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If there are any doubts that improving patient flow also enhances patient safety, the recent experience of the ED at Enumclaw (WA) Regional Hospital should dispel them.
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As reimbursement shrinks and health care providers tighten their belts, hospitals need to take a proactive approach to denials to make sure they get paid appropriately for the care they provide, experts say.
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By conducing real-time concurrent denials management, Jewish Hospital and St. Mary's Healthcare, a not-for-profit health care system in Louisville, KY, keeps its average denials rate below 1%, consistently exceeding the hospital's goal of a denials rate of under 2% for commercial patient days, including Medicare managed care patients.
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Recognizing that chronically ill patients benefit from care management beyond the walls of the hospital or their physician's office, Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, CT, has created The Center for Chronic Care Management, which offers four National Committee for Quality Assurance- (NCQA) accredited disease management programs to help patients manage their conditions.
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Childbirth at Evergreen Hospital Medical Center in Kirkland, WA, is viewed as a family experience, rather than a medical event.
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A true test of the success of a process improvement initiative is whether the results can be sustained, and the ED at Hudson Valley Hospital Center in Cortlandt Manor, NY, has just celebrated the fifth anniversary of its "no wait" process. Most patients skip the waiting room entirely and go right to registration, and then to triage.
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Use of alcohol-based hand cleansers significantly reduced several common infections and reduced absenteeism in a study of 129 white-collar workers in 2005 to 2006, according to research from the Institute of Hygiene and Environmental Medicine in Greifswald, Germany.
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As talk of reimbursement reform and pay for performance escalates and health care stakeholders look at ways to improve patient access and outcomes while reducing waste and costs, payers and providers are joining together to create accountable care organizations (ACOs), partnerships that agree to be accountable for the quality, costs, and overall care of a patient population.
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As health care organizations tighten their belts to deal with today's health care environment, case managers report working harder with fewer raises and benefits. But, there is hope on the horizon as new opportunities open up for case managers under health care reform, experts say.
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Who knew what when? At times, you can be put in a tough position because of what a worker tells you. "We are not safety and we can't discipline, so employees tend to tell us more than they would tell others," says Susan L. Zarzycki, RN,COHN,CM, an occupational health manager at Finch Paper LLC in Glens Falls, NY. Here are some common scenarios and how to deal with each:
