Hospitalists in the United States — Mission Accomplished or Work in Progress?

Abstract

Eight years ago in the Journal, a colleague and I described a new breed of physician — the “hospitalist” — whose primary role was to care for hospitalized patients, returning them to the care of their regular physicians at hospital discharge.¹ Since that time, the number of hospitalists in the United States has grown from a few hundred to approximately 8000, with projected growth to 20,000 (about the number of cardiologists in this country). With hospitalists at most major U.S. teaching hospitals,² students and residents (in both internal medicine and, increasingly, pediatrics) now receive much of their inpatient training . . .