Ghosts of ChriSHMtas Past

>
By  |  December 18, 2011 | 

I was reviewing some old stacks this weekend, and wonderfully, stumbled upon various old Hospitalist editions.  The most striking element, beyond the nonprofessional appearance, is the prescient positions our organization seized at the time.  It was neither about money, nor opportunism.  And we were speaking about quality improvement before half the health care world knew what the IOM report meant.  No one, and I mean no one, was in on these subjects a decade ago.

Don’t believe me?  Just skim the table of contents below.  This was not standard operating material for the day, and heavens, a health economist as a keynote in 2000, have mercy (Uwe Reinhardt incidentally, is tops, and the best we have had.  Just watch this short clip for a taste).

It is amazing how this organization has grown, and watching from the front row has been a privilege.  One just assumes that administrator ‘x’ and vice president ‘y’ and committee chair ‘z’ all materialized in sequence, from a master plan drawn from on high.  Big bets, risky hires and uncertainty all were part of the script.  Phenomenal.  Of course, a few leadership blunders along the way came with the territory. Then Larry came along… 🙂

A nice post to conclude 2011 on I reason, and suffice it to say, it’s been delightful blogging for all of you the past year.  I hope that when we return in 2012, the site will have some new surprises and features.

The next twelve months promises to be packed, and by that, I mean presidential politics and Supreme Court decision making.  Do not fall asleep at the wheel—how these events unfold will have huge practice implications for hospitals and acute care.

Regardless of those little distractions however, have a safe and absolutely wonderful holiday and New Year. Enjoy!!!!

ps–incidentally, these early publications sprung from lots of individual effort and elbow grease.   If you ever get a chance, ask John Nelson about the “wrong phone number.”  It is an XXX-tremely interesting story. Wink.

 

Share This Post

One Comment

  1. Joe Miller December 19, 2011 at 5:27 pm - Reply

    A nice walk down memory lane

Leave A Comment

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

About the Author: Bradley Flansbaum

Bradley Flansbaum, DO, MPH, MHM works for Geisinger Health System in Danville, PA in both the divisions of hospital medicine and population health. He began working as a hospitalist in 1996, at the inception of the hospital medicine movement. He is a founding member of the Society of Hospital Medicine and served as a board member and officer. He speaks nationally in promoting hospital medicine and has presented at many statewide meetings and conferences. He is also actively involved in house staff education. Currently, he serves on the SHM Public Policy Committee and has an interest in payment policy, healthcare market competition, health disparities, cost-effectiveness analysis, and pain and palliative care. He is SHM’s delegate for the AMA House of Delegates. Dr. Flansbaum received his undergraduate degree from Union College in Schenectady, NY and attended medical school at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed his residency and chief residency in Internal Medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York. He received his M.P.H. in Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. He is a political junky, and loves to cook, stay fit, read non-fiction, listen to many genres of music, and is a resident of Danville, PA.

Categories

Related Posts

By Jen Readlynn, MD, FHM
April 26, 2023 |  0
Burnout. It’s an all-too-familiar term for those in healthcare and other service fields. Often the onus is on the burned-out person to recognize and mitigate their burnout and activities such as   yoga and deep breathing are offered as quick fixes. For our March #JHMChat, we turned to Dr. Rachel Thienprayoon’s article, “Beyond Burnout: Collective suffering […]
By Gian Toledanes, DO
March 17, 2023 |  0
Ableism is a common yet misunderstood “–ism”. Yet the common thread that ties ableism and other –isms/ forms of discrimination like racism, sexism, and homophobia, is the belief that one group or identity is “less than” others. Specifically, ableism is discrimination of and prejudice against people with disabilities and is rooted in the belief that […]
By Gian Toledanes, DO
February 10, 2023 |  0
My family and I recently embarked on a Disney Cruise for our annual vacation. Excitement filled my 4-year-old daughter, Layla, because of the opportunity to meet with the princesses. Her suitcase stuffed with all the ballgowns she could carry; she wore a different dress every evening as she hoped to meet every princess on board […]
Go to Top