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Cuts in reimbursement and new reporting of quality measures contained in the proposed rule for the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) make it more important than ever for documentation to be accurate and complete, says Deborah Hale, CCS, president of Administrative Consultant Services LLC, a health care consulting firm based in Shawnee, OK.
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As a result of a joint initiative to improve bed capacity, Fort Sanders Regional Hospital and Parkwest Hospital in Tennessee reduced discharge delays, increased discharges between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. by 8%, and consequently reduced the amount of time patients in the emergency department wait for inpatient beds from 70 minutes to less than 30 minutes.
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Frustrated patients, core measures that require timely intervention, and optimizing house beds. Those are the issues Bay Medical Center in Panama City, FL, decided it was going to deal when it hired a consultant in 2008.
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Since DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa, AL, and the Alabama Quality Assurance Foundation began collaborating on a Medicare demonstration project to determine the most effective ways to reduce readmissions for Medicare patients, the hospital has increased its referrals to home care, nursing homes, community resources, and medication assistance programs.
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Hospitals will be hearing a great deal more about care transitions and reducing readmissions in coming years. Discharge planners and hospitalist leaders will be searching for models that are affordable, effective, and sustainable.
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You may think that because you're a case manager, you don't need to be aware of the implementation of the new International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) codes. Or you may think that since they don't take effect until Oct. 1, 2013, you don't have to worry about them yet.
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A rifamycin antibacterial agent has been approved for treating patients with hepatic encephalopathy (HE). Rifaximin is a minimally absorbed oral antimicrobial that was originally approved in 2004 for the treatment of travelers' diarrhea caused by Escherichia coli. It is marketed by Salix Pharmaceuticals as Xifaxan®.
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Drug-related hepatotoxicity during treatment for tuberculosis is a common barrier to initiation of antimycobacterial. While most hepatotoxicity results in minimal to no gastrointestinal complaints, some patients experience significant nausea, anorexia, vomiting, or abdominal pain.
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