Hospital Case Management – November 1, 2006
November 1, 2006
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Help your hospital meet the new medication reconciliation requirements
Case managers should be part of the team that ensures hospitals meet the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' medication reconciliation requirements, says Patrice Spath, RHIT, health care quality consultant with Brown-Spath & Associates in Forest Grove, OR. -
Multidisciplinary team leads reconciliation efforts
At El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA, medication reconciliation is an essential part of the admissions process that needs to continue at discharge or transfer of care, reports Michael Fitzgerald, MS, RN, CS, clinical nurse specialist, who chairs the hospital's medication reconciliation committee. -
Be a patient advocate to prevent medication errors
As a hospital case manager, you can have an important role in your hospital's efforts to prevent medication errors, which harm at least 1.5 million people every year at a conservatively estimated cost of $3.5 billion, according to a report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies. -
Proactive approach reduces denial rate to 5.8%
The denial rate at Southern Ocean County Hospital dropped from the double digits to an average of 5.8% in less than 18 months, thanks to a proactive approach by the case management staff and the medical director. -
Critical Path Network: Case managers take the lead in clinical quality indicators
When NorthEast Medical Center in Concord, NC, began an initiative to improve compliance with clinical quality indicators in 2003, compliance for the congestive heart failure and pneumonia clinical indicators was at 84%. In the most recent quarter, the hospital met those indicators 96% of the time. -
Critical Path Network: Wireless laptops improve CMs' efficiency, cut LOS
Wireless laptops at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City have dramatically increased the efficiency and effectiveness of the case managers, improved throughput, and enabled them to monitor patients who are readmitted frequently. -
Critical Path Network: UMICH launches flu pandemic site
Examining how communities in the United States coped with the 1918 flu pandemic could help today's public health planners in their preparations for the next flu pandemic, according to the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. -
Access Management Quarterly: Care starts on arrival with centralized admissions area at Elmhurst Memorial
A centralized admissions area (CAA) at Elmhurst (IL) Memorial Healthcare handles much of the workups and assessments that unit nurses typically do, minimizing treatment delays and enhancing patient throughput. -
Access Management Quarterly: CMS announces preventive care demonstration project
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a solicitation to implement a health promotion and disease prevention program through the Medicare Senior Risk Reduction Demonstration. The program enhances CMS' focus on prevention of chronic disease in the Medicare population. -
2006 Salary Survey Results: Salaries are rising, but so are the hours case managers work
Salaries for case managers are increasing, but the vast majority of case managers are working far more than the traditional 40-hour week, according to respondents to the 2006 Hospital Case Management Salary Survey.