Background: The patient-physician relationship is influenced by several factors including the environment of care. Given the increased use of telemedicine – catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic – understanding preferences for and comfort with telemedicine is important. This study aimed to explore patient preferences for various types of video visit background environments and their effects on [...]

Background: Virtual Hospitalist (VH) care models are emerging in hospital medicine to address workforce shortages and improve patient access. VH programs are any programs where the hospitalist and patient are located at different sites, but the patient requires an acute level of care. This can include arrangements where: 1) the patient is located in a [...]

Background: Shifting dynamics present unique opportunities for inpatient providers to enhance outcomes during transitions of care (TOC) as hospital medicine rises as a specialized field. It is well established that gaps in TOC can lead to unfavorable outcomes for patients and healthcare systems alike including increased morbidity, complications, readmissions, and costs. While TOC visits are [...]

Background: At our multi-hospital system, our utilization management (UM) program found that the length of stay (LOS) for observation patients in one hospital was, on average, 10 hours longer than the rest of the hospital system. There was a challenge of having better observation management, but there was no space or staffing to create a [...]