Hospital Medicine Program Celebrates 10 Years of Care

Covenant HealthCare Hospital Medicine Program Celebrates 10 Years of Care

This year, the Covenant HealthCare Hospital Medicine program celebrates its 10 year anniversary.

“When we first started in 2003, there were only four physicians,” said Dr. Iris Marteja, Medical Director of the Hospital Medicine Program. “Now we have 27 employed physicians and seven full-time nurse practitioners. We are the largest hospitalist group in the Great Lakes Bay Region.”

Serving 8,600 patients in the last year at Covenant, Hospital Medicine has become increasingly popular. Hospitalists take care of over 50 percent of the adult hospitalized patients at Covenant HealthCare.

The program provides a unique combination of familiarity of a primary care physician with the medical care of a hospital, allowing for close personalized care, 24 hours a day 7 days per week.

The Hospital Medicine Program involves focused care for hospitalized patients by a physician, commonly referred to as a hospitalist. Hospitalists are familiar with hospital treatments and diagnostics and are in close communication with the patient's primary care physician, allowing them to follow up on tests and adjust the patient’s treatments quickly. When a primary care physician cannot be by the patient’s bedside, the Hospital Medicine Program helps patients receive constant familiar care.

The Hospital Medicine Program offers timely, honest and considerate treatment of patients, and their families, as hospitalists are available to see patients day and night and believe the family's understanding of the patient's illness is essential.

Primary care physicians interested in learning more about the Covenant Hospital Medicine Program should call Jamie Furbush, Practice Manager, at 989.583.4220 or the Office of Physician Relations at 989.583.4040.