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There are times when EDs can achieve dramatic improvements in average length of stay (ALOS) or reductions in their left without being seen (LWBS) percentages in a relatively short period of time by instituting significant new process improvements, such as bedside registration or new triage protocols.
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Palliative care programs are growing in number and prominence at hospitals and hospices across the nation, as increasing numbers of health care providers want to focus on medicine used as much for comfort and quality of life as for diagnoses and cures when dealing with patients who have chronic illnesses for which there are no easy resolutions.
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Health plans are coming up with innovative ways to coordinate care for the countrys Medicaid beneficiaries, a population whose challenges include almost as many social issues as medical ones.
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Philadelphia-based Keystone Mercy Health Plan/AmeriHealth Mercys PerforMED, an intensive case management program for high-cost members receiving publicly funded health care, resulted in an adjusted savings of between $80 and $115 per member per month in the first six months.
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Passport Health Plans care programs for Medicaid beneficiaries has been able to show a cost savings of $191 million for the state of Kentucky in the eight years its been in operation.
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Community Memorial Hospital in Menomonee Falls, WI, had an occupational health and wellness program that had served its 1,500 employees quite well for many years. But the rocketing costs of health care benefits suddenly meant that Community Memorials occ-health program had to do more.
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Education is the backbone of home health care, says Eileen McFadden, BSN, MN, manager of educational services at VNA Home Health Care Services in Spokane, WA. It is through education that the patients goals and outcomes are met.
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When a home care patient is from another culture it is a good idea to learn as much as possible about his or her cultural beliefs before the visit, says Jeanne M. Martinez, RN, MPH, CHPN, former quality and education specialist at Northwestern Memorial Home Health Care in Chicago and now a quality specialist with palliative care and home hospice at Northwestern Memorial.
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An initiative that assigns ownership of HEDIS®* measures to various staff members has resulted in improved HEDIS scores and national acclaim for Keystone Health Plan Central, a wholly owned subsidiary of Capital BlueCross, independent licensees of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
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An estranged husband comes into the house while the home health nurse is teaching the patients mother how to do enteral therapy as he begins physically abusing the mother, he looks at the nurse and says, Youre next.
