Hospitalists provide general medical care to patients during their stay, and then patients follow up with their primary care physician or local specialist after they’ve been discharged.

AdventHealth hospitalists are highly trained and certified physicians providing care in a hospital setting to patients with various acute and chronic conditions. They oversee a patient’s care while they’re in the hospital, from diagnosis to treatment, and can connect with the patient’s primary care provider before or after discharge to advise on the patient’s continued care.

Overall, a hospitalist’s focus is on patient care and teaching, research and leadership related to hospital medicine.

As an integral part of our hospital care teams alongside nurses and technicians, hospitalists ensure every patient can have an experienced physician guiding their care while they’re in the hospital.

Having a hospitalist caring for you during your stay means that you have a physician who:

• Is close by in case of an emergency
• Can see you more than once a day, if needed
• Will answer your family’s questions, providing clarity and support at every step
• Will expedite your care by following up on tests and adjust your treatment as needed based on test results
• Supports your care transition by contacting your primary care provider to discuss your condition and best next steps after discharge

In these ways and more, hospitalists ensure you receive the highest quality care while you’re in the hospital, so you can continue healing well after you return home.

Hospitalists and primary care providers are typically both physicians and hold the same medical training and skills, but they practice in different settings (e.g., hospitals vs. doctor’s offices) and the length of care (e.g., short-term vs. lifelong) you receive from each will be different.

A hospitalist will devote all their medical expertise to caring for you during your hospital stay, treating the condition that you were hospitalized for, while a primary care provider will work with you regularly to achieve your health goals over your lifetime.

Because hospitalists only practice medicine within hospitals, they are more familiar with:

• Common hospital-related health conditions
• Common hospital tests and procedures
• The specific infection-control standards and protocols for the hospital
• The specialists and resources available in the hospital

Primary care providers may refer their patients to hospitalists upon admission to the hospital. During their hospital stays, patients are cared for by a hospitalist, and then return to seeing their regular primary care provider after being discharged.

A Care Advocate is an AdventHealth team member who is available free of charge to guide you through your health care journey. From answering questions to finding locations and provider, assisting with appointment scheduling and handling medication refills, our Care Advocates ensure a seamless and supported experience.

Our Care Advocacy digital chat service is available through the AdventHealth app or AdventHealth.com.

While you can send a message at any time, our Care Advocacy team members are online and available Monday through Friday from 7 am EST to 8 pm EST and Saturday and Sunday from 8 am EST to 5 pm EST. Care Advocates are expert AdventHealth team members who are eager to provide compassionate care by answering your questions and helping you navigate your health care journey.

Dedicated Care Advocates are available to our patients who have an AdventHealth primary care provider. If you have an assigned or dedicated Care Advocate already, they are online Monday through Friday from 7 am to 7 pm EST.

Care Advocates can help you find a provider or location, provide status updates on your patient portal messages and information within the electronic medical record system, and connect you with other AdventHealth services.

If you have an assigned or dedicated Care Advocate, they can also help reschedule an appointment, ensure your medication refills occur quickly, request a referral, locate a specialist, answer questions about your care and more.

You can access our Care Advocacy service via the AdventHealth app or AdventHealth.com website. It’s easy to connect with Care Advocacy by navigating to AdventHealth.com and clicking on the purple “Need Help?” button at the bottom right of the screen; this launches Hope, our digital assistant, and you can then select the first option: “Chat with a Care Advocate.”

If you have an assigned or dedicated Care Advocate, log in to your AdventHealth account (via the app or website) to see the assigned Care Advocate listed with your Care Team.

The Care Advocacy team is available through online chat within the AdventHealth app and AdventHealth.com. If you are seeking a phone number or are not sure who to call, Care Advocacy can help you locate the correct team and contact information.