Hospital Case Management articles from January 2004

Hospital Case Management archives from January 2004

Data help case management demonstrate its contributions: Information shows drop in avoidable days, concurrent review denials.
January 1, 2004... While many case management organizations are struggling to demonstrate the contributions they make to patient care, reimbursement, and cost containment, the integrated case management department at Sarasota (FL) Memorial Hospital has overcome...

Discharge planning system make documenting easy: Tracking whuch patients go to which facilities.
January 1, 2004... At Sarasota (FL) Memorial Hospital, discharge planners don't spend a lot of time checking off boxes to document each individual task they have performed. "Discharge planning is something that is not measured well because the case managers,...

Inpatient case managers handle discharges, review: Hospital shifts from reactive to proactive focus.
January 1, 2004... When Jeanne Musolf, MS, RN, CCM, talks with new employees about the inpatient case management program at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, she often tells them, "expect that how things are currently will not be how they are six months from now....

SSM slashes LOS almost two days in just two weeks: 'Consistence, insistence, and persistence' are keys to sccess.(Critical Path Network)
January 1, 2004... Reducing patient length of stay (LOS) from early seven days to the regional average of 5.5 days usually takes two years, according to the Health Care Advisory Board, a nationally recognized organization that provides best practices research and...

Computer documentation won't cure all problems: make good use of available technology.(Critical Path Network)
January 1, 2004... For years, health care managers have been reworking documentation forms trying to streamline the process to make it fast and efficient to increase compliance. No one ever designed the perfect form. Now that technology quickly is making...

Do you offer a choice on home care services?: It's the law, but no one's looking yet.(Discharge planning advisor[R]--the update for improving continuity of care)
January 1, 2004... Discharge planners at some facilities apparently are either unaware of--or are ignoring--a federal requirement that hospitals offer patients a choice of home care providers and that they tell patients when there is a financial interest between...

Hospitals seeking SNF beds think creatively: early discharge planning called crucial.(Discharge planning advisor[R]--the update for improving continuity of care)
January 1, 2004... As hospital discharge planners and case managers struggle to place patients with complex care needs in skilled nursing facility (SNF) beds amidst the challenges of the prospective payment system (PPS), many are keeping their heads above water...

CE question.
January 1, 2004... 1. The integrated case management department at Sarasota (FL) Memorial Hospital includes which of the following types of case managers? A. clinical case managers B. financial case managers C. psychosocial case managers D. all of the above...

Navigating the 'Bermuda Triangle' of ethics: strategies for hospital case managers.(Guest Column)
January 1, 2004... Hospital case managers routinely face what I call the Bermuda Triangle of case management ethics. The top of the triangle is the clinical concern, encompassing the medical and treatment needs of the patient. On the right are the financial...

Pediatrics program just the beginning of safety overhaul: adverse event at Duke University triggerd response from CMS.
January 1, 2004... Duke University Health System, in Durham, NC, is taking the opportunity to learn from the errors that may have led to several recent adverse events in its pediatrics department and to use those lessons learned to improve patient safety across...

Duke identifies corrective plan of action for patient safety.
January 1, 2004... In a letter to CMS dated Sept. 21,2003, William J. Fulkerson, MD, chief executive officer of the Duke University Health System, outlined Duke's corrective plan of action for improving patient safety. The following enumerates actions Duke's...