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A new emergency department (ED) triage system at Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, FL, decreased the time that elapses between when patients arrive and when they are treated by 33%, slashed the number of patients who left without treatment by 50%, and cut 20 minutes off the total turnaround time from when patients arrive at the ED and when they are discharged or admitted.
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Hospitals still need to be vigilant about issuing the Important Message from Medicare (IM), notifying Medicare patients of their right to appeal their discharge, their financial responsibilities, and how to appeal their discharge, warns Jackie Birmingham, RN, MS, CMAC.
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One hundred percent of scheduled cases authorized that is the goal set by Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital's financial access unit.
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Having heart failure advocates work with discharged patients to help them self-manage their care cut the rate of readmissions within 30 days from about 20% to 5%-6% at six hospitals that are part of the Catholic Healthcare Partners health care system.
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Patients who have a clear understanding of their after-hospital care instructions are 30% less likely to be readmitted or visit the emergency department (ED) than patients who don't have that knowledge, according to a study at Boston University Medical Center.
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If you aren't complying with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requirements for issuing Hospital Issued Notices of Noncoverage (HINNs) and documenting them well, your hospital could face severe repercussions down the road, according to Jackie Birmingham, RN, MS, CMAC, vice president of regulatory monitoring for Curaspan Health Group, a Newton, MA, health care technology and services firm.
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In an effort to improve transitions of care, the nurse care coordinators at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston make follow-up calls to patients who have been discharged, identify problems and solve them, and answer questions the patients may have about medication, symptoms, or their discharge plan.
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If the discharge planning community's ideal is to begin the discharge process at the door, when patients are admitted to the hospital, then community provider input is necessary for a smooth care transition.
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Salaries for case managers are increasing, but the vast majority of case managers are working far more than the typical 40-hour week, according to the 2009 Hospital Case Management Salary Survey.
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By the end of the year, it's likely that every type of medical record in your hospital will be scrutinized by one auditor or another, predicts Brian Flood, managing director for KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax, and advisory firm.
