Member News Releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 15, 2006
The Doctor is In: New Hospitalist Program Enhancing Inpatient Care at Silver Cross Hospital
Dr. Suj Sundaraj spends his days seeing only patients in the hospital.
He travels the floors of Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet with a
personal digital assistant (PDA) in hand and a smile on his face
performing a variety of tasks such as admitting and discharging
patients, ordering tests and medicines, and monitoring results. Dr.
“Suj” is a hospitalist, a relatively new type of medical specialist
whose work is dedicated solely to caring for patients in the hospital.
There are over 10,000 hospitalists throughout the country and now
Silver Cross has one-Suj Sundaraj, M.D., founder and current president
of the Chicago Chapter of the Society for Hospital Medicine.
For more than a decade, through a successful partnership with
Children’s Memorial in Chicago, Silver Cross has provided pediatric and
neonatology services in-house 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. On July 1,
Silver Cross began offering this same type of inpatient care to adult
patients through Dr. Suj and Signature Healthcare Solutions.
“The hospitalist program is a win-win situation for everyone,” says
Paul Pawlak, President and CEO of Silver Cross Hospital. “Hospitalists
have shown to reduce the length of a patient’s stay, decrease hospital
costs, and improve patient satisfaction and clinical
outcomes-specifically reducing both readmission and mortality.”
Hospitalists, like Dr. Suj, have agreements with primary and
specialty physicians to care for their patients while in the hospital
including evenings and weekends. Acting as a partner to your physician,
their job is to provide adult patients with the best possible inpatient
medical care in a timely and effective manner. At each step of the
process Dr. Suj communicates with the patient’s regular physician and
family to assure the proper care is given.
Independent of the hospital, patients who see Dr. Suj or one of his
partners as directed by their regular physician or are admitted through
the Emergency Department, will receive a separate bill for hospitalist
services, which are covered by most insurances including Medicare and
Medicaid.
Quality-enhancing programs like the hospitalist services is just
one of the many reasons why Silver Cross has been named one of the top
100 hospitals in the country for two consecutive years,” says Paul
Pawlak, President/CEO of Silver Cross. “We are pleased to welcome Dr.
Suj and his team to ours to continue treating you the way you should be
treated-with an exceptional Silver Cross experience.”
To learn more about the Hospitalist Program at Silver Cross, ask
your physician. For a referral to a physician on staff at Silver Cross,
call 1-888-660-HEAL (4325).
Silver Cross Hospital, a not-for-profit health care provider, has
been creating world-class health care experiences for the southwest
suburban communities for over a century. Silver Cross has been
recognized as one of our nation's 100 Top Hospitals by Solucient and as
one of America's Most Friendliest Hospitals by the American Alliance of
Healthcare Providers. Exceptional care. It's not unusual. It's simply
the way you should be treated.