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Robert M. Centor, MD; Benjamin B. Taylor, MD, MPH

Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(15):1351-1352.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

In this issue, in an article examining the association between hospitalists and performance on hospital-level quality indicators, López and colleagues¹ found that hospitals with hospitalists have higher "quality of care" scores than those without hospitalists and attribute these improvements to the hospitalists' presence. This article provides interesting data, which unfortunately are not persuasive enough to support that conclusion. This editorial addresses several important issues: the definition of quality, the value of performance measures, the difference between quality and safety, alternative analyses, alternative explanations, and finally, what questions should we ask in 2009 about hospitalists and quality.

Hospital medicine continues to thrive, primarily for economic reasons. Several articles have touted the benefits of hospitalists, as referenced in the article by López et al.¹ These articles have focused primarily on decreases in length of stay and hospital charges, while suggesting no change in . . . [Full Text of this Article]

QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT


HOSPITALISTS AND IMPACT ON PERFORMANCE

HOSPITALIST GROUPS AND THEIR STRUCTURE

HOSPITALIST INFLUENCE AND SAFETY ISSUES

AUTHOR INFORMATION


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RELATED ARTICLE

Hospitalists and the Quality of Care in Hospitals
Lenny López, Leroi S. Hicks, Amy P. Cohen, Sylvia McKean, and Joel S. Weissman
Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(15):1389-1394.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT