Hospitalists based at Erlanger hospital are hoping to grow its surgical business by learning, and catering to, the preferences of local surgeons, said an Erlanger hospitalist said Monday.
“There are ways that we can support the hospital and support the surgeons so that it becomes boutique care for the surgeons and their patients,” Dr. Roger DeVersa said after a Monday night budget committee meeting.
Dr. DeVersa is a member of Erlanger’s budget committee and part of the 14-doctor hospitalist program at the hospital.
He wants hospitalists — doctors who focus on caring for hospitalized patients — to work more closely with local surgeons to understand, among other things, their preferences for post-operative care, such as when they like to get surgical patients up and moving and when they want wound dressings changed.
WHAT IS A HOSPITALIST?Hospitalists are physicians employed by a hospital who typically specialize in internal medicine. They coordinate a patient’s care during a hospitalization, working with a patient’s regular doctor and communicating with family members.
The hospital administration is on board with the plan, both as a means to improve patient care and to encourage surgeons to bring their patients to Erlanger, said Lynn Whisman, senior vice president and chief nursing executive at Erlanger.
The plan could help boost volumes in surgical areas such as cardiac care and general vascular surgery, where numbers have been down lately at the downtown campus, she said.
“It’s so important to do things to make it easy for physicians to practice here,” she said. “I’m glad we’re focusing on surgical services because it is the financial engine that drives the system.”
Inpatient surgeries were certainly the major revenue driver in January, Britt Tabor, chief financial officer, said during his financial report to the committee.
Despite a drop in admissions, inpatient surgeries came in at 20 percent above budget for January, helping Erlanger about break even for the month, he said.
Year-to-date, the hospital has lost $2.7 million, compared with a budgeted gain of $4.6 million. Last year at this time, the hospital had lost $3.7 million, financial records show.
Board member Jack Murrah asked Mr. Tabor to describe the major reasons for the $7 million difference between expected and actual income this year. Mr. Tabor said lower patient volumes and more charity care were among the factors, as well as a cost-of-living raise for employees that added spending of $500,000 per month, he said.