The other thing I’ve been struck by is that most people working on Capitol Hill aren’t used to receiving visits from physicians. When Doctors for America has organized efforts to get physicians to come to Washington, D.C., to meet with legislators, members of Congress are often quite surprised. There’s both an incredible opportunity to make an impact, but there’s also an incredible need because we’re at an unfortunate place where there’s a real stalemate in Congress.
The question is, who is going to push both the public and legislators to move in the right direction to fix our health care system? I think that doctors, and hospitalists in particular, are uniquely positioned to be able to do that. The hospitalist movement has been blessed with incredibly bright people who are tackling a broad array of systems problems, including discharge planning, medication safety, and coordination of care. I think the country needs to hear from them.
Take us to your leader. Nominate a hospitalist whose work inspires you. E-mail suggestions to m.schneider@elsevier.com. Read previous columns at ehospitalistnews.com. This column, "Leaders," appears regularly in Hospitalist News, a publication of Elsevier.