Starting next week, an area hospital will have a dedicated in-patient physician who works exclusively in the hospital.
Carroll County Memorial Hospital recently announced, beginning June 1, the hospital will be implementing a new hospitalist program.
This new program will provide consistent, full-time patient care for the duration of a patient’s hospital stay. The hospitalist program will help CCMH remove potential barriers to admissions from the emergency room and enhances overall patient care and experience.
“The use of a physician who only cares for people admitted to the hospital, or a hospitalist, has become the fastest growing specialty in medicine,” said Dr. Andy Horine, DO, CCMH Chief Medical Information Officer. “Hospitalists work hand in hand with a patient’s primary care provider in order to give the absolute best medical care to the patient when they require hospitalization.”
This new program can improve the patient’s experience with more frequent communication from hospitalists, which also builds trust for the family and stimulates overall satisfaction.
“CCMH is excited to join in this trend and bring another service to our patients when they need to spend time admitted to the hospital,” Horine said. “This new service will further our mission to all our patients: ‘We are dedicated to the health and well-being of all we serve.’”
The program will also allow our primary care providers to focus more on the outpatient care needs of their patients, while hospitalists will focus on in-hospital care. However, the hospitalists will maintain a direct line of communication with the primary care providers to maintain efficient and enhanced patient updates on shared patients.
“We believe hiring providers who are solely focused on the care of our hospitalized patients will enhance the overall patient experience while allowing us to keep more patients close to home,” said Jeff Tindle, CCMH Chief Executive Officer.