Hospitalists: new era in patient care

Hospitalists care for about 70% of the patients admitted at Wayne Memorial HONESDALE — Two new hospitalists have joined the inpatient care team at Wayne Memorial Hospital, both with local ties to the northeast Pennsylvania community. Hospitalists are healthcare providers who admit and care for hospital patients. They usually do not maintain an outside practice. Louis Kareha, DO and Melissa Diehl, CRNP, are also now part of a newly-formed hospitalist physician group called Advanced Inpatient Medicine (AIM). The group is owned and operated by Louis O’Boyle, DO, FACP, who remains Medical Director of the hospitalist program at Wayne Memorial. “We are very focused on patient satisfaction,” said Dr. O’Boyle in response to why he started AIM, “and part of that means even better communication between our hospitalists and the patient, the patient’s family and their primary care doctor. Our goal is to provide the highest quality care at all times, and being ‘in town’ helps. The prior hospitalist physician group was headquartered elsewhere. “I have been fortunate enough to be able to bring together a new team of local, well qualified providers who I believe will take the hospitalist program at Wayne Memorial to a new level and make it the best program in the region. I want all our local residents, especially those who currently go elsewhere for hospital care, to know that they have an excellent team right here at home that will give them the highest quality of care available.” David Hoff, WMH CEO, is pleased with the direction the hospitalist program is now taking. “With Dr. O’Boyle at the helm, we look forward to exciting things coming out of this program,” said Mr. Hoff. New hires The future begins with the two new hires, Dr. Kareha and Ms. Diehl, who join Doctors O’Boyle, William Speicher and Everton Clare in the hospitalist program. Dr. Kareha, who is board-certified in Family Practice Medicine, worked most recently at all three Scranton hospitals—Community Medical Center, Mercy and Moses Taylor—and had a private practice in Clarks Summit. After graduating from Shippensburg University, he completed his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, followed by an internship and residency at St. Luke’s Hospital in Allentown. Melissa Diehl, a certified registered nurse practitioner, started off her career with a scholarship handed out by the Wayne Memorial Hospital Auxiliary—the Victoria T. Robinson Nursing Scholarship. Diehl graduated from Misericordia University in Dallas, Pennsylvania and Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, where she received a Master of Science in Nursing. She comes to Wayne Memorial from Physicians’ Health Alliance at Moses Taylor Hospital in Scranton. “I am looking forward to giving back to my community in my new role as a hospitalist,” said Ms. Diehl, “and using the experiences I have gained while I was a hospitalist at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia to provide the best care possible to the patients at Wayne Memorial.” Other hospitals with hospitalists include Moses Taylor, Mercy Hospital, Geisinger Wyoming Valley and Lehigh Valley.