• Kimberly Bloom-Feshbach, Rebecca E Berger, Rachel P Dubroff, Margaret L McNairy, Aram Kim, and Arthur T Evans.
• Section of Hospital Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
• J Gen Intern Med. 2021 Jun 1; 36 (6): 177117741771-1774.

AbstractA virtual hospitalist program expanded our ability to confront the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis at the epicenter of the pandemic in New York City. In concert with on-site hospitalists and redeployed physicians, virtual hospitalists aimed to expand capacity while maintaining high-quality care and communication. The program addressed multiple challenges created by our first COVID-19 surge: high patient census and acuity; limitations of and due to personal protective equipment; increased communication needs due to visitor restrictions and the uncertain nature of the novel disease, and limitations to in-person work for some physicians. The program created a mechanism to train and support new hospitalists and provide and expand palliative care services. We describe how our virtual hospitalist program operated during our COVID-19 surge in April and May 2020 and reflect on potential roles of virtual hospitalists after the COVID-19 crisis passes.

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