title: Use of hospitalists by Medicare beneficiaries: a national picture.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the characteristics of hospitalists serving Medicare beneficiaries.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medicare claims from 2009 and 2011 merged with the Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership System file for physician characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  Our construction of the Medicare Data on Physician Practice and Specialty (MD-PPAS) enabled identification of hospitalists based on the attending physician for Medicare admissions (medical and surgical) in 2009 and 2011.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 2011, hospitalists constituted 13.3% of physicians who designated their specialty as primary care and 4.4% of all physicians serving Medicare beneficiaries. Compared to other physicians, hospitalists were more likely to be female, under forty, and in large practices. More than a quarter of Medicare admissions had a hospitalist as the attending physician, though the rate was substantially higher for medical than surgical admissions (31.8% versus 11.3%). Between 2009 and 2011, the percentage of medical admissions with a hospitalist as the attending physician increased by roughly a quarter (from 25.7% to 31.8%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This analysis provides a more current and complete estimate of the use of hospitalists by the Medicare population than is available from prior studies. The ability to identify hospitalists from claims data will facilitate research on the impact of hospitalist use on quality and cost.
authors: Department of Health and Human Services-Assistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation.
authors: W
authors: W
authors: Pete Welch
authors: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill-Health Policy and Management.
authors: Sally C
authors: SC
authors: Stearns
authors: George Mason University-Health Administration and Policy.
authors: Alison E
authors: AE
authors: Cuellar
authors: Department of Health and Human Services-Assistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation ; University of California San Francisco-PRL-Institute for Health Policy Studies.
authors: Andrew B
authors: AB
authors: Bindman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D020445:Hospitalists / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Medicare; hospitalists; hospitals; physicians; specialty