The Hospitalist

The government's shadow looms large over the health care industry, and a recent hospital-physician venture in Lee County is one more sign of that.

Changes in the way Medicare will pay doctors and mandates from the health care law known as Obamacare are forcing physicians to reorganize their businesses. Medicare is the government health insurance program for older people, and its impact is so significant that private insurance companies often follow the agency's lead.

Some of these payment changes have spawned a new kind of physician: the hospitalist. A hospitalist is a doctor who handles patients at hospitals, replacing the job of primary care doctors who now can't afford to spend time away from their own practices to make the rounds at the hospital because of cuts in insurance reimbursements.