Hospital Case Management – June 1, 2006
June 1, 2006
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Discharge planning and the dilemma of dealing with homeless patients
The camera got it all on tape: A taxi disappearing from view and then 63-year-old Carol Ann Reyes, clad in a hospital gown and slippers, wandering San Pedro Street in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles until someone escorted her into the nearby Union Rescue Mission building. -
Network targets barriers for unfunded patients
When patients at hospitals in Seton Healthcare Network are ready for discharge and don't have funding for post-discharge services, the hospital may pay nursing homes to provide care until their Medicaid eligibility is determined or place patients in assisted living facilities temporarily until they fully recover. -
Approach increases reimbursement, cuts LOS
A multipronged approach has helped the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics find funding for indigent patients, cut the length of stay for patients who are medically able to be discharged, and reduced the number of nonemergent visits to the emergency department (ED). -
Hospital funds, donations provide needed care
When indigent patients are ready for discharge but have post-acute needs, the staff at Carondelet Health Network in Tucson, AZ, sometimes dip into their own pockets to provide food, clothing, transportation, or medication to give patients the best chance for recovery after ischarge. -
Critial Path Network: Case managers help mentally ill avoid hospitalization, remain in the community
An intensive case management program at Community Hospital in Chester, PA, helps children and adults with serious mental illnesses manage their conditions, avoid hospitalizations, and stay in the community. -
Critial Path Network: Program keeps unfunded patients out of the hospital
For the last two years, the initiative saved the hospital $500,000 annually in decreased utilization and identifying funding sources for the patients, according to Pat Beal, LCSW, outpatient case management supervisor for Seton Healthcare network and Seton Northwest operations manager. -
Critial Path Network: Hospital uses bright blue to nurture bottom line
A procedure for obtaining copays and deductibles from unscheduled inpatients during their hospital stay is the latest in a series of successful collections initiatives at Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa, OK, says Julie Willis, patient access manager. -
Guest Column: Get a handle on your discharge process
Hospital discharge must be viewed as a process rather than an event â which should start as early as possible, i.e., at the point of admission if not before. Case managers should identify the patients who are likely to need an actively managed hospital stay and post-hospital health and social care services. -
Ambulatory Care Quarterly: Will centers make money with the move to APCs?
As surgery centers begin to analyze how a new reimbursement system, if passed, would affect their income and bottom line, they are finding that future changes will be a mixed bag.