Summary: This month in our issue, hospitalists weigh in on our cover story about data mining and data analytics in healthcare. Paul Roscoe, CEO of Crimson, a technology solutions company, tells why he thinks the term “big data,” has more subtlety and context, while Dr. Steven Deitelzweig, assistant chair of hospital medicine at Ochsner Health in New Orleans and chair of SHM’s practice management committee, discusses how data analytics could help reduce hospital readmissions and improve delivery of patient care. Dr. Kamal S. Ajam, a hospitalist board-certified in chronic pain management, co-authored our cover story this month on nine things chronic pain specialists want hospitalists to know. Dr. Ajam, assistant clinical professor at Wake Forest University and a physician at the Carolinas Pain Institute, shares his recommendations on managing chronic pain. Our Key Clinical Question this month features a reprint of our popular column on treating community-acquired cellulitis, as well as a report on heart failure. Dr. Weijen Chang examines palliative care in pediatrics, and Dr. Win Whitcomb reports on the impact of CMS’ value-based purchasing mandate with the start of the 2014 fiscal year on Oct. 1. Visit TheHospitalist.org for exclusive online-only content, freshly pressed eWire reports, and subscribe to the SHM Live channel on YouTube for video features on hot topics in hospital medicine.
