JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its national expansion strategy, IPC-The Hospitalist Company announced today that it has begun providing care to hospitalized patients in Jacksonville, Florida. Concurrent with this new market entry, the company has also announced that locally based American Hospitalists has merged into IPC, effective immediately.
IPC is the nation’s leading hospitalist company, employing more than 300 physicians nationwide and providing care for hospitalized patients in 14 metropolitan markets across the country.
American Hospitalists is a well-established practice in Jacksonville consisting of five physicians and two physician assistants currently on staff at Saint Vincent’s Medical Center and Orange Park Medical Center. These physicians will continue to deliver inpatient care as part of IPC and will be joined by other physicians, thus expanding hospitalist services currently offered in the community.
“Joining IPC was a logical choice for our practice as it gives us the opportunity to grow with the nation’s largest and most successful hospitalist company,” said Mark Bivens, M.D., president of American Hospitalists. “IPC brings a practice methodology and standard to hospitalist medicine that no one could match. We wanted to work with an organization like that.”
“Like much of Florida, Jacksonville is a growing community that provides great opportunities for IPC,” said IPC Executive Director Larry Hanan. “We look forward to growing our practice significantly and bringing our track record of exceptional inpatient care to the people, physicians and hospitals in the greater Jacksonville area.”
Hospitalists are specially trained physicians who work in close consultation with primary care physicians and appropriate specialists to manage a patient’s entire hospital experience, from admission until discharge. As the nation’s fastest-growing medical specialty, hospitalists have become the “driver of the inpatient delivery system” and have been shown to increase the quality of care and reduce healthcare costs. Hospitalists also provide patients the added comfort and security of having a physician on-site to oversee care, answer questions and ensure the smooth coordination of all hospital services.
As the inpatient care delivery system becomes increasingly more complex, specialized experience is vital. IPC brings that specialized experience to Jacksonville. For example, last year the physicians of IPC collectively had more than one million patient encounters in over 200 facilities nationwide. This shared experience leads to better care, more patient-focused care and increased operational efficiencies which benefit both the patient and the hospital.
Founded in 1995, IPC manages more than $1 billion in healthcare expenditures annually. In addition to Jacksonville, IPC has practice locations in California’s Bay Area, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Fort Worth, Houston, Las Vegas, North Carolina, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, San Antonio, St. Louis and Tucson. The company also has a consulting services division that helps hospitals and other healthcare organizations launch new hospitalist programs or enhance existing ones. Information on IPC may be obtained at http://www.hospitalist.com/.
IPC-The Hospitalist Company
CONTACT: Ross Goldberg of IPC-The Hospitalist Company, +1-818-597-8453
Web site: http://www.hospitalist.com/