Twenty-first century medical care is highly complex and technologically advanced.  As medical knowledge has expanded, doctors, nurses and researchers have also come to realize that quality care is extremely time-dependent.  It's not enough to deliver the right tests and treatment; you have to do so at the right time, and in most cases, that's sooner rather than later.

Hospilatists are specially trained, internal medicine physicians who work exclusively in a hospital setting.  They do not maintain private practices; their responsibility is to admit and manage patients in the hospital, and to insure that each patient gets the care he or she needs in the most timely manner.  Hospitalists follow individual patients, order tests and consults, coordinate care among multiple specialists, communicate directly with patients and their family members, and determine when patients are ready for discharge.  Once patients leave the hospital, they are returned to the care of their primary care physicians.

Doylestown Hospital Hospitalists include Jaclyn Baker, MD; Michel Chapnik, DO; Henrietta Fridman, MD; Mary Ellen Pelletier, MD; Larry Ravetz, MD; Maria Shilling, MD; Junaid Sultan, MD; Peter Urffer, MD; and Oleg Vinnikov, MD who serves as the program's director.  The hospitalists work primarily in the medical/surgical units and intensive care unit (ICU), and maintain close contact with each patient's family physician.  The patient's primary care physician may still choose to make hospital rounds or offer a courtesy visits to their patients while they are under the care of a hospitalist.

"The goal of our hospitalist program is to fill time gaps in patient care," explains Scott Levy, MD Doylestown Hospital's Chief Medical Officer.  "Primary care offices are busier than ever, with doctors frequently asked to be in two places at once.  By having a hospilatist on-site, we can eliminate much of the waiting that occurs, provide more timely assessments, and frequently expedite discharges.  We believe that the hospitalist program will further enhance the quality of patient care at Doylestown Hospital.

To Contact a Doylestown Hospital Hospitalist: 

Doylestown Hospital Associates
599 W. State Street, Ste 308
Doylestown, PA 18901
Phone:  215-345-2885
Fax:  215-345-2552