizzes, and more. Visit hospitalmedicine.org/sparkone to learn more.
White paper now available: Hospitalist Attitudes Toward Electronic Medical Records
SHM’s Health Information Technology Committee diligently analyzed survey results that captured hospitalists’ attitudes towards electronic medical records, resulting in a white paper now available. The purpose of this paper is to effect change on EHR systems by informing conversations with decision makers and to provide hospital medicine a definitive voice in the landscape of the tumultuous world of electronic medical record systems.
SHM believes hospitalists are especially qualified to evaluate these systems, and the survey results paint a grim picture of the effectiveness and usability of the systems that hospitalists spend the majority of their time interacting with. These results should serve as a call to action to accelerate the pace of advancement and innovation in health care technology.
By sharing these results, SHM hopes to raise awareness of the unacceptable performance of existing systems that contributes to slower-than-desired improvement in quality and safety as well as increasing provider frustration. SHM strongly believes that health care needs a renewed focus on initial goals of technology adoption. View the white paper at hospitalmedicine.org/EHR.
Join the Early-Career Academic Hospitalist Speed Mentoring Session at Hospital Medicine 2017
The SHM “speed mentoring” session, held on Tuesday, May 2 from noon to 1:00 p.m. at Hospital Medicine 2017, is designed to assist early-career hospitalists in specific areas of career development by providing a fresh perspective and rapid advice.
Early-career hospitalists will be matched with three senior advisors by area of interest. The “mentee” will spend 10-15 minutes with each advisor and will then rotate to the next advisor. After the session, there will be time for additional informal discussion and networking among advisors and peers.
Pre-registration by March 31, 2017 is required; it will not be possible to register for this activity on-site at HM17. There is no additional fee to register. Registration will be limited to the first 20 participants. Visit hospitalmedicine2017.org/academic today.
Now available: 4 new antimicrobial stewardship modules
SHM has developed four new antimicrobial stewardship modules to help you demonstrate an understanding of best practices to optimize and improve antimicrobial prescribing within your hospital:
1. Optimizing Antibiotic Use for Hospitalized Patients
2. Best Practices in Treatment of UTIs: “Low-Hanging Fruit”
3. Best Practices in Acute Bacterial Skin Infection
4. Antibiotic Use for Inpatient Respiratory Infections
View these resources at hospitalmedicine.org/abx.
Network with the largest gathering of pediatric hospital medicine professionals
Pediatric Hospital Medicine 2017 (PHM 2017) will be held July 20-23 at the Omni Nashville located in Nashville, Tenn. PHM 2017 offers an all-inclusive arrangement of educational and networking opportunities planned specifically for the pediatric hospital medicine professional. More than 100 concurrent sessions to choose from over the 4 days of the conference allow participants to get the best out of their PHM 2017 experience.
PHM 2017 will be comprised of concurrent sessions featuring lectures and larger sessions, oral presentations of abstracts and clinical conundrums, and smaller, interactive workshops. Acquire skills and knowledge from PHM experts, including peer-selected and nationally renowned leaders in the field of pediatric hospital medicine. To view the full meeting schedule and learn more, visit peds2017.org.