NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif., April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- IPC The Hospitalist Company has been engaged by Spectrum Health to assist two of its hospitals -- Blodgett Memorial Hospital and Butterworth Hospital -- further optimize their relationships with their contracted hospitalist providers. Both hospitals are located in Grand Rapids and serve the growing communities of Western Michigan.
Hospitalists are physician specialists who focus on a patient’s hospital care from time of admission to discharge. As the fastest-growing medical specialty in the country, these acute-care specialists work in close consultation with the primary care physician to manage the entire inpatient episode of care and drive the delivery system towards better outcomes and more efficient, patient-centered care.
At Blodgett and Butterworth Hospitals, IPC is conducting a variety of cost/benefit analyses as well as an assessment of potential opportunities for performance improvement in its hospitalist services. In addition, IPC’s team is assisting the hospitals in developing a standardized contracting methodology.
“IPC has hospitalist experience at nearly 200 hospitals around the country and that understanding of what makes a successful program is invaluable in our assessing our local situation,” said CFO of Spectrum Health Hospitals Joseph Fifer. “IPC is on board to help us maximize our opportunities and develop the kinds of relationships with hospitalists that make both clinical and financial sense.”
IPC’s services division is working with an increasing number of hospitals around the country that are seeking to start a hospitalist program or enhance an existing one. “Hospitalist medicine is a sensible way to care for the unique needs of today’s hospitalized patient,” said Jay Arnold, IPC’s vice president of corporate development and managing director of IPC Services. “We anticipate continuing to see a growing interest in the consulting and programmatic services IPC provides as more and more hospitals and physician groups embrace this important transformation in inpatient medicine.”
Spectrum Health serves West Michigan through nine hospitals, a 548-bed continuing care division and a wide range of ambulatory services provided at convenient regional locations. Its health plan, Priority Health, has more than 400,000 members with nearly 6,000 participating employers.
IPC is the nation’s premier hospitalist company, employing approximately 300 physicians at practice locations in California’s Bay Area, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Fort Worth, Houston, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, San Antonio, St. Louis and Tucson. Collectively, these practices work with more than 12,000 referring physicians and manage more than $1 billion in healthcare expenditures annually. Information on IPC may be obtained at http://www.hospitalist.com/.
IPC
CONTACT: Ross Goldberg of Kevin Ross Public Relations,+1-818-597-8453, for IPC
Web site: http://www.hospitalist.com/
