This is the Healthcare Delivery Providers, part of the Healthcare Marketplace Specialization. This is Module 4.2.1, Overview of Specialty Physicians. Learning outcomes for this lecture will be, we will discuss the overview of specialty care and specialty physicians and then review the different types of specialists. So now we will enter the world of specialty care or the specialists. There are many different types of specialists, some are called subspecialists, some are called sub-subspecialists. So again, with the advances in medical care for every single organ and system in the body, more and more specialists have emerged. And obviously the more specialized you can get regarding brain or a part of a brain, or the nose or the mouth or the throat or what have you, the better the quality of care there is for that particular part. But one of the things that we are seeing that obviously happens is there is increased fragmentation of care, because the specialists really focus in narrowly on that part of your body. And so again, the need for a quarterback or a coordinated of sorts, which is the primary care provider, is needed to keep the patient's journey together and hold all of that story together. So with that said, let's start looking at the various types of specialists. So let's talk about where do specialists work? So specialists are all over the map, the delivery road map, so obviously they work in the hospital, they work in specialty clinics, they work in surgery centers, they will sometimes work in urgent care, sometimes they have their own facilities out there. Sometimes the specialists will work in the community in post-acute care services, but typically they are in the hospital surgery centers and specialty care clinics. Specialty care, as the name suggests, deals with a higher detail and more comprehensive assessment of a body part or a system, and they diagnose and treat these conditions. Typically the patient is referred from primary care, however, many of the times the patients will directly self refer themselves to specialist care as well. And as I started discussing, it is very critically important that the information flow back and forth from the primary care is hardwired. So from the primary care's perspective and going towards the specialist, there needs to be a reason why they're consulting, and it's called consult the specialist, why they're consulting the specialist. And then what timeline they want the specialist to be seen and also give an idea of what they are thinking regarding what's going on with the patient. From a specialist's standpoint and back to primary care the what is the diagnosis that the specialist has made, what is the treatment plan that they have started, and also closing the loop on the information about the patient back to the so-called medical home. Let's do a quiz. So what are the type of specialists? It depends upon the body parts. So here's a person let's say, and what are the types of specialists? So let's start here, neurologist for the brain, ear, nose, throat specialists, bone doctors for the bones, cardiologist for the heart, a lung specialist, pulmonologist for the lungs, gastroenterologist for the stomach and the intestines, urologist for the urinary tract, dermatologist for the skin, endocrinologist for diabetes, and many, many, many more. So a type of specialist for every single body part and system that we have as human beings. Now let's look at the sites where the specialty care is delivered. So it can be delivered in a specialty care clinic, we've discussed in primary care how some of them are integrated into multi-specialty clinics. So the same clinic might have a cardiologist for heart, a lung doc, cancer specialist, sometimes they're co-located also with primary care, so there could be primary care offices right there. Sometimes specialty care is delivered through virtual care, or telemedicine through the Internet, and we will discuss that more. Specialists also provide services in ambulatory service centers, sometimes they own them as physician owned centers. Specialists also work in outpatient clinics based in hospitals. Obviously a lot of them work directly in the hospital, and we have discussed those during our hospital module. And some specialists, like palliative care specialists or geriatricians, work in post-acute care sites as well. So here's how I have laid this module out. It's very similar to primary care, so we will talk first about the specialists' services and organization. We'll talk about how they get paid, how they're measured, and then what are some of the challenges they're facing, and some of the innovations that specialty care is leading? In summary, specialists and specialty care provides very specialized care for complex patients narrowly targeted at a body part or system, and specialty care is provided at many sites across the delivery system.