CUMBERLAND MEDICAL CENTER BEGINS HOSPITALIST PROGRAM

In an ongoing effort to provide an additional level of care to its hospitalized patients, Cumberland Medical Center is pleased to pilot a new program to provide hospitalist services to its patients beginning in April, 2009. Dr. Chad Halford is the Assistant Director for Cumberland Medical Center’s hospitalist program and will guide the program as it grows serving the medical community and the patient community to its fullest potential.

Dr. Halford is a graduate of Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, TN with a Bachelors of Science degree in Biochemistry. He was graduated from Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia with Bachelors of Medicine, Bachelors of Surgery degrees. His post graduate training was done at Royal Darwin Hospital in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia and Erlanger Hospital and the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. Dr. Chad Halford’s Internal Medicine residency was completed from 2006-2008 at Erlanger Hospital where he served as Chief Resident in 2008.

A hospitalist is a physician whose practice is designed around a location, for instance a hospital, and who specializes in caring for patients in that setting and/or location. These specialists work closely with your primary care physician, emergency department physicians and any necessary specialists to provide inpatient care from admission to discharge. All hospitalists at CMC will be board-certified and are able to provide care 24 hours a day ready to assist you and the nursing staff in your care. Being in the hospital at all times, they are able to respond immediately to any change in the patient’s condition. A hospitalist usually has a specialty in family practice or internal medicine so they have received considerable hospital experience as a resident.

“We will be involved in the patient’s hospital care at the direction of the primary care physician. Our goal is to continue the exceptional care the primary care physicians practice. We want the patients to be comfortable at CMC and to feel confident in the physicians who are caring for them while they are here. Each hospitalist on CMC’s staff is committed to referring the patient back to his/her primary care physician with a full report concerning their hospital stay upon discharge,” said Dr. Chad Halford, Assistant Director of the CMC Hospitalist Program.

During critical and stressful moments, CMC hospitalists will be available to provide information and answers to patients and their questions. The specialists will also be able to spend time talking to patients and their families about their care at times when the primary care physician is not available. Each local physician will have the option of utilizing the hospitalist or providing care him/herself.

Once the patient has been discharged from the hospital, the hospitalist will send a complete summary of the care received to the primary care physician. CMC’s hospitalist will ensure that the primary care physician is prepared to provide any necessary follow-up care. If a patient does not have an established physician at the time of discharge from the hospital, the hospitalist and the discharge planning staff will work together to coordinate the patient’s follow-up needs.

“Our goal is to maintain communication with the patient’s primary care physician to guarantee the best treatment and a seamless transition between inpatient and outpatient care,” Dr. Halford stated.

Dr. Chad Halford is a member of the Society of General Internal Medicine, the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association, and the Tennessee Medical Association. He is ACLS certified and is Internal Medicine Board Eligible.

Cumberland Medical Center is dedicated to providing quality health care to our community. Front-line healthcare services like the hospitalist program is an example of the programs and services and services available through Cumberland Medical Center. For more information about CMC or any of its services, please visit the website at www.cmchealthcare.org.