Society of Hospital Medicine says number of hospitalists has "exploded."

[Source: Health and Lifes Sciences Daily, September 12, 2007]

The Washington Post (9/11, HE1, Baker) reported that "despite resistance from primary-care physicians and fears that the development could erode continuity of care," the number of hospitalists has "exploded" from "a few hundred" in 1997 to 20,000, which is "the fastest growth for any medical specialty in the country," according to the Society of Hospital Medicine. The Post noted that "with hospital reimbursement rates failing to keep up with their costs, many primary-care physicians are being won over and now find the hospitalist arrangement saves them time and money." The Post added that hospitals have "embraced" using hospitalists by "nationally subsidizing $50,000 to $60,000 of the average hospitalist's $169,000 salary" and that managed-care organizations, "such as Kaiser, have established their own hospitalist practices."