FAQ

Who is an intensivist?

An intensivist, also known as a critical care physician, is a medical doctor with special training and experience in treating critically ill patients. An intensivist completes a fellowship in critical care medicine after finishing a residency in internal medicine, pulmonary medicine, anesthesia or surgery.

Intensivists are a relatively new sub-specialty. Founded in 1970, the Society of Critical Care Medicine is the professional medical organization for critical care physicians, nurses, scientists and technicians.

How are intensivists different than other specialists, such as cardiologists, who treat critically ill patients?

Intensivists provide a comprehensive approach to caring for ICU patients rather than focusing on specific body systems, such as cardiologists or pulmonologists. In many instances, they have the primary responsibility for the patient rather than acting as a consultant, as many specialists do. Depending on the intensivist program, critical care physicians provide round-the-clock ICU care rather than being on call off-site or spending most of their time seeing office patients, in surgery or treating patients in other parts of the hospital.

How is an intensivist-led ICU different than a traditional ICU?

In a traditional approach, primary care physicians have the chief responsibility for treating their critically ill patients. They often bring in specialists as needed, such as a nephrologist if the patient has a kidney problem or pulmonologist if the patient is placed on a ventilator.

There are some clear drawbacks to this approach. For one, primary care doctors have little experience with critically ill patients, who are often suffering from multi-system problems or diseases. These doctors might average a handful of such patients a year. They also cannot devote large amounts of their time to monitoring and managing ICU patients since they may have other hospital patients as well as many patients to see throughout the day at their offices. As a result, care is generally fragmented and poorly coordinated.

Intensivists, on the other hand, spend their time each day in the ICU treating the critically ill. They are trained and experienced in dealing with the complex issues of the sickest patients as well as treating, or when possible, averting complications that often arise quickly.

Study after study proves the superiority of intensivist-led ICUs. More than 160,000 lives could be saved each year if critical care was delivered by intensivist-directed, multi-professional teams, according to the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM.) Research cited by SCCM shows that the mortality rate for ICUs with intensivisit staffing is 6 percent compared to 14.4 percent for ICUs where attending physicians provide care.

How is The Intensivist Group different than other intensivist programs?

The Intensivist Group is a physician-owned and -operated company that offers a proven, hands-on approach to critical care medicine. Our model delivers exceptional quality and outcomes as well as significant cost savings. Far more than simply staffing ICUs with intensivists, we have developed a formal program for designing, implementing and managing ICUs that reduces mortality and complications while increasing efficiency and financial outcomes for hospitals.

We are dedicated to bringing this intensivist-led model to community hospitals throughout the United States while creating jobs and a new career model for critical care physicians in community medicine.

Our operating model relies on board-certified teams of intensivists who work closely with the medical staff and other hospital professionals, including pharmacists, dieticians, nurses and physical therapists. To provide the best possible care, we create evidence-based guidelines, protocols and standardized order sets, then establish process and outcome goals. We measure and report our results.

Our approach delivers major benefits:

• By cutting length of stay by a half-day in just six months, we generated annualized savings of nearly $1 million for one hospital.
• Patients at suburban Chicago hospital rated the overall ICU care provided by the Intensivist Group at 94%.
• Medical staff at the same hospital rated critical care as the highest quality service at the hospital and the second most important reason for referring patients there.
• At an inner-city hospital, mortality rates for critically ill patients has fallen from 11.7 percent to 7 percent, which means one additional life is saved for every 21 ICU admissions.

How many U.S. hospitals have intensivist-led ICUs?

Between 10 percent and 20 percent of the 6,000 U.S. hospitals have at least some intensive care coverage, including care provided remotely by intensivist-led teams that monitor ICU patients from an off-site location.

Why haven’t more hospitals adopted an intensivist approach to critical care?

Inertia is one reason. Reluctance to upset their medical staff, many of whom initially resist the change, is another. And many hospitals that are eager to implement an intensivist-led program can’t because of the shortage of intensivists. Although the number of critical care fellowships in the United States has increased in the 2000s, most medical students are opting for more lucrative specialties.

Who are our clients?

The Intensivist Group specializes in working with community hospitals. We provide on-site management of the intensive care units for Mercy Hospital of Philadelphia, Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital and Northwest Community Hospital. Our physicians also have established telemedicine ICU units for a six-hospital system in Illinois as well as at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network.

We have consulted with community hospitals in Georgia, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Indiana, among others.  

How do we work with our clients?

The Intensivist Group provides ICU management, both on-site and telemedicine, and ICU consulting services. More information about these services can be found on those Services pages.