Since Wachter and Goldman coined the term hospitalist in 1996,¹ the field has undergone tremendous growth and change and is now well established. The Academic Pediatric Association (APA), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) are all strongly invested in pediatric hospital medicine. The three organizations each bring significant strengths to individual hospitalists and the field as a whole. All three organizations serve as sponsors of the annual Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM) conference, the largest national PHM gathering.

The APA’s mission is to improve the health and well-being of all children and adolescents by promoting research, advancing a scholarly approach to education, developing innovations in healthcare delivery, advocating for an equitable child health agenda, and fostering leadership and career development of child health professionals. The APA sponsored the first national PHM conference in 2003 and provides PHM-specific content at the annual Pediatric Academic Societies conference through original science presentations and the Hospital Medicine Special Interest Group. Hospitalists are considered a core constituency and have been involved in development of the strategic plan, included as editors of the APA journal Academic Pediatrics, and have served as partial motivation for the change in name from the “Ambulatory” Pediatric Association to its current more inclusive Academic Pediatric Association. APA career development projects such as the Leadership in Academic Pediatrics conferences, the Educational Scholars Program, the Research Scholars Program, and the new Quality Scholars Program actively solicit participation of hospitalists.

The mission of the AAP is to attain optimal physical, mental, and social health and well-being for all infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. To advance that mission, the AAP has been a strong advocate of PHM. The Section on Hospital Medicine (SOHM) has been the fastest growing section in the AAP over the last 10 years and now counts almost 2000 members. The SOHM sponsored the development of the first journal dedicated to PHM, Hospital Pediatrics, as well as a forthcoming PHM PREP product. The SOHM created the national PHM Fellows Conference, sponsors a day-long program at the AAP National Conference and Exhibit, and supports grants for trainees and international hospitalists to the summer PHM conference. The SOHM was the first sponsor of the APEX (Advancing Pediatric Educator Excellence) Teaching program. The SOHM has seven subcommittees involving all aspects of PHM. The Committee on Hospital Care is a separate AAP entity from SOHM that includes hospitalists as well as other pediatricians involved in the care of hospitalized patients (surgeons, intensivists, etc.). It is charged with addressing AAP policy issues on all hospital care and so addresses many PHM activities. Many other AAP sections, committees and councils impact on care of the hospitalized child and so provide many opportunities for hospitalists to take on leadership roles within the AAP.

The mission of the SHM is to promote the highest quality of care for all hospitalized patients and excellence in the practice of hospital medicine through education, advocacy, and research. Of the nation’s estimated 40,000 hospitalists, 12,000 are SHM members. SHM is a “big tent” organization that includes hospitalists from all disciplines (internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, and more recently general surgery, and obstetrics, as well as medical and surgical subspecialty fields) along with non-physicians such as physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and practice managers. SHM advocates for healthcare reform nationally, and many Medicare reform proposals are likely to impact Medicaid payment models in the future. Patient safety, quality improvement, leadership, and practice management efforts are directly parallel to issues pediatric hospitalists face, although clinical topics obviously vary. SHM sponsors an annual meeting that includes a pediatric track, publishes the Journal of Hospital Medicine, and has a specific Pediatric Committee that addresses pediatric-specific issues within and on behalf of SHM. SHM was the prime mover behind creation of recognition of focused-practice in hospital medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM). Under this model, ABIM-certified internists with 3 years of hospitalist experience may earn the above designation by completing hospital medicine–specific performance improvement and self-assessment modules and passing a secure hospital medicine–specific exam without any formal or informal fellowship training.

More recently, several additional organizations have arisen that are also moving the field of PHM forward. The Pediatric Research in Inpatient Settings (PRIS) network is a research network focused on conducting multi-centered studies in areas of inpatient care relevant to the clinician. PRIS has been successful in obtaining several large grants and has carried out several studies that promise to impact the practice of PHM. The Value in Inpatient Pediatrics (VIP) network is focused on process improvement projects with measurable outcomes. VIP has had several successful projects regarding bronchiolitis, patient identification, and discharge communication. VIP is part of the AAP Quality Improvement Innovations Networks. The Consortium of Pediatric Hospital Medicine (CPHM) includes representatives from the APA, AAP, and SHM, and helps coordinate activities between the organizations on behalf of PHM such as representation to the Council of Pediatric Subspecialties (CoPS) and the Pediatric Academic Societies’ Annual Meeting planning committee. The newly formed American Board of Pediatrics PHM sub-board is responsible for creating the certifying exam and MOC. The JCPHM includes representatives from the APA, AAP, SHM, and PRIS, as well as at-large members from the PHM community, including a dedicated spot for a community hospitalist. The JCPHM vision statement is “Pediatric hospitalists will transform the delivery of hospital care for children,” which will be attained through seven goals. The JCPHM convened the Strategic Planning Committee to thoughtfully examine the options for the field moving forward, ranging from American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) subspecialty recognition to maintaining the current status.