Fastest growing medical specialty in the United States with approximally 15,000 in 2016.
By 2016 nearly all teaching hospitals and 7 5% of all US hospitals have hospitalists.
The primary responsibility of the hospitalist is to be an attending physician and direct care of patients.
Their decisions determine length of stay and costs of hospitalization of patients.
Greater use of hospitalists for managing patients with heart failure does not improve outcomes through 30 days (Kociol et al).
Increasing hospitalist use is associated with a small decrease in length of stay and better adherence to established performance measures, but is not related to 30-day readmission rates.
Greater use of hospitalists for managing patients with heart failure did not improve outcomes through 30 days.
Every 10% absolute increase in the percentage of patients treated by a hospitalist is associated with a slightly increased risk of 30-day mortality after accounting for patient and hospital characteristics.
Use of hospitalists for heart failure is associated with an increased mortality risk and a shorter length of stay.