Hospital Case Management – June 1, 2024

Human Contact Matters in Text Messaging Care Coordination Program

The results of a recent study revealed that a post-discharge texting program can greatly reduce readmissions and revisits. But there was a surprising finding: It can make patients happy or satisfied, as indicated by patient feedback on the program.

Artificial Intelligence Can Help Create Patient-Friendly Discharge Summaries

Researchers found success using artificial intelligence to create a new care transition product — an easy-to-read discharge summary. The new product took the writing to a 6th-grade level from an 11th-grade level and scored higher on a key assessment tool.

Foster Children Experience More Health Disparities Compared to Other Low-Income Youth

Foster youth are a vulnerable group that needs more attention and better care coordination when seen in hospitals and community provider settings. This population experiences health disparities when compared with other Medicaid-enrolled children, according to a recent study.

Care Coordination Screening Tool Helps Case Managers Spot Delirium

Case managers and other healthcare providers can improve overall patient care and outcomes using an assessment tool that identifies patients’ delirium and confusion. A health system found that a confusion assessment tool helped decrease hospital length of stay and reduced utilization.

Age Is Not a Risk Factor for the Oldest Patients with COVID-19

Are patients hospitalized for COVID-19, who are younger than 65 years of age, at less risk of serious outcomes than are similar patients who are older than 85 years of age? New research provides an answer that may surprise many clinicians: Metabolic syndrome measures are a major predictor of outcomes, but chronological age is not a relevant risk factor for poor outcomes attributed to COVID-19.

NICHE Practice Model Helps Improve Care of Older Adults

Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders (NICHE) is a geriatric care model that targets expert nursing practice at the bedside of older adults. The NICHE model helps organizations meet national quality goals set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. It focuses on closing gaps in clinical care by enhancing nursing workforce skills for care of older adult patients.

Communicating the Case Manager’s Value

Although case management has been around for decades, the profession itself remains widely misunderstood and undervalued. In the hospital, providers might assume that the case manager only handles discharge planning, when in reality the profession has evolved to so much more than that.

ED Hospice Referrals Improve Care and Shorten Length of Stay

Many ED patients who could benefit from hospice care are instead admitted to the hospital. This is largely due to a lack of time and resources in EDs to arrange for hospice care.