Hospitalist Program

A hospitalist is a physician who specializes in caring for patients while they are in the hospital. Hospitalists assist you through a smooth and speedy recovery process by following up on tests and adjusting your treatment regimen throughout the day based on those test results. The hospitalist collaborates with your primary care physician to meet your medical needs while you are in the hospital. Hospitalists at Meadville Medical Center are specially trained in internal medicine or family medicine.

• Patients of local physicians and medical groups who have decided to use the hospitalist service when their patients need to be admitted to the hospital.
• Patients who don’t have a local primary care physician, possibly referred from the hospital emergency room
• Patients from outside the Crawford County area who do not have a local primary care physician

• Hospitalists work in the hospital and are more easily accessible in emergencies and when questions or concerns arise during your hospital stay.
• Hospitalists are very familiar with hospital procedures and processes at Meadville Medical Center. This enables them to function efficiently in ordering tests, consulting other specialists, and adjusting treatments to meet your needs.
• Knowing their hospitalized patients are under expert care, primary care physicians are able to spend more uninterrupted time caring for their office-based patients.

Your primary care physician may request that a hospitalist is in charge of your care during the hospital stay. In this way, you have the benefit of being seen by a doctor whose practice is focused on the care of hospitalized patients. Additionally, this can enable your primary care doctor to be more available to you in the office, rather than trying to go back and forth between seeing patients in the office and in the hospital.

When you are admitted to the hospital, your primary care physician and the hospitalist communicate with each other about your medical condition. Your physician transfers the management of care to the hospitalist team. Depending on the length of your stay, you may see more than one hospitalist.

While in the hospital, the hospitalist will supervise your medical care.

The hospitalist may consult other doctors to participate in your care. If you have already been seeing other physicians at Meadville Medical Center or elsewhere, be sure to let us know so that we can keep them informed about your hospital stay.

The hospitalist and your primary care physician will communicate as needed throughout your hospital stay.

The hospitalist will ensure a smooth transition back to your primary care physician when you leave the hospital.

If you do not have a primary care physician, the hospitalist will refer you to one when you leave the hospital.

The hospitalist also will make arrangements for any prescriptions you may need when you are discharged.

Yes. The billing process for hospitalist care is similar to being billed by your primary care physician for hospital visits.

Your primary care physician may visit you while you are in the hospital. However, it is more common that you will see your primary care physician in his/her office after your discharge from the hospital.