Case Presentation: A 27‐year‐old woman, initially admitted to the inpatient psychiatry service for psychosis, progressed to catatonia, autonomic dysfunction, and respiratory failure requiring tracheostomy. Her medical history was significant solely for polysubstance abuse including methamphetamines. Her current illness was preceded by a self‐reported “influenza” 2 months prior to developing progressive behavioral changes, movement disorders, and […]

Background: Migraine headache (MHA) is a common pediatric disorder, which frequently leads to hospital admission. Inpatient MHA treatment involves ever-increasingly complex treatment plans, including fluid resuscitation and a variety of medications. Severe Migraine headache may require more aggressive therapy such as dihydroergotamine (DHE) and sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) block that may prolong hospital stay and increase […]

Case Presentation: A young African American man with no medical history presented with 4 months of progressive mid–low back pain along with 1 week of right leg and foot pain, numbness, and weakness. He described the back pain as dull and constant, with only slight improvement with ibuprofen. Family noted he had been walking “funny.” […]

Background: The designation of a patient as outpatient versus inpatient status at time of discharge affects how hospitals bill Medicare for services because the center for Medicaid and Medicare services (CMS) reimburses hospitals at a higher rate for inpatient when compared to outpatient designation(1). Since the fiscal year of 2014, one of the major benchmarks […]

Background: For academic hospital medicine groups to thrive and be partners with their hospital systems, physicians must document and bill appropriately as a means of demonstrating their clinical value. Yet, many major academic hospital medicine groups may be unaware or receive little training for this very important skill set. Based on data from the Society […]

Case Presentation: A 65‐year‐old man with a medical history of hypertension, tobacco use, a recent L3–L5 laminectomy, and posterior spinal fusion was hospitalized with fever, dyspnea, and pleuritic chest pain of 2 days' duration. A month prior to this admission he had q laminectomy with spinal fusion that was later complicated by MRSA wound infection. […]