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Society of Hospital Medicine’s president-elect emphasizes diversity, change

Christopher Frost

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — In his opening address, incoming President Christopher Frost, MD, SFHM, stressed the importance of adapting to changes in the health care environment and embracing diversity to develop new relationships within the hospitalist field.

“Change has and will continue to influence us as hospitalists,” Frost said. “It’s not the change that defines us; it’s how we respond to it. We will not just react to, but actually help to author, aspects of this change.”

Frost referenced adjustments in the shifting reimbursement model from fee-for-service to value-based purchasing and risk-based modeling, changes in the types of health care relationships being formed, and changes in the understanding of disease processes and their connections with social determinants of health.

In addition, Frost provided a sampling of topics that will be covered at the meeting and that probe “the dynamic and shifting environment we find ourselves in today.” These include hospitalist involvement with population health, leveraging technology through telehealth to expand the reach of hospitalists and enhance efficiency, caring for diverse populations (such as LGBTQ patients) and building diverse teams to provide this care.

In a time of rapid change, hospitalists must be innovative to develop a better system and to provide better care, while also fostering many different types of relationships with an increasingly broad range of stakeholders, according to Frost.

“The response to change will at times push us outside our comfort zones,” Frost concluded. “That’s okay. That’s growth.” – by Melissa J. Webb

Reference:

Frost C. Title of President-elect’s address. Presented at: Hospital Medicine 2019. March 25-27, 2019; National Harbor, Md.

Disclosures: Healio Primary Care Today was unable to confirm relevant financial disclosures prior to publication.