Goals for a community-based case management program

• Increase utilization of preventative services.
• Decrease the number of hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits to less than two combined hospitalizations and ED visits yearly.
• Decrease inappropriate utilization of health care services.
• Identify patients who are at risk for long lengths of stay, high cost of utilization, difficulty in placement, and vulnerable for readmission.
• Permit shared access of assessment and administrative information among authorized caregivers in the hospital, ED, nursing home, physician’s office, home health agency, etc.
• Evaluate medical treatment plans according to current best practices and evidence-based guidelines with complete access to the Internet’s store of research and health care information for reference and patient/family education purposes.
• Improve Medicare margins by reducing length of stay and direct patient costs per inpatient day.
• Improve the quality of life for the patients by helping them and their providers plan and monitor the significant transitions from inpatient to outpatient and home health settings.
• Improving communications to all primary stakeholders caring for case managed patients.

Source: Tracy Carver, Director of Client Services, Canopy.com, Chapel Hill, NC. Web site: www.CanopyCentral.com.