Published in the January 2015 issue of Today’s Hospitalist
While this may be the first issue in a new year, you’ll notice that we’re revisiting some old themes that we thought were due for an update.
You’ll find the first of those in our coding column, which takes a look at the transitional care codes that Medicare established two years ago. We knew back then that these codes would be important, but there has been so much focus on improving transitional care since that we thought it would be helpful to review them.
While transitional care may loom large in hospitalists’ future, these codes can be complicated. Our coverage should help you sort out the details of billing transitional care.
Next, our cover story takes a look at a trend that’s been talked up for years “surgicalists “but never really reached its potential. That’s a shame for hospitalists, who can benefit from surgeons who are always available to care for patients who need emergency surgery.
But there are signs that the surgicalist movement may finally be picking up steam. While many community surgeons still worry that they’ll lose income by giving up call for emergency work, hospital administrators are anxious to reap the benefits of in-house surgeons who can boost the speed and quality of care and function as team players.
For veterans of the hospitalist movement, all of this will sound familiar. Surgicalist programs offer the same potential to improve practice “and face many of the same obstacles “that the hospitalist movement faced 15 years ago.
I know that many hospitalists would like to see a growth in the number of surgicalist programs; maybe this time around, surgicalists can clear some of the hurdles in their way. That would be good for hospitals, hospitalists and patients,
I wish all of you a happy and prosperous 2015.
Edward Doyle
Editor & Publisher
edoyle@todayshospitalist.com
