Hospital Case Management articles from February 2004

Hospital Case Management archives from February 2004

Track your department's interventions to prove your value to management; five-person department calculates $1 million in savings.
February 1, 2004... When Teresa C. Fugate, RN, BBA, CPHQ, CCM, developed the case management program for a hospital in which she worked, she included a provision promising that what the case managers saved by preventing extra days and avoiding denials would equal...

Software tracks dollar figure for avoidable days.
February 1, 2004... When Haywood Regional Medical Center in Clyde, NC, began tracking case management interventions, staff began by looking at variances in care and documenting them to see how they could improve patient care. Staff chose their own list of...

SWs, CMs collaborate for better patient care; no one says, 'that's not my job'.
February 1, 2004... A few years ago, the master's prepared social workers (MSWs) and RN case managers at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Orange County, CA, were having the usual disagreements over who should do what for which patient and who was carrying...

How to be a better problem solver.(Guest Column)
February 1, 2004... Every day, we are confronted by problems that need solving. The problem might present itself simply as a minor inconvenience, or the problem may be a significant variance from ideal clinical practices. Whatever challenges your organization...

Control charts: valuable tools if you know how to use: not every process is an appropriate target.(Critical Path Network[TM])
February 1, 2004... Control charts, quality tools that can help tighten the focus on process variations, increasingly are gaining acceptance among some health care quality professionals. In fact, a number of Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare...

CE questions.
February 1, 2004... 5. Last year, Haywood Regional Medical Center in Clyde, NC, tabulated cost savings related to case management interventions of what amount? A. about $300,000 B. a little more than $500,000 C. almost $1 million D. $1.5 million 6. At...

Performance improvement team creates success: relentless monitoring of discharge process is key.(Access management: quarterly)
February 1, 2004... A Process begun four years ago when the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston took a hard look at pending discharges has led to a cutting-edge bed management program and a best practice designation from two national...

AMs still unclear about stabilization vs. triage.
February 1, 2004... Access managers continue to debate the intricacies of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), despite the publication of an EMTALA final rule on Sept. 9, 2003 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The rule...