Internal Medicine - Hospitalist clinician

Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness

Additional Information

Dr. Chinemerem Ugorji, MD, FACP Board Certified Internal Medicine Physician | Expert Medical Witness Dr. Chinemerem Ugorji is a board-certified Internal Medicine physician with over a decade of active clinical practice in acute care settings, including critical access hospitals, Level II trauma centers, tertiary hospitals, and telemedicine platforms across the United States. She brings a rare combination of frontline patient-care experience and physician level utilization management expertise, making her particularly well-suited for medical-legal matters involving standard of care, medical necessity, telemedicine practices, fraud investigations, and billing and coding disputes. Dr. Ugorji currently practices clinical medicine as a hospitalist and acute telemedicine physician, managing complex medical conditions, high acuity admissions, ICU escalations, and multidisciplinary care coordination. Her hands on experience includes inpatient admissions, observation versus inpatient determinations, discharge planning, and care transitions, with an emphasis on documentation accuracy, regulatory compliance, and defensible medical decision-making. In addition to clinical practice, Dr. Ugorji has extensive experience in utilization review and medical director roles, where she performs physician-level medical necessity reviews, level of care determinations, and continued-stay reviews in accordance with CMS regulations, Medicare Two-Midnight Rule, and nationally recognized evidence based guidelines. She routinely conducts peer-to-peer reviews, prepares appeal summaries, and supports both providers and payors in complex utilization and reimbursement disputes. Dr. Ugorji is frequently engaged in cases involving medical necessity and level of care disputes (inpatient vs. observation). Telemedicine standard of care and regulatory compliance, alleged medical fraud, waste, and abuse, hospital admissions, continued stays, and discharge appropriateness, compliance with CMS Conditions of Participation and utilization management. She has served as an expert medical witness for both plaintiff and defense attorneys, providing independent, objective opinions on standard of care, causation, and damages. Her work includes comprehensive medical record review, expert reports, affidavits, depositions, and trial testimony. Known for her ability to translate complex medical and regulatory concepts into clear, understandable language, Dr. Ugorji is particularly effective in cases where clinical judgment intersects with utilization policy and reimbursement rules. Dr. Ugorji completed her Internal Medicine residency at Morehouse School of Medicine and earned her medical degree from the University of Benin Teaching Hospital. She is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and holds multiple active medical licenses across several U.S. states. She is also involved in clinical research as a Principal Investigator and has published in peer-reviewed medical literature. Attorneys value Dr. Ugorji for her credibility as a practicing physician, her deep knowledge of acute and telemedicine care delivery, and her command of medical necessity, billing, and regulatory frameworks that frequently determine case outcomes.