The University of Kentucky Division of Hospital Medicine will be hosting the annual Heartland Hospital Medicine Conference (HHMC) again this fall. This is a regional conference of the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) and will feature presenters from around the region. Hospital medicine is the largest, most rapidly-growing subspecialty of Internal Medicine, and hospitalists are front-line providers for care delivery of hospitalized patients with a broad array of diagnoses. Nearly all hospitals in the United States rely on hospitalists for clinical care delivery, and hospitalists are responsible for advancing evidence-based medicine for patients who may lack sufficient access to primary care physicians and subspecialists. Staying updated with current medical literature is a continual challenge for hospitalists. To meet this need, the HHMC will deliver pertinent updates in clinical evidence as well as innovative practice patterns to help participants deliver the best, most high-value, most efficient care possible.

Kentucky has a large and growing number of hospitalists; the surrounding states have hundreds more. The HHMC provides a single, centrally-located event for hospitalists form around the heartland region to gather, network, and learn from regional experts about all the latest developments in Hospital Medicine. The course directors are Drs. Sarah Vick and Joseph Sweigart. Dr. Vick is a teaching attending at the University of Kentucky and is an expert clinician educator with leadership roles in student, resident, and faculty education. Dr. Sweigart is a direct care hospitalist at the University of Kentucky and is heavily involved with SHM at the regional and national level. The HHMC will also feature an abstract and poster session hosted in collaboration with the Kentucky Chapter of SHM. 

Society of Hospital Medicine

The Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) Converge Conference
Nashville, Tennessee, March 30 – April 2, 2027
Mandalay Bay Convention Center
 
Members understand that SHM is every hospitalist's solution. Join the first and only association dedicated to hospital medicine.
Join Society of Hospital Medicine. 
Hyperlink to https://www.hospitalmedicine.org/membership

Poster Session Information
Deadline for Submission: July 27th, 2026                                                                               
Acceptance notifications: August 4th, 2026                                                                           
Poster Session: August 20th, 2026 from 5:30pm to 7:30pm

Eligibility: Heartland Hospital Medicine is accepting abstract submissions from the following two categories: Research & Quality Improvement or Clinical Vignettes. Abstracts are eligible for submission if they have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal (or in any other copyrighted material). Heartland Hospital Medicine does not require permission or prohibit authors from submitting their abstracts at other meetings before or after the Heartland Hospital Medicine Conference.

Author responsibility: Email communications regarding the abstract submission will be sent to the submitting author, and it is the submitting author’s responsibility to pass along communication to the co-authors and to accept or decline the invitation to present. It is the author’s responsibility to assess if the material is copyrighted and ineligible.

Conflicts of Interest: Any relationships to pharmaceutical companies, biomedical device manufacturers, or other organizations that could represent potential conflicts by any authors are required to be disclosed by the submitting author with the submission of the abstract.

Permissions: The submitting author acknowledges that they and all of the co-authors have seen and agree with the following: the contents of the abstract; responsibility for clinical trial data (if applicable); that the abstract has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal; disclosures of financial interest in or support from, or equity positions in, manufacturers of drugs, services, or products mentioned in the abstract; trial registry information. Finally, all authors acknowledge that plagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in withdrawal of the abstract.

Type of Submissions:
Research & Quality Improvement: Submissions can report clinical research, process/quality improvement initiatives, or a systematic review of a clinical problem in hospital medicine.

Research Abstracts submitted should adhere to the following headings:

• Background
• Methods
• Results
• Conclusions
   

Quality Improvement Abstracts submitted should adhere to the following headings:

• Background/problem statement
• Methods
• Results
• Conclusion

Clinical Vignettes: A clinical vignette is a report of a case of a rare disease or an unusual clinical feature of an established disease with relevant hospital medicine teaching points. A case that highlights an area of clinical controversy in hospital medicine or illustrates a unique patient-safety issue will also be considered. It may include a summary of pertinent patient history, physical findings, laboratory data, or management description. It should be clear from the discussion portion of the abstract why the vignette is most appropriate for hospital medicine.
Clinical vignette abstracts should adhere to the following headings:

• Case presentation
• Discussion
• Conclusions

How to Submit: Submit the abstract at Abstract Submission Link by July 27th, 2026 using the headings as above with a 3000-character limit (with spaces) for abstract.

Abstract Selection: Abstracts will be scored by a panel of reviewers. The reviewers will decide whether your abstract is selected for the poster session. Abstracts will be evaluated on originality, organization, writing ability, and relevance to hospital medicine. The abstracts selected for the poster competition will be displayed onsite at the Heartland Hospital Medicine 2026 Conference. All posters will be judged on-site.

Acceptance/Withdraw of Your Abstract: Acceptance notifications will be emailed by August 4th, 2026 to the submitting author. You will have until August 11th, 2026 to accept the invitation to present your poster at the annual meeting. Your acceptance will be considered a commitment to present the poster. After accepting, if you find that you are no longer able to attend the meeting, you may send someone to present in your place, but this must be communicated via email.

Presenting Author’s Availability: The presenting author must be available to present their work at the Heartland Hospital Medicine 2026 Conference and must be present at the awards ceremony at the conclusion of the poster session.

Registration for the meeting is not required to present at the poster session. Poster presenters, including students, residents and fellows, are responsible for any associated costs of attendance including travel and poster preparation.

Awards: The highest scoring poster overall will receive automatic acceptance into the National Research, Innovations and Clinical Vignettes Competition at SHM’s Annual Meeting in 2027. This person must submit their abstract into SHM’s online web portal by the submission deadline. Information can be found at https://www.hospitalmedicine.org/. This person must also be able to attend SHM’s Annual Meeting to present.

The winner (based on level of training) will receive:

• Medical Student - SHM Membership for a year + Early Registration for HM27 + $500 travel stipend
• Resident - SHM Membership for a year + Early Registration for HM27 + $500 travel stipend

Questions about the abstract process should be directed to:
Lauren Swift, MD
Associate RIV Poster Co-Director
Associate Professor of Pediatrics – University of Louisville
[email protected] 

Jonathan Barko, MD
Associate RIV Poster Co-Director
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics – University of Kentucky
[email protected]