IPC Enters Into Agreement to Provide Hospitalist Services to Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa, California
October 27 2003 - 11:59AM
PR Newswire (US)
IPC Enters Into Agreement to Provide Hospitalist Services to Queen
of the Valley Hospital in Napa, California NAPA VALLEY, Calif.,
Oct. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- IPC - The Hospitalist Company has entered
into an agreement to provide hospitalist services at Queen of the
Valley Hospital in Northern California, effective immediately.
Affiliated with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, Queen of the
Valley Hospital has been the premier medical facility in the Napa
Valley for more than 40 years. Under the new agreement, IPC
physicians will work with those on-staff physicians who wish to
have their hospitalized patients cared for by hospitalists. IPC
will also be responsible for all emergency department coverage for
internal medicine for unassigned patients and will be available to
see patients 24/7. As the fastest-growing medical specialty in the
country, hospitalists work in close consultation with primary care
physicians and appropriate specialists to manage the patient's
entire hospital experience, from time of admission until discharge.
Hospitalists have shown to increase quality care and reduce
healthcare costs while providing patients the added comfort and
security of having a physician on site to oversee care, answer
questions and assure the smooth coordination of all hospital
services. In doing so, they have become an important part of the
healthcare delivery team. "IPC brings to our hospital a long and
impressive track record in inpatient medicine," said Merritt Fink,
vice president for strategic services at Queen of the Valley. "We
believe that their presence will enhance the care we provide our
patients while giving our primary care physicians the flexibility
to devote more time to their outpatient practices if they so
choose." The IPC hospitalists at Queen of the Valley Hospital have
established residences in Napa and plan to become active members of
the hospital's medical staff. IPC physicians have been caring for
hospitalized patients in Northern California since its acquisition
of Oakland-based On Call Physicians Medical Group Inc. (OCP) in
2002. CP was one of the oldest and largest organized hospitalist
groups in California. In addition to this new agreement with Queen
of the Valley Hospital, IPC hospitalists also practice at Summit
Medical Center, Alta Bates Medical Center, Alameda Hospital,
Kindred Hospital, Mills Peninsula Hospital, San Leandro Hospital,
Highland Medical Center, NorthBay Medical Center and VacaValley
Hospital. Founded in 1995, IPC is the nation's premier hospitalist
company, employing more than 300 physicians and managing more than
$1 billion in healthcare expenditures annually. In addition to the
Bay area, the company currently has practice locations in Chicago,
Dallas, Denver, Fort Worth, Houston, Phoenix, San Antonio, St.
Louis and Tucson. Collectively, these practices work with more than
10,000 referring physicians and over 1,000 health plans. The
company also has a consulting division that helps hospitals and
other healthcare organization launch a hospitalist program or
enhance an existing one. Information on IPC may be obtained at
http://www.hospitalist.com/ . Queen of the Valley Hospital, a
177-bed facility with a medical staff of more than 200 physicians
covering all the major medical and surgical specialties, is the
largest provider of healthcare services in Napa County. It is a
full-service, community-based hospital with diagnostic and
therapeutic services, including emergency care, acute inpatient
care, home care and extensive outpatient services. It also offers
the area's only neonatal intensive care unit, community cancer
center and acute rehabilitation center -- as well as one of the
region's finest heart centers and women's healthcare centers. Queen
of the Valley Hospital is also the designated trauma center for
Napa County and enjoys an excellent reputation as a community
hospital with one of the most highly qualified medical staffs in
the North Bay. For more information, please visit
http://www.thequeen.org/ . DATASOURCE: IPC - The Hospitalist
Company CONTACT: Ross Goldberg, +1-818-597-8453, for IPC - The
Hospitalist Company Web site: http://www.hospitalist.com/
http://www.thequeen.org/
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