Hospital Case Management articles from May 2003

Hospital Case Management archives from May 2003

ED case managers keep patients from falling through the cracks: goal is to ensure timely follow-up care.
May 1, 2003... Before Jackson Health System in Miami had case managers in the emergency department (ED), the average waiting time for patients who needed to be seen for follow-up was six months, and only about 22% of patients showed up for their appointments....

Reorganization improves efficiency, cuts LOS: case management is a three-pronged approach.(lengths of stay )
May 1, 2003... Following a comprehensive redesign of its case management department, the average lengths of stay (LOS) on some medical services at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB) Medical Center's University Hospital have declined. For instance,...

Worried? HIPAA privacy regs should change little: You're probably doing what you need to comply.
May 1, 2003... When the privacy regulations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 went into effect on April 14, they probably didn't mandate changing anything that you as a hospital case manager have been doing for...

A better way to consider information technology: IT isn't always beneficial. (Guest Column).
May 1, 2003... Information technology (IT) has brought many changes to the job of the hospital case manager, but does that mean that IT always is beneficial? The simple answer is no. In many ways, IT can cause higher costs and inefficiencies. At times, it is...

Asthma pathway treats and teaches patients: program returns patients to normal living. (Critical Path Network).
May 1, 2003... An asthma, pathway was implemented at Children s Hospitals and Clinics in Minneapolis because this chronic disease is the No. 1 hospital admission. The pathway creates a plan for the course of the patient's hospitalization that helps to...

Check mental status or risk missing problems: quick assessment checks for neurological deficit. (Critical Path Network).
May 1, 2003... When a 57-year-old man walked into the emergency department (ED) at North Broward Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL, with slurred speech and left facial drooping, his wife told nurses that the symptoms had started about 30 minutes earlier....

AHRQ launches web site to aid in quality measure. (Critical Path Network).(Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has launched a web-based National Quality Measures Clearinghouse (NQMC) designed to be a one-stop shop for hospitals, physicians, health plans, and others interested in quality measures. ...

CE questions. (Critical Path Network).
May 1, 2003... 17. The first CM in Jackson Health System's ED was a social worker responsible for triage. A. true B. false 18. Define the first step the ED case managers at Jackson Health System took in 2000 when they ...

LOS reduced as system hones case management: bed management, discharge initiatives cited. (Access Management Quarterly).(lengths of stay)
May 1, 2003... It's been more than a decade since Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network in Allentown, PA, took its discharge planning and utilization management functions and created a resource utilization department with a single director, says Susan...

Committee seeks ways to enhance hospital revenue: grass-roots effort leaves no stone unturned. (Access Management Quarterly).
May 1, 2003... When Donna Madlener agreed to lead the revenue enhancement committee for the James Cancer Hospital, which is part of The Ohio State University Health System (OSUHS) in Columbus, she signed on for "a unique experience" that went to the heart of...

Registrars' cash incentive raises hospital collections. (Access Management Quarterly).
May 1, 2003... Brown County General Hospital more than doubled its upfront cash collections over the past year by offering incentives to both registrars and their bosses, says Barb Dailey, patient access director at the Georgetown, OH, facility. Fifteen...

HIPAA security rule now in its final form: signature standard not included. (Access Management Quarterly).
May 1, 2003... Final security standards under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for protecting patient health information when it is maintained or transmitted electronically have been adopted by the Department of Health and Human...