It's common now to see a hospitalist do the in-hospital care and there are good things about it. They are actually there when things happen and are seeing with their own eyes what would otherwise have to be explained by phone to primary dr. in the night, who worked 10-12 hours the day/evening before, and then the dr. would have to get up out of sound sleep, drive, and come in to work on the patient, and then drive home and try to get sleep needed for the next day coming all too early. The hospitalist works a set schedule instead of an open-ended one and they'd be more rested and able to focus on patient care instead of trying to keep a practice-business afloat financially--no easy task these days.
A hospital-employed hospitalist would be better in another way, it seems to me, in terms of evaluating the performance of the hospitalist and having avenues of getting them out if they are sub-par. I would think there is constant feedback from nursing supervisors and from patients and families, about whether the person is meeting the needs of the patient. Many eyes are watching and I think that's good. Hospital employees can't do much about a private practitioner treating his patients neglectfully in the hospital.
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