Hospitalist Charges

We are having an issue with more than 1 provider charging for subsequent visits for our patients for the same day. The providers are also charging either an admit and subsequent or a subsequent and a discharge for the same day . The insurance companies have only been paying for one of the visits. It was my understanding that an admit would trump the subsequent and discharge would replace a subsequent. I also thought that if 2 visits were charged for the same day they would have to be for completely different reasons. I would appreciate some guidance regarding this. This seems to be a constant problem and I am unable to get a confirmation regarding what should be done regarding these matters.

re: Hospitalist Charges

The role of a Hospitalist is to do inpatient care the attending does not want. In short, a hospitalist is a physician trained in internal medicine who monitors and treats other physicians' hospitalized patients. Typical responsibilities include coordinating patient admissions and follow-up visits, providing bedside care throughout a patient's hospital stay, managing consultations and communications with specialists, ordering labs and procedures, and managing the discharge of patients. You have to look at contracts and regardless of whether the physician's employer is a medical practice or a hospital, key provisions should be addressed in the hospitalist's employment agreement. The employer might believe that a specific duty is one "customarily performed by hospitalists," whereas the hospitalist may think otherwise.