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Hospitalists comanaging more surgery patients

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, March 2, 2010

More hospitalists are comanaging surgery patients, according to a new study, “Comanagement of Hospitalized Surgical Patients by Medicine Physicians in the United States,” published in the February issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston studied data from Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries hospitalized for inpatient surgeries from 1996–2000. They studied the number of cases that were comanaged by medicine physicians—that is, generalist physicians or internal medicine subspecialists. Researchers defined comanagment as a case in which the medicine physicians claimed evaluation and management services on 70% or more of the days the patients were hospitalized.

They found the following results:

  • 35.2% of hospitalized patients were comanaged by a medicine physician for surgeries
  • 23.7% of hospitalized patients were comanaged by a generalist physician
  • 14% of hospitalized patients were comanaged by an internal medicine subspecialist
  • 2.5% of hospitalized patients were comanaged by both a generalist physician and internal medicine subspecialist

“All of the growth in comanagement was attributed to increased comanagement by hospitalist physicians,” states the study. “…To meet this growing need for comanagement, training in internal medicine should include medical management of surgical patients.”

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