Hospitalists in Delaware · Original Medicare · 2024

A sepsis admission with a major complication in Delaware pays the hospital about $15,542. The fees for the hospitalist’s six visits on it come to about $465.

That’s about 3 cents on the dollar. The hospital’s payment is one sum per admission, set mostly by the DRG and the hospital’s own rate. The DRG depends on what the chart documents. The visits are paid as one fee each. Here’s how that looks across Delaware’s commonest admissions, and how Medicare’s payment per service has moved since 2018.

One admission: the hospital’s payment and the visit fees

The hospital’s number below is Medicare’s own: its average payment per stay to Delaware hospitals in 2024. The visit figure is ours: one hospitalist’s admission, daily visits and discharge on that stay, at the codes Delaware hospitalists bill most, each priced at Medicare’s average 2024 payment for it when a Delaware hospitalist billed it. Pick the admission you did last night.

Septicemia or severe sepsis without MV >96 hours with MCC

MS-DRG 871

Hospital: about $15,542. Fees for the hospitalist’s visits: about $465. 3 cents on the dollar.

Hospital: Medicare’s average payment per stay over 2,564 discharges at 6 Delaware hospitals. Visits: one physician billing the admission (99223, $131.84) on day 1, a daily visit (99232, $61.08) on each of the 4 days between, and the discharge (99239, $88.64) on day 6: 6 visit days over a 5-night stay.

Heart failure and shock with MCC

MS-DRG 291

Hospital: about $9,753. Fees for the hospitalist’s visits: about $404. 4 cents on the dollar.

Hospital: Medicare’s average payment per stay over 1,767 discharges at 6 Delaware hospitals. Visits: one physician billing the admission (99223, $131.84) on day 1, a daily visit (99232, $61.08) on each of the 3 days between, and the discharge (99239, $88.64) on day 5: 5 visit days over a 4-night stay.

Simple pneumonia and pleurisy with MCC

MS-DRG 193

Hospital: about $9,830. Fees for the hospitalist’s visits: about $404. 4 cents on the dollar.

Hospital: Medicare’s average payment per stay over 888 discharges at 6 Delaware hospitals. Visits: one physician billing the admission (99223, $131.84) on day 1, a daily visit (99232, $61.08) on each of the 3 days between, and the discharge (99239, $88.64) on day 5: 5 visit days over a 4-night stay.

Respiratory infections and inflammations with MCC

MS-DRG 177

Hospital: about $12,513. Fees for the hospitalist’s visits: about $465. 4 cents on the dollar.

Hospital: Medicare’s average payment per stay over 776 discharges at 5 Delaware hospitals. Visits: one physician billing the admission (99223, $131.84) on day 1, a daily visit (99232, $61.08) on each of the 4 days between, and the discharge (99239, $88.64) on day 6: 6 visit days over a 5-night stay.

Kidney and urinary tract infections without MCC

MS-DRG 690

Hospital: about $5,680. Fees for the hospitalist’s visits: about $343. 6 cents on the dollar.

Hospital: Medicare’s average payment per stay over 518 discharges at 5 Delaware hospitals. Visits: one physician billing the admission (99223, $131.84) on day 1, a daily visit (99232, $61.08) on each of the 2 days between, and the discharge (99239, $88.64) on day 4: 4 visit days over a 3-night stay.

Hospital payments are calendar 2024. Nights are each DRG’s geometric mean length of stay in the FY 2025 IPPS final rule, rounded to whole nights. Every figure here is Medicare’s share and leaves out the patient’s part.

The hospital’s payment covers the whole stay: nurses, beds, pharmacy, imaging, the building. The visit fees cover the doctor’s work on those visits. The visit figure is one physician’s visits at the codes Delaware hospitalists bill most, so it’s a model, and the fees on any one real stay differ.

Medicare’s payment per service, 2018 to 2024

In 2024 dollars, Medicare’s payment per service billed by the median Delaware hospitalist was about $94 in 2018 and about $75 in 2024: 20% less per service. The median hospitalist also billed Original Medicare fewer services: 1,301 then, 871 now. These files hold Original Medicare only, no Medicare Advantage, and they counted 18 Delaware hospitalists in 2018 and 43 in 2024. For a year of one Delaware hospitalist’s services, the median Medicare payment went from about $132,397 to about $61,633 in 2024 dollars.

CMS created the hospitalist specialty code on 1 April 2017, so the series starts at 2018.

Everyone counted each year
YearHospitalistsMedian servicesMedian paymentIn 2024 dollarsPayment per service (2024 dollars)
2018 18 1,301$105,984$132,397$94
2019 25 1,381$101,517$124,561$91
2020 note a 31 835$75,520$91,533$96
2021 note a 45 950$78,704$91,112$89
2022 51 889$71,212$76,330$76
2023 note b 50 874$64,351$66,249$78
2024 43 871$61,633$61,633$75

Only 7 of Delaware’s hospitalists are in every year’s file, and we need 11 to publish a median.

a 2020 and 2021: pandemic years.

b 2023: CMS revised the inpatient and observation E/M codes on 1 January 2023.

Nominal and 2024 dollars.

Purchasing power: BLS CPI-U annual averages.

What Medicare paid for the median Delaware hospitalist’s services in 2024

Medicare paid about $61,633 for the median Delaware hospitalist’s services in 2024, and the median hospitalist billed 871 services. Two separate medians, which need not come from the same doctor.

43 providers · Delaware · 2024

The middle half ran from $46,383 to $75,526.

2024 Delaware: Medicare services and payments per hospitalist, by percentile.
Measure 25th percentileMedian75th percentile90th percentile vs. US median
Services per providerFrom CMS · services 5898719881,231 +82%
Medicare patients per providerFrom CMS · patients 227294338440 +50%
Allowed amount per providerFrom CMS · USD $59,593$77,921$96,398$116,865 +50%
Medicare payment per providerFrom CMS · USD $46,383$61,633$75,526$90,086 +51%
Standardized payment per providerFrom CMS · USDSame payment rates in every state, so local price differences drop out. $45,162$61,772$74,838$90,543 +54%
Services per patientCalculated by Aclera · services / patient 2.382.863.203.69 +10%
Standardized payment per patientCalculated by Aclera · USD / patientStandardized payment divided by the provider’s Medicare patients. $184.44$204.96$228.28$270.96 0%
Submitted charges / allowed amountCalculated by Aclera · ratioHow far above Medicare’s allowed amount the charges were set. A billing-office number, not a clinical one. 1.041.112.603.03 -60%

The dollars are Medicare’s payments for care billed under each hospitalist’s NPI. Your pay isn’t in them.

Original Medicare only. Medicare Advantage, commercial and Medicaid patients aren’t in these files, so the counts and totals are floors.

The visits behind it

The median Delaware hospitalist billed Medicare 76 admissions, 609 follow-up visits and 135 discharges in 2024. Critical care, prolonged services and advance care planning: zero of each at the median. Those are the codes that pay for the 2 a.m. work.

2024: visits by family and work RVUs per hospitalist, by percentile.
Per hospitalist P25MedianP75P90
Admissions and initial visits 4076110169
Follow-up days 355609709893
Discharges 52135160196
Critical care 0000
Prolonged visits 0000
Advance care planning 0000
Other services 0000
Work RVUs per hospitalist 1,1121,5731,8832,223

Matched-code coverage for the work RVUs: a median 98% of these hospitalists’ Medicare services.

43 of 43 hospitalists have at least one code row, and only they’re in these rows. CMS withholds a hospitalist’s row for any code they billed for 10 or fewer patients, so that code reads as zero for them here.

Facility visits only. 6% of these hospitalists’ services were billed at non-facility places (clinic, nursing facility) and are counted under the work RVUs but not in the visit rows.

The codes behind each row
Admissions and initial visits
99221, 99222, 99223, 99234, 99235, 99236
Follow-up days
99231, 99232, 99233
Discharges
99238, 99239
Critical care
99291, 99292
Prolonged visits
G0316, 99418
Advance care planning
99497, 99498

Counted under the NPI that billed them. A colleague’s, an NP’s or a PA’s visits are here only when billed under it.

Medicare’s price for an hour of your work

Medicare’s payment for the median Delaware hospitalist’s services comes to about $99 an hour in 2024, on the minutes Medicare assumes each visit takes. You know what your group pays you an hour.

P25
$97/hour
Median
$99/hour
P75
$105/hour

Those minutes aren’t your shift hours: cross-cover, calls and unbilled time aren’t in them. The payment also covers practice expense and malpractice, on top of the work.

Matched codes cover a median 98% of these hospitalists’ Medicare services.

Hourly rate
equals 60 x sum(services x average Medicare payment) / sum(services x CMS minutes), matched codes only

Whose patients these are

Median age 76. Median risk score 2.50, where 1.00 is the average Medicare patient. 24% also on Medicaid at the median.

Median patient age
76
Dual-eligible share
24%
Median risk score
2.50

Most common chronic conditions

Median share of each hospitalist’s Medicare patients with the condition.

High cholesterol
75% or more
High blood pressure
75% or more
Rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis
57%
Chronic kidney disease
53%
Ischemic heart disease
52%
Diabetes
49%

About the patients. None of the hospitalist figures above is adjusted for them.

Medicare Advantage in Delaware

33% of Delaware’s Medicare-eligible people were in a Medicare Advantage plan in September 2026 (84,881 of 259,969). None of their care is on this page.

Source: CMS Medicare Advantage State/County Penetration, September 2026, file State_County_Penetration_MA_2026_09.csv.

Who’s counted

CMS lists 43 hospitalists in Delaware in 2024, by the address on their enrollment. The hospitalists enrolled as Internal Medicine aren’t here, and the address is where they bill from, not always where they work.

Take it with you

State
Delaware
Year
2024
Hospitalists counted
43
Median Medicare payment per provider
$61,633
Median follow-up days
609
Median hourly
$99/hour
Medicare Advantage share
33% (September 2026)

The dollars are Medicare’s payments for care billed under each hospitalist’s NPI. Your pay isn’t in them.

Original Medicare only. Medicare Advantage, commercial and Medicaid patients aren’t in these files, so the counts and totals are floors.

Sources

  • MUP_PHY_R26_P05_V10_D24_Prov.csv · released May 21, 2026 · downloaded Oct 6, 2026
  • Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners, by Provider (2024) · CMS data API, Hospitalist rows · downloaded Oct 14, 2026
  • Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners, by Provider and Service (2024) · CMS data API, Hospitalist rows · downloaded Oct 14, 2026
  • Physician Fee Schedule relative value file · RVU24D, member file PPRRVU24_OCT.csv, last modified Sep 9, 2024 · downloaded Oct 14, 2026
  • Physician work time file · CY 2024 PFS final rule physician work time (CMS-1784-F), 2023-12-18, member file CMS-1784-F_Work_Time_508_18DEC23.txt · downloaded Oct 14, 2026
  • Medicare Advantage State/County Penetration · September 2026, member file State_County_Penetration_MA_2026_09.csv · downloaded Oct 14, 2026

aclera-ai.com/hospitalists/delaware/

Also from Aclera

Work through your next admission with Casey

CasePanel is a shift-long clinical reasoning workspace for nocturnists and hospitalists. Paste or upload the chart and Casey reads all of it before you write, then drafts the HPI and A&P for you to edit.

See a sample admission note Try CasePanel free

14-day trial. No credit card required.

Common questions

Does the hospital really get $15,542 for a sepsis admission while the fees for the doctor’s visits come to $465?

For the hospital, yes: Medicare’s own average 2024 payment per stay to Delaware hospitals, from the inpatient file. The visit figure is ours: one physician’s admission, daily visits and discharge at the codes Delaware hospitalists bill most, priced at what Medicare paid per code on average in 2024 when a Delaware hospitalist billed it. The hospital’s payment covers the whole stay, nurses to building. It’s one sum per admission, set mostly by the DRG and the hospital’s own rate. Which DRG the admission lands in depends on what the chart documents. The visits are paid as one fee each, to whoever bills them.

Is this what hospitalists in Delaware earn?

No. It’s what Original Medicare paid for the care billed under each hospitalist’s NPI in 2024. Your salary is your employer’s number, and it isn’t in any of these files. The RVU bonus calculator works out what your own contract pays from your offer sheet.

Why only 43 hospitalists? Delaware has more than that.

CMS counts only the providers it classifies as Hospitalist. Plenty of hospitalists are enrolled as Internal Medicine, and they aren’t here. The ones counted are placed by the address on their enrollment, which is where they bill from, not always where they work.

Where do the minutes in the hourly rate come from?

CMS’s physician time file for the 2024 fee schedule. It lists the minutes CMS assumes each code takes when it prices that code. Only codes in the file count toward the hourly, and in Delaware they cover a median 98% of these hospitalists’ Medicare services.

Sources and method

The 11 rule

A figure is published only when it comes from at least 11 hospitalists.

How the figures are calculated

Each provider counts once. Percentiles interpolate between neighboring ranks, and ratios are worked out per provider before the percentile is taken. A state needs at least 11 providers before we show a distribution, the same cutoff CMS uses to hide any figure drawn from 10 or fewer patients. In the 2024 file every provider reported every measure, so nothing was excluded.

Patients and services

A patient can appear under several providers, so adding the counts double-counts people. CMS counts services its own way and the unit varies with the kind of service, so services don’t convert into admissions, shifts, or wRVUs.

Matched codes

Only codes that appear in CMS’s time file (hourly) or relative value file (work RVUs) are counted. The share they cover is printed beside each figure.

The payment table counts everyone. Every hospitalist here has a code row and enough matched activity, so none are left out of the visit rows, work RVUs or hourly. The work RVUs are added up from each code’s own row, not from the services count.

What isn’t in these files

The payment files hold Original Medicare claims only. Medicare Advantage, commercial and Medicaid patients aren’t in them, and neither is salary. Nothing in them records shifts or nights.

Nearby states

Pennsylvania

1,139 hospitalists counted. Sepsis stay: 3 cents on the dollar.

Maryland

416 hospitalists counted. Sepsis stay: 3 cents on the dollar.

New Jersey

352 hospitalists counted. Sepsis stay: 3 cents on the dollar.

More

Hospitalists by state

One Medicare admission. One payment to the hospital, and much smaller fees for the hospitalist’s visits. State by state.

Medicare data

See what Medicare paid for hospitalist care in 2024.

RVU bonus

See what your RVU bonus would pay.

Work RVUs by code

See the work RVU for the E/M codes you bill on the wards.

Calculators

Run the numbers on a hospitalist job.