Hospitalists practicing what we call ‘hospital medicine’ are no longer an outlier. They are as common as physicians in any other specialty. But it was not always that way. Hospital medicine is relatively new compared to most other specialties. Yet it works just the same. Hospital medicine’s history proves as much.
Hospitalist management is one of the services we offer here at SouthlandMD. It is one of a larger group of services designed around helping hospitals and other healthcare providers in Georgia do what they do better. While you think about that, let us take a look at the history of hospitalists and hospital medicine.
Hospital medicine emerged in the mid-1990s as an alternative way to provide inpatient care in both community and academically based hospitals. It was the brainchild of two UC Stanford doctors: Robert Wachter, M.D. and Lee Goldman, M.D.
Goldman had entered medicine under a traditional model that relied on faculty and residents to provide the majority of inpatient care at UCSF. He and Wachter took a good look at an emerging model of hospital medicine being practiced hit-or-miss at a small number of community hospitals trying to offer better care under the HMO system.
Their efforts led to the creation of the modern hospital medicine model. In fact, Wachter coined the term ‘hospitalist’ in a 1996 article published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The rest, as they say, is history.
If you were around back then, you probably know that there was plenty of skepticism during the early days of hospital medicine. Hospitalist management companies didn’t exist on the same scale they do today, and hospitals themselves didn’t know a lot about good management practices. Nonetheless, a number of studies conducted in the early 2000s showed that hospital medicine was working.
One study published in January 2002 showed that the hospitalist model improved both quality of care and cost effectiveness in academic medical settings. Hospitals cut their costs by more than 13% while patient length of stay fell by more than 16%. Patient satisfaction was not negatively impacted.
Another study published in December of that year showed similar successes for hospital medicine in community-based settings. Community hospitals reduced both length of stay and costs by incorporating hospitalists.
As hospital medicine evolved through the first decade of the 2000s, progress continued. A 2007 study confirmed lower lengths of stay for patients who were treated by hospitalists. Then, in 2009, demographic data revealed that the majority of Medicare patients in U.S. hospitals were being cared for by hospitalists.
By the time the new decade had arrived, hospitalists were firmly entrenched and considered important partners in the hospital healthcare team. Hospital medicine had become the norm at both academic and community hospitals nationwide.
Hospital medicine in 2025 continues to play a vital role in providing high quality care. Some institutions make greater use of hospitalists than others, but hospitalist contributions can no longer be dismissed or denied.
Our role as a hospitalist management company gives us first-hand exposure to just how beneficial hospital medicine actually is. The transition to hospital medicine has not always been easy, but it has definitely been worthwhile.
In closing, allow us to remind you that hospitalist management is our thing. Do not hesitate to reach out to SouthlandMD if your facility is exploring new ways to optimize the hospitalist model to provide high quality inpatient care. Allow us the opportunity to demonstrate how expert hospitalist management can benefit your organization.