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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