North Hollywood, Calif., April 16, 2007 – IPC-The Hospitalist Company announced today that Methodist Hospital, the largest private hospital in San Antonio and the pioneer flagship hospital of the South Texas Medical Center, has renewed its contract with IPC for hospitalist services.  IPC has been contracted with the hospital since January 2004 and the new contract extends the service through December 2009.

Under the agreement, IPC hospitalists will continue full responsibility for managing the unassigned emergency department call rosters for both Internal Medicine and Family Medicine. Additionally, IPC physicians will continue to provide care for hospitalized patients referred to IPC by the many community physicians on the medical staff of the hospital. 

Tim Osonma, M.D., an IPC hospitalist in San Antonio for the past five years and IPC’s Practice Group Leader, is very proud of how the practice has continued to grow, and of the practice’s close relationship with the hospital’s providers and administrative team.  “When things began in January 2004, IPC had only three physicians at Methodist Hospital. Today we have seven physicians available 24/7 to provide care. We have received terrific support from community physicians, and we are all working collaboratively to support the delivery of high-quality care to patients of Methodist Hospital,” said Dr. Osonma.

Dr. Osonma credits the leadership and vision of the Methodist Hospital CEO, Michael Duffy, for the program’s continued success.  "Michael Duffy has worked closely with me and other IPC physicians on process improvements for Methodist Hospital patients," said Dr. Osonma.

About Hospitalists

Hospitalists are specially trained physicians who work in close consultation with primary care physicians and appropriate specialists to manage a patient’s entire hospital experience, driving the delivery system toward better, more patient-focused care. As the nation’s fastest-growing medical specialty, hospitalists have been shown to increase the quality of care and reduce healthcare costs. Hospitalists also provide patients the added comfort and security of having a physician on-site to oversee care, answer questions and ensure the smooth coordination of all hospital and many post-discharge services. There are approximately 15,000 practicing hospitalists in the United States today.

About IPC–The Hospitalist Company

IPC-The Hospitalist Company is the largest provider of hospitalist medicine in the United States.   Founded by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Adam Singer, M.D. in 1995, IPC manages hospitalist practices in over 200 facilities across 14 states.  IPC delivers hospital-specific solutions to improve the quality of inpatient care and the satisfaction of medical and nursing staff. IPC provides physician-driven, locally-delivered inpatient care supported by its proprietary IPC-LINK® information technology and 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 www.hospitalist.com

About Methodist Hospital

Opened in 1963, Methodist Hospital is an 801-bed, acute care, regional referral center with 2,500 employees that is the pioneer flagship hospital of the South Texas Medical Center. It is the most preferred hospital in the region.