Background: Hospital medicine is the fastest growing specialty in the United States. An interesting aspect of the rapid expansion of hospital medicine is the current expansion of the field beyond North America. While the health care systems, regulations and cultural norms in these nations differ, some of the reasons for the development of hospital medicine internationally are the same as in North America and include: improved efficiency, better patient care, and better quality of life for the physicians.  A region that has seen the rapid growth of hospital medicine is the Middle East. With its fast growing population, capacity building and expansion of medical services are a high priority. Countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have adopted a healthcare model similar to the U.S and recruitment of healthcare professionals has been increasing especially for hospitalists. 

Purpose: To describe three ground breaking hospitalist programs in the Middle East and to determine whether transplantation of a hospitalist culture outside the United States can help improve patient care outcomes and quality metrics.   

Description: Over the past 6 years, three major hospitalist programs were established in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi.  Program characteristic are described in Table 1.  Select outcomes include: increased inpatient volume, reduced length of stay, reduced Emergency Department (ED) boarding, fewer code blues, improved relationships with ED and hospital leadership, medical education awards, improved trainee and staff satisfaction, and improved subspecialty clinic access. The three programs also established the Society of Hospital Medicine Middle East Chapter in October 2016 with a vision to provide the best inpatient care in the region. 

Conclusions: This report demonstrates proof-of-concept and the successes achieved by exporting the hospitalist model from the United States to an international environment. Further research is in progress to demonstrate the true impact of this implementation.