The doctor is in!
Saint Margaret Mercy Hospitalist program offers solution

For Immediate Release
December 7, 1999
Contact: Maria E. Ramos
(219) 865-2141, ext. 45321
Maria.Ramos@ssfhs.org

Hammond, Ind. -- Primary care physicians (PCPs) face a grueling daily schedule with the growing demands of outpatient care. Packed schedules make it difficult for PCPs to resolve inpatient issues during morning rounds, leading to continuous interruptions during office hours. Managed care requirements add to a lengthy trail of paperwork and communications.

Saint Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers has an innovative solution to the increased demands on primary care physician time - a Hospitalist program.

A hospitalist is a hospital-based Internal Medicine physician who specializes in acute care medicine. The hospitalist is an inpatient partner for outpatient physicians and serves as an extension of the PCP’s office practice. Through this partnership, patients requiring inpatient services are entrusted to the care of the hospitalist, then returned to the care of the PCP following discharge from the hospital.

Dr. Claude A. Foreit, a board-certified family practitioner in Hammond, considers the Hospitalist program a “win-win situation” for his patients and those physicians who choose to use the hospitalist.

“The availability of the hospitalist allows me to practice better medicine,” Dr. Foreit said. “I, like most physicians, have tremendous demands on my time. Typically we have more patients to be seen in the average day than our schedule allows for.

“So often, two to three hours of my day are spent seeing a handful of patients in the hospital, usually early in the morning,” Dr. Foreit added. “Many of the crucial test results and reports are not available first thing in the morning when I’m making rounds. By having the hospitalist available to see my patients in the hospital, he or she can not only round on my patients in the morning, but will also be in-house to follow-up on any late test results that may cause us to redirect a patient’s care or potentially discharge them home.

“My patient will therefore get more prompt care than I can provide and I will have an extra two hours a day to care for patients who need to be seen in the clinic,” he said.

Dr. George T. Asteris, Hammond internist, agrees the program allows him more time in the office. “I’ve already used the Hospitalist program a few times and found my patients seem to like the extra attention of having someone there all the time,” he said. “The hospitalists are quite competent and personable.”

Hospitalists can help physicians better manage their busy days and patients benefit from a more streamlined process, moving more quickly from the Emergency department to an assigned floor and from the floor to a skilled nursing facility, nursing home or rehabilitation. The hospitalist is available to patients and families throughout the day to explain treatment plans, teach and answer questions.

The Hospitalist program will focus initially on the North Campus. As the program develops, an evaluation will be made on expanding to the South Campus.

The Hospitalist Team - Inpatient Specialists

Dr. David B. Lemke, a board certified internist, received his medical training at Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Ind. He interned and was a resident at Indiana University Medical Center, Indianapolis. Prior to accepting a position as hospitalist at Saint Margaret Mercy’s North Campus, Dr. Lemke was an attending physician at Wishard Memorial Hospital in Indianapolis. For the previous three years, he was in private group practice in Columbus, Ind. His wife, Dr. Merit Lemke, is an obstetrician/gynecologist in Dyer.

Dr. Patricia S. Mikes is medical director for the Hospitalist program. Dr. Mikes received her medical training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, and earned her MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Dr. Mikes has served as medical director for the Chicago market of a national managed care company and has recently worked to establish several hospitalist programs in the Chicagoland area.