Atlanta, Georgia, July 9, 2007—Robert L. Stahl, MD, Medical Director for VITAS Innovative Hospice Care® of Atlanta, has been re-certified by the American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (ABHPM). This distinction places Dr. Stahl among an elite group of physicians who have met the highest clinical and academic standards of the hospice and palliative medicine specialty. Dr. Stahl has been Medical Director for VITAS Innovative Hospice Care® of Atlanta since 2006 and earned his first ABHPM certification in 1998, one of the first two physicians in the state of Georgia to do so.

ABHPM certification is an arduous process that requires a physician to first become board certified in his or her particular specialty (internal medicine or geriatric medicine, for example). The physician then is expected to meet several clinical criteria, including participating directly in the care of at least 50 terminally ill patients. Finally, the physician must pass a comprehensive written examination.

“I see certification as an important part of the patient/physician relationship,” says Dr. Stahl. “It lets my patients know that I take their care seriously and that I have the credentials to care for them properly.”

In his role as a VITAS Medical Director, Dr. Stahl provides and oversees palliative care and symptom management for more than 100 Atlanta area patients and educates healthcare professionals and physicians on the benefits of hospice care. Dr. Stahl has been a Board certified and practicing hematologist and medical oncologist in Atlanta since 1985 and he began providing hospice care in 1996. He began practicing hospice and palliative care solely in 2003. “The reality of practicing oncology is that sometimes my patients did not get well. As a physician, I liked the idea that I was continuing to take care of my patients after curative therapy was no longer meaningful to them,” says Dr. Stahl. “I appreciated the opportunity to care for patients through the whole continuum of their disease process. Eventually, I decided to focus just on palliative care.”

Dr. Stahl was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) in 2004. He teaches Palliative Care at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. Prior to joining VITAS, Dr. Stahl served as Medical Director for Portsbridge Hospice and Odyssey Healthcare. He was a member of the Palliative Care Committee at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta from 1996 until 2003. He was in private practice in hematology and medical oncology from 1996 to 2003 and previously was a partner and founding member of the Emory Clinic.

Dr. Stahl earned an undergraduate degree and a medical degree from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He completed an internship and residency at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City and Fellowships in Hematology and Oncology at New York University Medical Center.