Hospitalists and American Medicine: A Quantitative History of a New Medical Specialty

Award Year: 2007	Investigator: David Meltzer	Budget: $334,998	Categories: Health Professions, History of Medicine and Public Health
Abstract: The emergence of hospitalists - physicians who specialize in the medical care of hospitalized patients - represents a major transformation in the practice of modern American medicine. Over the past decade, the field has grown from a few hundred physicians to more than 20,000. David O. Meltzer, M.D., Ph.D. believes that many factors may have contributed to this growth - from shifts in the nature and organization of primary care to Medicare payment incentives that make it more profitable for hospitals to discharge patients quickly. His project, Hospitalists and American Medicine: A Quantitative History of a New Medical Specialty, investigates the rise of the hospitalist movement, its effects on the organization of patient care in hospitals and ambulatory care settings, the potential contributions of hospitalists to improving health care quality, and how their emergence might help inform broader efforts aimed at reorganizing the practice of medicine. His findings should shed light on some of the forces and special interests at play in rethinking the roles of primary care physicians and medical specialists in the United States.