Does implementation of a hospitalist program in a Canadian community hospital improve measures of quality of care and utilization?

Vandad Yousefi, Christopher Chong. BMC Health Services Research 2013, 13:204.

Despite the growth of hospitalist programs in Canada, little is known about their effectiveness for improving quality of care and use of scarce healthcare resources. The objective of this study is to compare measures of cost and quality of care (in-hospital mortality, 30-day same-facility readmission, and length of stay) of hospitalists vs. traditional physician providers in a large Canadian community hospital setting.