Hospital Case Management – August 1, 2010
August 1, 2010
View Issues
-
Focus on publicly reported data enhances the case manager's role
As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and commercial payers move to base reimbursement on quality and consumers become more savvy about their choices of health care providers, complete and accurate documentation will become even more important. -
Get ready for increased scrutiny on hospital quality
As they wait to learn the next steps in health care reform, case managers should start thinking about what they need to do to get ready for the future, says Beverly Cunningham, RN, MS, vice president, clinical performance improvement, Medical City Dallas Hospital. -
Patient flow initiatives decrease LOS, up capacity
By implementing a series of patient flow initiatives over a 10-month period, UC Health University Hospital, a 693-bed academic medical center in Cincinnati, was able to decrease the average patient length of stay by 5.34 hours, giving the hospital the ability to serve 1,300 more patients each year. -
Critical Path Network: Hospital projects focus on patient throughput
A series of initiatives at Central DuPage Hospital has helped decrease length of stay and improve patient flow, according to Corinne Haviley, RN, MS, associate chief nurse at the 313-bed hospital in Winfield, IL. -
Critical Path Network: Hospitalist wing patients have fewer readmissions
By dedicating a wing of the hospital to patients being cared for by hospitalists, St. Mary's Health Center in St. Louis has decreased the length of stay by 4% compared to a 2% reduction in the non-hospitalist unit, as well as improved patient satisfaction and decreased the 30-day readmission rate for patients on the hospitalist unit. -
Access Management Quarterly: Get surging bad debt under control
Uncollectible funds, or "bad debt," is a problem your patient access department can't afford to ignore. With increasing numbers of self-pay, uninsured, and underinsured patients access managers should revamp processes sooner rather than later. -
Access Management Quarterly: Eliminate costly gaps in your authorizations
It sounds fairly cut and dried: If an authorization isn't obtained from a payer, the claim will be denied. However, payer requirements are getting more and more complex and stringent.