Winter 2007

PDF VERSION

National Jewish Expanding Hospital-based Care

As part of its expanding scope of services, National Jewish has begun managing a growing hospitalist program at nearby Rose Medical Center in Denver. Hospitalists are physicians who care exclusively for hospital inpatients. In 2006, National Jewish intensivists began providing care in the hospital's intensive care unit.

"Our initial partnership in the intensive care unit has been working extremely well," said Michael Salem, MD, President and CEO of National Jewish. "We are thrilled to expand this partnership to improve inpatient care in Denver."

Hospitalists have become a common subspecialty of medicine in recognition that inpatient care is so different than outpatient care provided by primary care doctors. The use of hospitalists improves patient outcomes as well as reduces patients' length of stay in hospitals. 

National Jewish involvement will add an academic focus to the existing hospitalist program at Rose while increasing the services available to the hospital and the community, said National Jewish intensivist Stephen Frankel, MD. Dr. Frankel oversees both the hospitalist and intensivist programs at Rose. Research into new and better methods of hospital care will be quickly translated to the bedside at Rose. Dr. Frankel has already begun implementing standardized protocols that assure all the hospitalists provide consistent, evidence-based care to every patient. The National Jewish hospitalist program will also conduct its own research to improve care. The Rose program is staffed by nine physicians and two acute-care nurse practitioners, at least one of whom is onsite at the hospital 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

"National Jewish patients will benefit, with their doctors providing a full range of services at a nearby hospital," said Kevin Brown, Vice Chair of Medicine at National Jewish.