Though more medical centers are relying on hospitalists — hospital-based internal medicine specialists who coordinate the complex care of inpatients — a new study suggests that hospitals can safely lower the cost of hospitalist programs without sacrificing quality of care
The 18-month study published in the Journal of Clinical Outcomes Management compared two hospitalist groups — one with a high physician assistant-to-physician ratio (“expanded PA”) and one with a low PA-to-physician ratio (“conventional”) — and found no significant differences in the important clinical outcomes achieved by both groups.
The study saw little difference in patient mortality, hospital readmissions within 30 days, lengths of stay or specialty consultant use among patients treated by the expanded PA group and those treated by the conventional group.
From January 2012 to June 2013, the researchers implemented an expanded PA staffing model to see larger numbers of adult patients alongside physicians. The expanded PA group consisted of three physicians and three PAs, with PAs caring for 14 patients each day. At the same time, a conventional hospitalist group composed of nine physicians and two PAs had PAs caring for nine patients each day. Physicians in both groups cared for approximately 13 patients a day.
HENRY KOTULA 