Hospital Case Management articles from November 2003

Hospital Case Management archives from November 2003

Case management and compliance: what every CM needs to know: failure to act could result in jail, civil penalties.
November 1, 2003... As the federal government, private payers, and accrediting agencies crack down on overutilization, underutilization, fraud, and abuse, hospital case managers need to keep an even closer eye on what is going on in their hospitals, experts say....

Act cautiously if you see a compliance problem: take your information through proper channels.
November 1, 2003... If case managers see a problem in their hospital, they have a responsibility to report it, asserts Alice Gosfield, JD, of Alice G. Gosfield and Associates, a Philadelphia law firm. "Most institutions should have a compliance program. In...

Educate yourself on compliance requirements: know the steps to follow to report problems.
November 1, 2003... As Mindy Owen, RN, CRN, CCM, travels around the country for the Commission for Case Manager Certification (CCMC), she's always surprised to find how few case managers are familiar with the standards of practice under which they operate. ...

Include case managers in hospital's disaster plan: trained clinicians can provide vital help.
November 1, 2003... Case managers can provide vital assistance during a disaster, Toni Cesta, PhD, RN, FAAN, knows from first hand experience. When the August power failure hit Saint Vincent's Hospital Manhattan (NY), where Cesta is the director of case...

Do patients get uniform case management? Perform assessment of CM practices to make sure.(Guest Column)
November 1, 2003... The leadership standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) require that hospitals provide "one level of care" for all patients. The intent of this standard has been clearly defined by the Joint...

Checkoffs play key role in SICU improvement: checklist helps team follow care plan.(Critical Path Network[TM])(surgical intensive care unit )
November 1, 2003... A Patient daily goals checkoff form used twice daily during rounds has helped the surgical intensive care unit (SICU) team at Hartford (CT) Hospital achieve a 25% drop in its mortality rate, while cutting lengths of stay and ventilator days....

Proper patient ID focus of hospital initiative: effort targets intentional fraud, human error.
November 1, 2003... With patient safety a heightened imperative from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, and facing its own duplicate medical record problem, Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, MO, launched an initiative aimed at...

CE questions.
November 1, 2003... 17. Case managers cannot be held legally liable for failing to report an instance of fraud or abuse that has come to his or her attention. A. true B. false 18. Which of the following organizations has compliance standards that...

CMS hopes final EMTALA rule will ease burden: new rule is both good and bad news.(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act )
November 1, 2003... There is much to rejoice about in the final rule of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), with many of the most vexing parts of the law either clarified or eliminated altogether, but there still is plenty to keep you...

Some finer points of the updated EMTALA.(Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act )
November 1, 2003... These highlights of the final Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) rule were summarized by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): * The new rule changes the definition of emergency department to mean any...

'Just the facts' not enough if patient asks about bill.(EMTALA Q & A)(Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act)
November 1, 2003... Question: Is it true that we can violate the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) by not encouraging a patient to stay for treatment when he wants to leave? We've been told, for instance, that if a patient asks about financial...

How do your salary and benefits stack up against your case management peers'?
November 1, 2003... Hospital Case Management's annual salary survey was mailed to readers along with the April 2003 issue. Questionnaires, response forms, and postage-paid envelopes were inserted into that newsletter. The responses contained no names unless...

Creativity helps with CM recruitment, retention: nursing shortage has intensified staffing problems.(case managers)
November 1, 2003... Each year, Covenant Health System in Knoxville, TN, has a "Case Management University" for nurses in the system who are interested in becoming case managers. "The nurses who participate get basic education about case management and our...