The Michigan chapter of the Society of Hospital Medicine has named Peter Watson, MD, SFHM, as state Hospitalist of the Year. Dr. Watson is the vice president of care management and outcomes for Health Alliance Plan (HAP) in Detroit. The Michigan chapter cited Dr. Watson’s leadership in hospital medicine and “generosity of spirit” as reasons for his selection.
Dr. Watson oversees nurses, social workers, and support staff while also serving as HAP Midwest Health Plan’s medical director. He’s a founding member of the Michigan SHM chapter, which he formerly represented as president.
Dr. Watson spent 11 years overseeing the Henry Ford Medical Group’s hospitalist program prior to joining HAP, and still works as an attending hospitalist for Henry Ford.
Dr. Harry Cho
Hyung (Harry) Cho, MD, was named the inaugural chief value officer for NYC Health + Hospitals, which includes 11 hospitals in New York and is the largest public health system in the United States. He will oversee systemwide initiatives in value improvement and the reduction of unnecessary testing and treatment.
Prior to this appointment, Dr. Cho served as an academic hospitalist at Mount Sinai Hospital for 7 years, leading high-value care initiatives. Currently, he is a senior fellow with the Lown Institute in Brookline, Mass., and director of quality improvement implementation for the High Value Practice Academic Alliance.
Dr. Nick Fitterman
Nick Fitterman, MD, SFHM, has been promoted to executive director at Huntington (N.Y.) Hospital. Dr. Fitterman has been a long-time physician and administrator at Huntington, serving previously as vice chair of medicine as well as head of hospitalists.
Dr. Fitterman has served as president of SHM’s Long Island chapter.
Previously, Dr. Fitterman was chief resident at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and he remains an associate professor at Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y.
Allen Kachalia, MD, was named director of the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality and senior vice president of patient safety and quality for Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. Dr. Kachalia is a general internist who has been an active academic hospitalist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Dr. Kachalia will oversee patient safety and quality across all of Hopkins Medicine, with a focus on ending preventable harm, improving outcomes and patient experience, and reducing waste in the system’s delivery of care. He also will guide academic efforts for the Armstrong Institute, formed recently thanks to a $10 million gift.
In addition to his hospitalist work, Dr. Kachalia comes to Hopkins after serving as chief quality officer and vice president of quality and safety at Brigham Health.
Riane Dodge, PA, has been elevated to director of clinical education in physician assistant studies at Clarkson University, Potsdam, N.Y. The veteran physician assistant previously worked as a hospitalist in the Claxton Hepburn Medical Center in Ogdensburg, N.Y. There, she cared for patients in acute rehab, mental health, and on regular medical floors.
Dodge also has a background in urgent care and family medicine, and has experience as an emergency department technician.
BUSINESS MOVES
Surgical Affiliates of Sacramento, a surgical hospitalist provider with expertise in trauma, orthopedic, neurosurgery, and general surgery for hospital systems, has added partnerships with Christus Spohn Hospital South and Christus Spohn Hospital Shoreline in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Surgical Affiliates’ hospitalist system will provide round-the-clock emergency orthopedic surgery service to adult and pediatric patients in the two hospitals. With Surgical Affiliates’ help, Christus Spohn facilities will be able to cover its own patients, as well as those requiring transfer from regional hospitals.
Hospitalist surgeons will handle emergency surgeries and patient surgery consultations. Clinics will be provided at each facility to care for patients after they are discharged.