Discharge Planning Advisor Archives – April 1, 2010
April 1, 2010
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Health system makes effort to handle short discharge opportunities
When patients are admitted through the emergency department (ED) and multiple clinicians are involved with competing priorities in their care, discharge planning can be challenging. -
Homeless patients often arrive through ED
National reports indicate that cities across the United States are seeing double-digit jumps in the number of homeless people. Likewise, hospitals are reporting increasing numbers of indigent and uninsured people needing care in their emergency departments (EDs). -
Survey: Too little thought given to senior care
When discharge planners identify potential options for hospitalized, frail seniors who are stable but no longer can fully care for themselves at home, they face a huge obstacle in the emotions and family conflicts that come into play at discharge. -
Survey sheds light on lack of senior planning
A new survey, conducted by a worldwide company that provides private, in-home care for older adults, suggests that older Americans and their adult children do a poor job of planning for their future needs as health begins to fail. -
Ways a hospital can improve DP process
While hospitalists can provide consistency in the care of hospitalized patients, there can be drawbacks when it comes to transitions in care. -
Improve DP outcomes with limited resources
What hospitalists and others involved in the discharge process truly want to do is reduce patients' risk at discharge while implementing quality improvement (QI) initiatives with limited resources. -
CPT changes a start, but more could be done
The Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code changes in place in the 2008 Physician Fee Schedule improve the ability of physicians and other providers to document their telephone evaluations and management services, but they don't go far enough, according to the Case Management Society of America (CMSA).