SWMC Hospitalist Service Continues to Grow

• Provided by Southwest Medical Center

    Southwest Medical Center is pleased to announce the arrival of hospitalist program physician assistant, Unnati Basnyat, PA-C. Basnyat is the fourth physician assistant to join the hospitalist team, which provides care for patients admitted to the regional healthcare facility.

     Southwest Medical Center’s hospitalist program, implemented in 2014, is led by Andrey Ilyasov, M.D. Ilyasov is joined by Rama Chanda, M.D. and Akshath Kamath, M.D., who work hand-in-hand with patients’ primary care providers to care for patients during their hospitalization. Hospitalist programs are a growing trend in hospitals across the United States, as the service offers benefits to both patients and physicians.

     “Traditional medicine requires primary care physicians to balance their time between seeing their hospitalized patients, and seeing those patients in their clinic who arrive for regular appointments,” Southwest Medical Center President and CEO, Bill Ermann, explains. “Implementing our hospitalist program has created more access to primary care providers for patients in our community, as well as continued our commitment to providing high quality care for patients who are admitted to our hospital.”

     Hospitalist director, Dr. Ilyasov, says the program benefits not only the patients and physicians in Liberal, but those in surrounding communities as well.

     “Once our high quality standards and protocols were established, we began visiting with providers in surrounding communities to create a simple process for them to admit patients to Southwest Medical Center under the care of our hospitalist team,” Ilyasov said. “These patients meet specific criteria for admission, and are able to receive the right level of care for their needs in our nearby facility without the need to travel to a larger city. Our hospitalist program has become a resource for both patients in need of care, and providers who need a place to refer them.”

     The increase in utilization of the hospitalist program has resulted in the growing need for more providers over time. In addition to hospitalist physicians, Southwest Medical Center has hired four certified physician assistants during to past two years to assist in caring for patients.

     “We are pleased to see our regional medical center and our provider team continue to grow,” Ermann said. “Our mission has always been to provide excellent care to patients in our community so they can receive quality healthcare close to home. Our hospitalists and all the providers on our Medical Staff have been the key piece in delivering the care our community needs to stay healthy, as well as continuing our tradition of providing high quality, on-site care for patients who are admitted to our hospital.”