IPC - The Hospitalist Company Initiates a Psychiatric Hospitalist Program at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston

Psychiatric Hospitalists in Demand to Treat Significant Portion of Inpatient Medical/ Surgical Population North Hollywood, Calif., August 15, 2007, IPC – The Hospitalist Company announced today that it has started what may be the country’s first psychiatric hospitalist program at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, part of the Texas Medical Center in Houston, to provide adult inpatient psychiatric consultations on request and in the emergency room. “There are many hospitalists trained in internal medicine who care for psychiatric patients, but it’s rare to have a hospitalist trained in psychiatry who also treats medical and surgical inpatients,” said Fred Grates, executive director of IPC-Houston. “In light of the tremendous unmet need for psychiatric consultations in a general hospital setting, we are fortunate to have in Dr. Jennifer Pate a dedicated psychiatric hospitalist who can provide this invaluable service to the inpatients at St. Luke’s.” “The hospital staff as well as my fellow IPC hospitalists call me in for a wide variety of patients ranging from a hip fracture patient with suicidal ideation, to a heart failure patient with impaired decision-making ability,” said Dr. Pate, chief of psychiatry at St. Luke’s. “Having psychiatric input during hospitalization tends to decrease length of stay and plays a role in helping to prevent unnecessary readmissions. Providing such care helps patients transition successfully to the outpatient setting.” Between 30 and 60 percent of adult inpatients suffer from significant psychological dysfunction secondary to their medical illness that would qualify for a psychiatric consultation, according to several studies.(1) In addition to treating inpatients at the 912-bed facility, Dr. Pate plays a significant and growing role with St. Luke's organ transplant services, providing the required psychological consultations for donors and recipients. “Organ donors and recipients, along with many other types of patients, need comprehensive quality care before and after their procedures,” said St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital CEO David Pate, M.D., J.D. “This is a natural partnership for St. Luke’s that falls in line with our mission to provide high-quality and compassionate care to our patients and their families.” IPC plans to add at least one more full-time psychiatric hospitalist to its five-year-old hospitalist program at St. Luke’s. Currently the hospitalist program includes six full-time hospitalists in addition to Dr. Pate. About St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System comprises the flagship St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, founded in 1954 by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas; St. Luke’s Community Medical Center–The Woodlands, opened in 2003; St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities, a charity devoted to assessing and enhancing community health, especially among the underserved; and Kelsey-Seybold Management, LLP, overseeing 21 area clinic locations. St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital is home to the Texas Heart® Institute, founded in 1962 by Denton A. Cooley, MD, and consistently ranked among the top 10 cardiology and heart surgery centers in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Affiliated with several nursing schools and two medical schools, St. Luke’s serves as the primary private adult teaching hospital for Baylor College of Medicine. St. Luke’s was the first hospital in Texas named a Magnet hospital for nursing excellence, and the Health System has been recognized by FORTUNE as among “100 Best Companies to Work For” (2002, 2004 and 2005) and by Houston Business Journal as a top employer in Houston for three consecutive years. About IPC – The Hospitalist Company IPC – The Hospitalist Company – is a leading provider of hospitalist medicine in the United States. Founded by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Adam Singer, M.D. in 1995, IPC owns or provides management services to hospitalist practices operating in over 200 facilities across 15 states. Supported by its proprietary IPC-LINK® information technology, IPC delivers physician-driven, hospital-specific solutions to improve the quality of inpatient care and the satisfaction of medical and nursing staff. IPC also provides other corporate services such as billing and collections, provider recruitment, marketing, training and education. IPC employs more than 600 healthcare providers and also offers selected services to non-IPC providers. For more information, visit the IPC website at www.hospitalist.com. Also visit the IPC blog at www.hospitalistblog.com. ### (1) Studies referenced in “Practice Guidelines for Psychiatric Consultation in the General Medical Setting,” Bronheim, H., Fulop, G., et al, Psychosomatics 39:S8-S30, August 1998