Hospitalists are contributing to the well-being of our patients at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen and at the same time providing valuable assistance to primary care doctors who elect to utilize this new service.

The physicians care for the private and unassigned emergency admission of physicians who elect to utilize the Hospitalist service. This program helps free up primary care physicians, allowing them to devote their attention and care to the patients in their office or outpatient clinic.

The Hospitalist care team accesses and treats a patient’s medical condition; informs the patient’s regular physician of their progress; and coordinates the patient’s hospital care, including all diagnostic tests such as X-ray and lab tests. In addition the Hospitalist also arranges any specialty care, therapy or consultations with other specialists; establishes a relationship with the patient and their family; facilitates the transition of the patient’s care back to their own physician as they prepare to leave the hospital; and calls the patient at home after discharge to review their discharge care and ensure that they will follow-up with their regular physician.

Communication with the primary care physician is the key in providing continuity of care through the Hospitalist service. The referring physician is notified of the patient’s admission and also notified of “crucial events” during an inpatient stay, such as transfer to intensive care, unexpected surgery, identification of a terminal illness, etc.

In addition, discharge summaries are faxed to the referring physician within 48 hours of discharge. And finally a follow-up appointment with the patient’s referring physician is made prior to discharge.

For more information on the Hospitalist Program at Valley Baptist - Harlingen, please call (956) 389-6390.

A group of seven hospitalists are staffing the
program at Valley Baptist-Harlingen.

The hospitalists at Valley Baptist-Harlingen include (left to right)Dr. Jorge Lozano, Dr. Eugene Deal, Dr. Roberto Hernandez, Dr. James Castillo and Dr. Gustavo Garcia; (not pictured) Dr. Jairo Rodriguez and Dr. Abah Gyani.