SAN PABLO, Calif., Aug. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- IPC -- The Hospitalist Company announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo to provide 24/7 hospitalist services to inpatients at that 232-bed facility.
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“We chose IPC because of our mutual commitment to quality and continuous improvement,” says Irwin C. Hansen, chief executive officer of Doctors Medical Center. “We are very pleased with IPC -- from their training and ongoing education of hospitalists to their use of evidence-based medicine to their access to timely performance data. We believe that IPC will provide exceptional value, not only for our patients, but also for our medical staff.”
Lead IPC physician at Doctors Medical Center is Jeffrey Frank, M.D. Dr. Frank joined IPC earlier this year after practicing in the community for 15 years and most recently managing a very large and successful outpatient practice in the San Pablo area. Board certified in internal medicine, Dr. Frank graduated from the USC School of Medicine and completed his residency at Highland County Hospital in California.
As the nation’s premier hospitalist company, IPC currently employs 40 hospitalists in the Bay Area who see patients at 12 local hospitals. Last month the company announced that it had entered into an agreement to provide hospitalist services to 175-bed Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa. Nationally, IPC employs approximately 300 physicians who collectively have more than a million patient encounters annually.
Hospitalists, the nation’s fastest-growing medical specialty, are acute-care specialists who focus on a patient’s hospital care from time of admission to discharge. Increased evidence has shown that hospitalists improve quality of care and reduce healthcare costs while providing patients and their families the added comfort and security of having a physician on site to answer questions and coordinate all of the tests, treatments and services that take place within the hospital. Hospitalists also are readily available to consult with and co-manage inpatients for medical and surgical specialists.
“Our availability means that local primary care physicians (PCPs) have the option of having their hospitalized patients treated by a team of physicians who specialize in the increasingly complex field of inpatient medicine,” said Dr. Frank. “This also allows the PCP the freedom to focus on the changing demands of outpatient medicine ... and that means that everyone benefits.”
Doctors Medical Center is operated by the West Contra Costa Healthcare District, a public agency. Besides operating a very active emergency department with over 40,000 visits annually, Doctors Medical Center offers a full range of health services, including a regional burn and wound care center, cancer treatment, a cardiac center and obstetrics.
Founded in 1995, IPC has practice locations in 15 markets nationwide and collectively manages more than $1 billion in healthcare expenditures annually. The company’s consulting services division helps hospitals and other healthcare organizations launch new hospitalist programs or enhance existing ones. Information on IPC may be obtained at www.hospitalist.com.
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CONTACT: Ross Goldberg, +1-818-597-8453, for IPC -- The HospitalistCompany
Web site: http://www.hospitalist.com/
