-
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)'s final rule on the inpatient prospective payment system requires hospitals to report on the full set of 21 Hospital Quality Alliance measures to get full payment updates, effective for discharges on or after October 1, 2006.
-
This month, St. Joseph's Medical Center in Towson, MD, will begin discharging patients by appointment, in the latest phase of a three-year effort toward capacity maximization, says Jackie Connor, RN, MS, CCS, director of case management.
-
Hospitals are making numerous changes in an attempt to improve the quality and safety of patient care services. These interventions could be a new program, practice, or initiatives such as staff training.
-
-
With the advent of hospitalists, credentialing and privileging for medical staff members who no longer care for inpatients is a growing challenge for many organizations.
-
Discharge planning starts at admission. It's one of the most basic tenets of the discipline, notes Jackie Birmingham, RN, MS, CMAC, but one that is increasingly brushed aside as hospitals focus on utilization review (UR) and bed management in an effort to enhance patient throughput.
-
Survivors of Hurricane Katrina continued to suffer emotional and mental trauma and limited access to care and medications for months after the storm, largely because of a sharp reduction in charity care and lack of insurance, according to a recent report.
-
A growing number of health insurers is using publicly reported quality data to reward the best-performing hospitals, both publicly and financially.
-
During a January 2006 survey at Merrimack Valley Hospital in Haverhill, MA, Joint Commission surveyors looked closely at patient safety, medication reconciliation, fall prevention, handoff communication, and changes made as a result of performance improvement activities.
-
