Case Management Advisor – May 1, 2003
May 1, 2003
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Depression management program encourages timely care
A comprehensive approach to depression management has paid off for Health Alliance Plan (HAP), a Detroit-based HMO. The Depression Disease Management program includes educational mailings for members, behavioral health case management, a partnership with physicians, and an adjunct program that helps identify people with congestive heart failure and diabetes who are at-risk for depression. A similar program helps identify new mothers who are at risk for postpartum depression. -
Screening identifies members at risk for depression
When members enroll in one of Health Alliance Plans (HAP) disease management programs, the health assessment questionnaire they fill out includes trigger questions that may indicate that the member is at risk for depression. -
Program targets postpartum depression
Health Alliance Plan (HAP) takes a proactive approach to postpartum depression, screening all new mothers within two to four weeks of the birth. -
Depression program maintains confidentiality
When Buffalo, NY-based Univera Healthcare decided to include depression management in its array of population-based disease management programs, the quality management staff were concerned about preserving patient confidentiality. -
Research organizations can help you develop DM programs
If you work for an HMO with a computer system that tracks patient data, you may be able to take advantage of a research organizations expertise to help you develop programs to better manage your patients. -
Boost compliance for patients on antipsychotics
Patients with psychological disorders who have been prescribed anti-psychotic drugs, such as mood stabilizers, may really want to take their medication as prescribed but need a lot of help to do so, asserts Dawn Velligan, PhD, associate professor at the department of psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. -
Initiative achieves high return on investment
A combination of short- and long-term case management coupled with an intensive disease management program has paid off for CIGNA Healthcare. -
On-site case managers help coordinate hospital care
When a CIGNA member is hospitalized in Tampa Bay, FL, he or she is likely to get a visit in the hospital from Joy Bazo, RN, CMC, LHRN, on-site review nurse for CIGNA in the Tampa Bay area. -
A proactive approach to case management
Colleen Meicke, RN, CCM, a CIGNA case manager based in Tucson, AZ, takes a proactive approach to caring for her patients, looking at what their needs are likely to be down the road. -
Future offers CMs opportunities, challenges
As the Commission for Case Management Certification (CCMC) celebrates its 10th anniversary this month, leaders in the case management field believe that the demand for case management will continue to grow as the health care system becomes more chaotic and complicated than ever. -
CM credentials becoming more important than ever
Its disturbing to Mindy Owen, RN, CRN, CCM, when she encounters someone who calls him- or herself a case manager but whose job description doesnt sound like case management at all. -
Reports from the field: Symptom management gives allergy patients relief
While there is no effective treatment for allergic rhinitis, common allergies that cost $1.2 to $4.5 billion a year in direct medical costs, some patients can take steps to relieve symptoms, according to an evidence report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). -
Reports from the field: More health care doesn’t mean better health care, report says
Regions of the United States where more health care is delivered dont provide better care than regions with more conservative practice patterns, according to studies by researchers at Dartmouth Medical School and the Veteran Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction, VT. -
Reports from the field: Anxiety poorly managed in hospitalized patients
Anxiety often is poorly managed in patients recovering from a heart attack, new research reports.1 -
Reports from the field: Bronchiolitis commonly treated with ineffective medicines
Physicians commonly use a wide array of medications to treat bronchiolitis, a common lower-respiratory tract disease among infants and toddlers, but there is no compelling evidence to support these treatments, according to a new evidence report sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.