Click here for a larger view

(Honesdale, December 15, 2006)… Wayne Memorial Hospital will ring in the new year with a new option for patient care. On January 1, 2007, three hospitalist physicians, or “inpatient doctors” will join the hospital’s medical staff. All three are internal medicine physicians who will attend only to hospitalized patients.

      “The Hospitalist program offers many benefits for our patients, our medical staff and our community at large,” said David Hoff, Chief Executive Officer of Wayne Memorial Hospital. “A hospitalist does not maintain an outside office practice, so he or she can spend all their working time in the hospital. They are more readily available to our patients and their families.”

      Hoff added that, for the same reason, hospitalists can also help relieve some of the pressures “incurred by our primary care physicians who are always traveling between their offices and the hospital.”

      Primary care physicians who choose to take advantage of the Hospitalist program will transfer a patient’s care to the Hospitalist for the duration of the patient’s hospital stay. The care will be transferred back to the primary care physician upon discharge.

      Wayne Memorial’s Chief of Staff, George Tietjen, M.D., anticipated that the Hospitalist program will be “highly successful and beneficial to both the private physicians and their patients requiring hospital care.”

      Dr. Tietjen also noted that communication will be key to the program’s success. “Of utmost importance will be constant communication between the Hospitalists and office based physicians to ensure optimal ongoing outpatient care.”