Background: Coordination of inpatient and outpatient care is an important challenge in improving population health but evidence examining the effectiveness of existing care coordination programs is mixed. The Comprehensive Care Physician (CCP) Program at the University of Chicago provides patients at increased risk of hospitalization the opportunity to receive inpatient and outpatient care from the [...]

Background: Hospital readmissions are frequent and can represent low-quality, high-cost care. Timely post-hospital follow-up has been described as an important element of high-quality transitions of care and readmissions prevention (1-3), yet exactly what type of follow-up is most successful is unclear. We sought to understand the relationship between timing, hospital follow-up visit provider specialty and [...]

Background: Coordination of inpatient and outpatient care is an important challenge in improving population health but evidence examining the effectiveness of existing care coordination programs is mixed. The Comprehensive Care Physician (CCP) Program at the University of Chicago provides patients at increased risk of hospitalization the opportunity to receive inpatient and outpatient care from the [...]

Background: Hospital readmissions are frequent and can represent low-quality, high-cost care. Timely post-hospital follow-up has been described as an important element of high-quality transitions of care and readmissions prevention (1-3), yet exactly what type of follow-up is most successful is unclear. We sought to understand the relationship between timing, hospital follow-up visit provider specialty and [...]

Background: High health care costs and poor outcomes are associated with high hospitalization rates and are concentrated in a small fraction of the population. Fragmented patient care and socioeconomic disadvantage may further increase hospitalization rates. To defragment medical care for a socioeconomically diverse population of Medicare patients at increased risk of hospitalization, the University of [...]

Background: For patients at increased risk of hospitalization, reducing hospitalization is often a key objective and can have important effects on health care costs. The Comprehensive Care Physician (CCP) model was developed originally at the University of Chicago to reintegrate inpatient and outpatient care under the same physician for patients at high risk of hospitalization [...]

Case Presentation: The case represents a 74-year-old female who presented to the emergency room with constitution of symptoms including headache, fatigue, Upper extremity/Neck pain and worsening of “skin rash”. For the past 10 years, the patient had suffered from Compulsive Skin picking disorder, necessitating multiple visits to PCP and Dermatologist with recurrent courses of antibiotics [...]

Background: Hospital medicine has expanded significantly over the last two decades but faces a higher physician turnover rate compared to other specialties1 and a critical shortage of providers. A survey conducted in 2019 and again in 2022 showed a reduction in the number of hospitalists identified as being “very satisfied” with their career (from 55% [...]