Good Samaritan Hospital Launches Innovative "Hospitalist" Program

(PRWEB) January 9 2004--Good Samaritan Hospital the flagship hospital of the Bon Secours Charity Health System, today announced the implementation of an innovative Hospitalist Program to assist primary care physicians in managing the care of their admitted patients while they are hospitalized. The Hospitalist Program is specifically tasked with improving patient outcomes, helping to minimize hospital stays, eliminating unnecessary or redundant tests and procedures, and enhancing the overall efficiency of the patients stay within the hospital. The program is being conducted through an agreement with Cogent Healthcare of Irvine, California, the nations premier hospitalist company.

The concept of the hospitalist  physicians who specifically manage inpatient hospital care  has been practiced in other countries for some time. The term hospitalist was first used in 1996 in the New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Robert Wachter of the University of California, San Francisco. By 2001, about 11% of American Hospitals were using hospitalists, according to Modern Healthcare. As of 2001, there were an estimated 3,000-4,000 hospitalist physicians nationwide, and that number is expected to grow to as many as 20,000 in the next 5-10 years as the concept demonstrates its benefit and gains added acceptance.

In the traditional model of care, office-based physicians generally visit hospitalized patients before or after their office hours and therefore, must balance their inpatient and office patient needs. Now, Good Samaritans team of five hospitalist physicians and two nurse practitioners will work with these primary care physicians to offer a continuum of care from the moment of hospitalization to discharge. This will provide primary care physicians the opportunity to continue the important in-office care of their patients while relying on the hospitalist to provide immediate attention to the hospitalized patient and their families. The hospitalist team will work in the hospital 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

"This Hospitalist Initiative represents a clear commitment on our part to improve the quality and efficiency of inpatient care, while reducing the cost of that care," noted Michael Schnieders, Executive Vice President and Administrator of Good Samaritan Hospital. "Our hospitalists are respected doctors and nurse practitioners who want to focus their practice on inpatient hospital care. They will help guide the patient throughout their stay and monitor results under a program that has proven to be highly effective wherever it has been implemented.

About Cogent Healthcare:
Cogent Healthcare, Inc. (www.cogenthealthcare.com) is the nations premier hospitalist company and a leading provider of services that improve the well being of hospitalized patients while reducing their associated costs through the creation and management of inpatient-based physician networks. Its vision is to improve care and efficiency by reducing variations in care, establishing best practices, identifying and removing barriers to efficient care, and measuring outcomes. To this end, the company provides comprehensive programs in clinical care staffing, communication and data management that support the hospitalist physician in the delivery of inpatient care. Cogent Healthcare currently operates hospitalist programs in 13 states, and consistently scores higher than 95 percent in patient and physician satisfaction.

About Good Samaritan Hospital:
Good Samaritan Hospital (www.goodsamhosp.org) is a non-profit, 370-bed hospital providing emergency, medical, surgical, obstetrical / gynecological and acute care services to residents of Rockland and southern Orange Counties in New York; and northern Bergen County, New Jersey. Good Samaritan also serves these communities as an Area Level II Trauma Center, and provides a wealth of regional specialty services. The hospital recently began performing emergency angioplasty procedures as part of the prestigious Atlantic C-PORT Study.

Good Samaritan Hospital is the flagship hospital of the Bon Secours Charity Health System, which also includes St. Anthony Community Hospital in Warwick, NY and Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis, NY. Additionally, Bon Secours Charity Health System provides the services of a Certified Home Health Agency, two long-term care facilities, an assisted living and adult home facility and several other medical programs. For more information about this or other programs contact Good Samaritan Hospital at 845-368-5000.
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