Natalia Paciorkowski

Dr. Paciorkowski is a pediatric hospitalist and the Medical Director of the Pediatric Hospital Service at Rochester General Hospital, in Rochester NY. She is also a member of the Pediatric Hospitalist Division of the University of Rochester Medical Center. Dr. Paciorkowski provides patient care as well as resident education at Rochester General and Golisano Children’s hospitals. She also leads the development of all clinical and operational pediatric policies and processes at Rochester General Hospital.

Since 2014 Dr. Paciorkowski has been serving as a physician advisor for Rochester General and affiliated hospitals.  In her role as a pediatric physician advisor in a general hospital, Dr. Paciorkowski reviews pediatric and neonatal hospitalizations for level of care determination (inpatient vs. observation status) and medical necessity of the hospital stay. She provides support and education for utilization review nurses and the coding team on pediatric and neonatal cases. Dr. Paciorkowski also manages all pediatric and neonatal denials for the Rochester Regional Health System, including medical necessity, level of care, and DRG/diagnoses denials, where she does all the peer-to-peer reviews as well as all levels of appeals.

In addition to her pediatric physician advisor work, Dr. Paciorkowski also works as part of a large general physician advisor group, reviewing adult medical and surgical hospitalizations for appropriateness of inpatient vs. observation status and supporting the utilization review team.

Dr. Paciorkowski has presented nationally on various topics, including patient status determination, the role of pediatric physician advisor, and denial management. She has also been involved in multiple collaborative projects through the Section of Hospital Medicine of the AAP, leading her hospital efforts in pediatric research and quality improvement and presenting at national meetings.