Clinical Practice

For appointments: 412-586-9700
Clinic hours - 8:00 - 5:00 PM

• 18 endocrinologists
• 9 fellows
• 2 CRNPs
• ADA-recognized Diabetes Education Program

Visits to the endocrine clinics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC continue to increase, as do clinical revenues. In recognition of this, UPMC leadership has expanded the number of designated full time clinical endocrinologists from seven to ten, complemented by nine additional research-oriented MD faculty, who also perform clinical patient care. This means that the 19 MD faculty, together with the 14 PhD faculty, comprise one of the largest Endocrinology Divisions in the U.S. Over the past year, we have also developed a new and fully-staffed inpatient diabetes hospitalist service, comprised of an attending endocrinologist, two nurse practitioners and a designated clinical fellows, as well as residents and students. In addition to these services at UPMC, four Division endocrinologists provide outpatient and inpatient care at the Pittsburgh VA Medical Center, and this will increase to five with the addition of a fifth full time endocrinologist beginning in July 2005.

In regional terms, we have developed and validated a database of 90,000 patients with diabetes cared for in the 19 UPMC hospitals and their associated outpatient facilities and clinics in western Pennsylvania. Remarkably, this is the largest diabetes registry of unselected patients in the U.S. (Medicare, the VA and Kaiser-Permanente have larger, but demographically selected diabetes registries). We have also developed the second or third largest ADA-certified diabetes educator network in the U.S. Working with this Pittsburgh Diabetes Institute Registry and ADA-Certified Diabetes Education Network, we have launched quality improvement initiatives on a scale not possible in almost any other hospital system. We have also implemented system-wide computer-based physician order-entry initiatives targeting the inpatient management of hypoglycemia and sliding scale management of hyperglycemia, and also to site-specific and physician-specific reporting of ADA management targets. These have led to marked, large scale improvements in the management and outcomes relating to hypoglycemia, hospital length of stay, and achievement of compliance targets for diabetes management. Compliance measures and outcomes system-wide far exceed national averages and ADA guidelines. Finally, eight of our clinicians were ranked among the "Best Doctors in the U.S".