CMS has approved a dedicated specialty billing code for hospitalists, according to The Hospitalist, the official publication of the Society of Hospital Medicine.
Here are four things to know about the issue.
1. In the past, hospitalists could only compare performance to that of practitioners in internal medicine or another related specialty, according to The Hospitalist. With the new billing code, the report notes, hospitalists will be able to appropriately benchmark and focus improvement efforts with other people in the hospital medicine specialty, facilitating more accurate comparisons and fairer assessments of hospitalist performance.
2. The Society of Hospital Medicine described CMS' decision as "a monumental step for hospital medicine," which it states is the fastest growing medical specialty in the U.S., with more than 48,000 practitioners identifying as hospitalists.
3. "We see each day that hospitalists are driving positive change in healthcare, and this recognition by CMS affirms that hospital medicine is growing both in scope and impact," Laurence Wellikson, MD, CEO of SHM, told The Hospitalist. "The ability for hospital medicine practitioners to differentiate themselves from providers in other specialties will have a huge impact, particularly for upcoming value-based or pay-for-performance programs."
4. CMS' decision, SHM notes, coincides with the 20-year anniversary of the coining of the term 'hospitalist' by Robert Wachter, MD, and Lee Goldman, MD in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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