It’s an emerging trend, and one that many patients find confusing and uncomfortable: their primary doctor doesn’t visit them in the hospital any more and doesn’t manage their hospital care.
Primary care doctors are increasingly turning the care of their hospitalized patients over to specialists called “hospitalists.”
The hospitalist is a hospital-based doctor who does not see patients in an office-based practice. He or she manages the care of patients only while they are in the hospital, turning them back over to their regular physicians when they are discharged. During the time a patient is in the hospital the hospitalist is responsible for all decisions about a patient’s care.
Advantages of Hospitalists
The hospitalist usually knows the hospital, and hospital politics, very well. This often enables the hospitalist to cut through red tape and “make things happen” more efficiently than office-based physicians.
Hospitalists are more readily available to respond to emergencies in the hospital. Nurses and other care staff can usually reach a hospitalist more rapidly than an office-based physician,...