Winter Haven Hospital Launches Around-The-Clock Physician Care For Expectant Mothers
August 20, 2008

While many obstetricians divide their time between office and hospital, the Regency Medical Center (the women’s division of Winter Haven Hospital) has introduced an Obstetrics & Gynecology (OB/GYN) hospitalist program, a service that allows hospital-based doctors to focus on providing care to patients in the labor and delivery unit. To support this initiative, Winter Haven Hospital has contracted with the OB Hospitalist Group, a national physician group that specializes in caring for pregnant women.

OB/GYN hospitalists are board-certified or board-eligible physicians who specialize solely in caring for patients who are hospitalized, rather than in a clinical office setting. This new program creates a dedicated role for obstetricians on site – 24 hours a day, seven days a week – for pregnant patients who do not have a private physician or patients with pregnancy-related emergencies.

Through this program, a number of services will be enhanced, such as:

1. Accepting transfers from outlying areas for medically appropriate patients who require obstetrical care.
2. Providing triage evaluation for obstetric patients presenting to Regency Medical Center and communicating clinical information to the patient’s physician.
3. Providing surgical assistance to private physicians performing cesarean section deliveries.
4. Assisting in the stabilization of OB/GYN patients in emergency situations until the patient’s attending physician arrives.
5. Providing obstetrical care for patients with no local obstetrician.

“Sometimes an obstetrician is already delivering another baby at the hospital – or perhaps the obstetrician is just tied up in traffic. Having an OB/GYN hospitalist program means pregnant women can be confident an experienced obstetrician will be delivering her baby – even if her doctor can’t be present,” said Susie Hart, assistant vice president of Winter Haven Hospital’s Regency Medical Center. “That’s extra peace of mind for an expectant mother.”

OB/GYN hospitalists provide enhanced coverage and a critical safety net to OB/GYNs in the community, especially during emergencies or when OB/GYNs are not physically present in the hospital. The movement toward hospitalist medicine improves access to specialist care and enhances patient safety and outcomes. Winter Haven Hospital’s OB/GYN hospitalist program began July 1.

This new program enhances the relationship between the Polk County Health Department and the Regency Medical Center, as Medicaid recipients will have triage and delivery services. Dr. Daniel Haight, medical director for the Polk County Health Department, said: “Having a doctor always available to see patients in labor and freeing the nurses from the need to find someone to answer their questions will improve the quality of patient care for Medicaid recipients. The Health Department and management personnel at Regency Medical Center have been working toward this implementation for several months.  We are excited to be part of the first OB/GYN hospitalist program implementation in Polk County and the second in the entire state of Florida.”

According to the Society of Hospitalist Medicine, approximately half of hospitals in the United States now employ hospitalists in different subspecialties, reflecting a growing trend in healthcare.  The aim is to improve safety and the quality of patient care. The number of hospitalists in the United States has nearly doubled in the past three years, increasing from 8,000 in 2003 to 15,000 in 2005, a number that is expected to double again in the next decade.

“Our community-based board of trustees decided that this was an appropriate and prudent investment in meeting the health care needs of women in east Polk County,” said Lance Anastasio, president and CEO of Winter Haven Hospital. “We can’t imagine anything more important than the confidence and peace of mind of an expectant mother knowing that an obstetrician will be on hand no matter what time of day she arrives.”

“As an organization, we decided that making this 24/7 commitment to maternal care was the next logical step to take,” Anastasio continued.  “We continue to focus on our mission of increasing access to state-of-the-art medical care throughout the communities in the Ridge Corridor.”