"On a typical morning, Sandip Patel, MD, a hospitalist employed by a health plan in Southern California, rounds on patients at the hospital, then meets with case managers and a medical director to review care plans and decide which patients will stay or go.

In the afternoon, Dr. Patel may see recently discharged patients—those coded "red" or "yellow," based on medical complexity—at an integrated-care center, which is also owned and run by the health plan. Then he might head to a nursing home to check on patients discharged a week ago.

Dr. Patel considers himself an "extensivist" with a goal to reduce readmissions. "Lowering readmission rates is within the purview of the hospitalists."

References:
Health-plan hospitalists cut readmissions—by sometimes leaving the hospital. Today's Hospitalist, 2010.