MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Hirotaka Kato, PhD Graduate School of Health Management Keio University  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response:  Physicians are increasingly engaging in clinical practice on a part-time basis, but little is known about the quality of care provided by these physicians. In this analysis of nationally representative data of the elderly patients admitted to hospitals, we found that patients treated by hospitalists who worked more clinical days per year had significantly lower 30-day mortality compared with patients treated by hospitalists working fewer clinical days, even after accounting for the differences in severity of illness.  (more…)