Resources for Effective
Co-Management of Hospitalized Patients
Co-management is the shared responsibility, authority and accountability for the care of a hospitalized patient. The co-management of patients with surgeons and specialists has become a mainstay of hospital medicine. In the case of co-managed surgical patients, the patient's surgeon manages the surgery related treatments, and a hospitalist manages the patient's medical conditions.
One of the many of reasons that hospital medicine has grown so quickly in both the number and compensation of providers, 10.2% increase in compensation from 2014 to 2016 according to SHM’s 2016 State of Hospital Medicine Report, is due to hospitalists’ value when co-managing patients.
SHM chartered a task force to provide guidance and develop resources on co-management. They can be used as a guide while establishing the co-management agreement between the hospitalist team and the non-hospitalist specialty team to provide clarity and set expectations for these teams throughout care.
