Chad Vokoun, M.D., has been named acting section chief of hospital medicine in the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine and medical director for hospital medicine for Nebraska Medicine.
He succeeds Rachel Thompson, M.D., who has accepted a position in her home state of Washington. Dr. Thompson was recruited in 2016 to head the new Section of Hospital Medicine in the UNMC Division of General Internal Medicine to meet the growing demands for better outcomes and experiences for hospitalized patients.
“Dr. Thompson did a fabulous job of growing our hospitalists’ group into a vibrant, high quality section with 44 faculty,” said Deb Romberger, M.D., chair of the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine. “Her leadership was excellent and we wish her much success in her new position. I am personally very grateful to Dr. Vokoun for his willingness to step into this role and keep the momentum going for this important and continually growing program.”
Since the 1980s, hospital medicine has emerged as the fastest growing medical specialty in the United States. When the term hospitalist was coined in 1996, there were 100 providers who identified as hospitalists. Today, there are more than 50,000.
As a seasoned hospitalist at UNMC/Nebraska Medicine, Dr. Vokoun said he felt like this is the right time for accepting the position.
“I know the system and hospital and I have served in a lot of leadership roles,” Dr. Vokoun said. “I felt like it was the right time for this kind of challenge. I’m excited to see how our hospitalist group can grow and help our health system.
“A lot of the reasons we have been able to grow at the pace we have is because of the Department of Internal Medicine, the support of our chair, Dr. Romberger, and Dr. Tom Tape (division chief of general medicine), as well as Nebraska Medicine.”
A key responsibility of hospitalists is to admit partner physicians’ patients, take care of them while they’re in the hospital, provide efficient care, have better communication and decrease length of stay — all for better outcomes, Dr. Vokoun said.
He said Dr. Thompson did an amazing job creating the structure for the hospitalist program and new service coverage, as well as through recruiting and leadership. “She was exactly what we needed. We thank her for what she did building the program,” Dr. Vokoun said.
Congratulations Chad…lead on.
My congratulations, Chad!
They could not have picked a better person or doctor. Darla and I are very proud of Chad. Darrell Morris
Dr. Vokoun will do an awesome job. He always comes through for us in PR!