Dr. Howell

Together with more than 3,000 hospitalists at its annual meeting, SHM celebrated the recipients of its annual Awards of Excellence and three new Masters in Hospital Medicine (MHM), the highest honor in hospital medicine. They were honored in a special plenary session at HM14 in Las Vegas on March 26, along with SHM’s first chapter award winners.

Dr. Howell

HM14 was the largest event in the history of the hospitalist movement. And the specialty continues to grow; SHM estimates that there are now more than 44,000 hospitalists nationwide.

“We are thrilled to celebrate the achievements of the many hospitalists who are moving the specialty forward and demonstrating how all hospitalists can provide exceptional care for hospitalized patients,” says Eric Howell, MD, SFHM, SHM’s immediate past president, who presented the awards and the certificates for the Masters in Hospital Medicine.

“In a new era of American healthcare, hospitalists have become one of the greatest advocates for improvement within the hospital, and SHM looks forward to providing them with the resources to make those changes for the better.”

2014 Awards of Excellence

Each year, SHM recognizes best practices in a number of fields within the growing specialty of hospital medicine through its Awards of Excellence. In 2014, the society is introducing a seventh award: the SHM Excellence in Humanitarian Service Award.

Dr. Simone

Kenneth Simone, DO, SFHM, founder and president of Hospitalist and Practice Solutions, Veazie, Maine, is the 2014 recipient of SHM’s Award of Excellence for Outstanding Service in Hospital Medicine. This award recognizes exceptional service within the discipline of hospital medicine. Dr. Simone’s innovative approach to hospital medicine has had a broad national impact, working to increase the growth, development, and success of the hospital medicine specialty.

Dr. Metlay

Joshua Metlay, MD, PhD, FACP, chief of the division of general internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Research Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement by a researcher in the field of hospital medicine. Dr. Metlay’s research focuses on areas important to hospitalists and their patients: the epidemiology and improved treatment of respiratory tract infections.

Dr. Mattison

Melissa Mattison, MD, FACP, SFHM, associate chief of the section of hospital medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, will receive the 2014 Award for Clinical Excellence, an award that recognizes exemplary clinical service in hospital medicine. As a geriatrician and hospitalist, Dr. Mattison focuses her research and clinical innovation efforts on improving care for hospitalized elders. She is at the forefront because she is developing best practices for implementation of clinical innovations to benefit older, hospitalized patients.

Dr. Dressler

Daniel Dressler, MD, MSc, FACP, SFHM, has been selected as the 2014 recipient of SHM’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Dr. Dressler serves as professor of medicine, hospital medicine associate division director for education, and director of internal medicine teaching services at Emory University Hospital; associate program director for the J. Willis Hurst Internal Medicine Residency Program; and Medical Student Semmelweis Society Advisor at Emory University’s School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. The Award for Excellence in Teaching is earned by hospitalists who have demonstrated outstanding teaching acumen, serving as educators, role models, and mentors to other hospitalists, residents, medical students, or healthcare professionals.

Dr. Swanson

Michelle (Mikkii) Swanson, DNP, MSN, RN, ACM, SFHM, Director of Hospitalist Services at Community Health Systems Professional Services Corporation in Franklin, Tenn., will receive the 2014 Excellence in Hospital Medicine for Non-Physicians Award. This honor is reserved for those committed and talented professionals—including those with the Doctor of Nursing Practice designation—who contribute significantly to the success of the hospital medicine team but are not physicians.

The Improving Adherence to Evidence-Based Recommendations for Common Serious Childhood Infections team at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is the 2014 recipient of SHM’s Award of Excellence in Teamwork in Quality Improvement. The team, led by Samir S. Shah, MD, MSCE, FHM, division of hospital medicine at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, has earned this award for their commitment to enhancing teamwork among physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers in an effort to ultimately improve outcomes for hospitalized patients.

Dr. Reich

Patience Reich, MD, SFHM, has been selected as the first-ever recipient of SHM’s Award for Excellence in Humanitarian Service. This award is intended to highlight the volunteer effort SHM members give to at-risk populations, above and beyond the hospital care provided to patients and their families during daily activities as hospitalists. Dr. Reich’s humanitarian work spans her medical career and consists of providing medical care and service in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, the United States, and Haiti, where she will be returning in April 2014 with four professional colleagues and 25 medical students from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C.

2014 Masters in Hospital Medicine

Each year, SHM awards the Masters in Hospital Medicine—its highest honor—to a select group of hospitalists who have distinguished themselves uniquely through their contributions to hospital medicine and healthcare as a whole. Considered the “Hall of Fame” of the hospital medicine movement, the 2014 Masters join thirteen other MHMs in the specialty, for a total of 16 Masters.

Dr. Conway

Patrick Conway, MD, MSc, MHM, FAAP, chief medical officer for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), has been elected a Master in Hospital Medicine in recognition of his tireless commitment to reshaping the nation’s healthcare system to provide exceptional care to hospitalized patients—and all Americans. He also serves as director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality, director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and deputy administrator for Innovation and Quality for CMS.

Dr. Pantilat

Steven Z. Pantilat, MD, MHM, has been elected a Master in Hospital Medicine in honor of his foundational leadership in the hospital medicine movement and his pioneering work in improving care for seriously ill and dying patients. He is a professor of clinical medicine in the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, the Alan M. Kates and John M. Burnard Endowed Chair in Palliative Care, and the founding director of the UCSF Palliative Care Program.

Dr. Percelay

Jack Martin Percelay, MD, MPH, FAAP, MHM, has been elected a Master in Hospital Medicine in recognition of his national leadership in shaping the pediatric hospital medicine specialty and his ability to advance the concerns of hospitalized children and hospitalists everywhere. Dr. Percelay is a pediatric intensive care hospitalist at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J., and teaches in the department of physician assistant studies at the Pace University College of Health Professions in New York City.

Similar to SHM’s Fellows in Hospital Medicine (FHM) and Senior Fellows in Hospital Medicine (SFHM), the Masters in Hospital Medicine have earned the right to append “MHM” to their names as a designation.

New Board Leadership

As part of its governance process, SHM members elect new directors to its board. This year, SHM is pleased to welcome the following new members of the Board of Directors:

Dr. Greeno

Ron Greeno, MD, MHM, FCCP, founder of Cogent Healthcare and Cogent’s Executive VP for Strategy and Innovation, and

Dr. Scheurer

Danielle Scheurer, MD, MSCR, SFHM, clinical hospitalist and the chief quality officer at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, S.C.

Brendon Shank is SHM’s associate vice president of communications.

SHM Honors Best in Hospital Medicine