Our hospitalists assist in the development of a post-discharge plan put together with input from the patient, family, nurses, therapists, case managers, social workers, and the patient’s primary oncology team.  By communicating with the patient’s primary care provider and oncologist, our hospitalists help with the transition from the inpatient to the outpatient setting.

Our hospitalists may be asked to work in cooperation with the Department of Surgical Oncology when post-operative surgical patients require evaluation and treatment of pre-existing or new medical problems such as Diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, and hypertension, while those patients are in the hospital.

Fox Chase’s Direct Referral Unit (DRU) is overseen by the Hospitalist service.  This area provides urgent care for Fox Chase outpatients upon referral by their primary Fox Chase medical, surgical, or radiation oncologist.  Currently the DRU evaluates and treats patients six days a week.

Our hospitalists offer a Transitional Care Clinic (TCC).  The TCC allows patients recently discharged from Fox Chase who are at high risk for readmission to be evaluated within 3-5 days of their discharge. This early visit will be used to determine the success of the plan made at the time of discharge and modify the plan as needed to minimize the chance for readmission.

The hospitalists at Fox Chase help establish a bridge between highly specialized cancer care and general medicine.  Their goal is to provide the highest quality medical care to patients receiving cancer care at Fox Chase.