Well, it’s all over but the shouting.  Chances are, everyone has gone back to work and is no longer interested in the HM10 blog.  But in case anyone checks in, I have to say that despite a very long flight home to California last night, I got up this morning still basking in the glow.

Saturday’s plenary was thrilling: the Fellows video, the induction of the three giants in our field – Win Whitcomb, John Nelson and Bob Wachter as the first Masters in Hospital Medicine, Jeff Wiese’s extraordinarily inspiring speech, and the presentation of the “National Champions of Physician Organizations” trophy . . .

I heard very positive comments about many of the Saturday and Sunday breakout sessions.  In fact, more than one person expressed to me that they felt the quality of the content and presenters has increased a lot over the last couple of years.  It was terrific – especially on Sunday – to see so many people in the sessions, hanging in there until the bitter end.

I know many of you were disappointed that we weren’t able to present any results from the SHM-MGMA survey.  Believe me, no one was more disappointed than me, having to get up there in front of you all and say we didn’t have the results yet.  Several pieces of good news, though:

1)      Results will be coming soon. We’ll start releasing “teasers” as soon as we have data we’re confident is fully scrubbed and reliable.  Keep an eye on the SHM website and the SHM and The Hospitalist e-wires in May and June.  Results will be formally released via MGMA’s on-line survey tool in late June, and MGMA’s hard copy “Green Book” will be available in early July.

2)      The data we do release will be good. MGMA’s Survey Operations team is doing a remarkable job, sending follow-up e-mails and making phone calls to validate data that falls outside of expected norms.  Their data scrubbing and editing process is very thorough and we are confident that when the data does come out, it will stand the test of careful scrutiny.

3)      Next year should be different. Next year, the SHM annual meeting takes place May 10-13, about a month later than this year.  So next year, we should have some preliminary results to share at the annual meeting.

Finally, I wanted to mention the Town Hall meeting that occurred Sunday afternoon as the very last item on the annual meeting agenda.  About a hundred or so folks showed up to ask questions and chat informally with the SHM Board.  I think the fact that SHM makes such a forum available is a testament to the organization’s leadership and its commitment to understanding and meeting member needs.  And the fact that so many people bothered to stick around till almost 2:30 despite not having had lunch yet demonstrates how engaged members are with SHM and how relevant your professional society is to you.

Hope you all have a great year.  See you in Dallas!

And now that the meeting has wrapped up, we should all give a shout out to all the SHM staff on a job more than well done. These are the nicest and hardest working group of people I know. Congratulations on another great year.

Another enthusiastic and uplifting presentation was enjoyed by all during the State of SHM presented today by Larry Wellikson, MD, SFHM and CEO of the Society of Hospital Medicine. Larry touched on familiar but increasingly meaningful themes such as “they need us”, and he depicted SHM as “the rocketship moving upward almost to a limitless future”.

A compelling case was made for the exalted place hospitalist’s may hold in the everchanging future of healthcare. Larry reminded us that with this comes an enormous responsibility. If we are in fact to be seen as the solution, then we must continue to pursue excellence as a “high performance team”.

As Jeff Wiese, MD, SFHM indicated during his President-Elect’s Address, “with success comes the temptation to rest”. But, this is no time to rest on our laurels.

They need us!

Today during the Plenary session, many deserving hospitalists were recognized for their outstanding contributions to the field of hospital medicine.

Dr. Mitchell Wilson, MD, SFHM received the Outstanding Service in Hospital Medicine award. Dr. Amir Jaffer, MD, FHM received the Excellence in Teaching award. Dr. Margaret Fang, MD, MPH, FHM received the Excellence in Research award and Jennifer Myers, MD, FHM received the Clinical Excellence award.

In addition, Emory Healthcare’s VTE Prevention Team received the Society of Hospital Medicine’s Award for Excellence in Teamwork in Quality Improvement. The team was co-led by Jason Stein, MD, FHM, Carolyn Hill, RN and Dee Cantrell, the CIO of Emory Healthcare.

Congratulations to all of these deserving professionals!

In case you missed it, see the list of newly inducted fellows, senior fellows, and the top-tier Masters (Drs. Wachter, Nelson, and Whitcomb) (link)

This year’s Update in HM covered a broad array of new trials, in quick succession, in an attempt to summarize the most influential studies published over the past year. An annual legacy, aimed at information sharing of evidence based medicine, gathered a crowd. A pure delight to see such volumes of hospitalists trying to keep updated on the latest clinical research.

So as to never disappoint, Jeff Wiese delivered an inspiring induction speech to SHM meeting attendees. As the new SHM president, he started by first proclaiming SHM as the “National champion of professional societies”, then challenging us all to live up to the title. As the new SHM will more heavily branch into other types of members (pediatrics, family practice, non-physician providers), he urged us to maintain the intimacy of the old SHM, as we all work toward expanding our skill sets so that we can live up to our challenges. Ending with a resounding rendition of “We are the champions”, there was no shortage of quick wit and inspiration.

Straight from the mouth of the CEO, SHM has weathered the economic storm, and come out ahead of most professional societies. Despite a recession, our annual meeting volume has doubled since 2 years ago. At a head count of 2500, this represents 25% of total SHM membership, and a staggering statistical show-rate compared to other professional meetings.

In 15 brief minutes, Scott Flanders reviewed the state of the union. With 68% of US hospitals reporting a hospital medicine program, and 50% of Medicare inpatients being cared for by hospitalists, we continue to expand both our numbers, and our capabilities (likened to a “swiss army knife”). Our expansive growth has not been without our share of growing pains (PCP resistance, being touted as “throughputists”, high work demands, high turnover, and inadequate QI/PS skill sets), but our growth and power come with “great responsibility”. Our major upcoming areas to tackle include cost containment, and to educate our pipeline workforce appropriately, in order to meet the demand for the quality and volume of future hospitalists. “All hands on deck”, all 30,000 will be needed to accomplish these goals.

National Champs Trophy

SHM’s new president, Jeffrey Wiese, MD, SFHM declares the Society of Hospital Medicine “the National Champions of Physician Organizations.”