Hospital Case Management – November 1, 2009
November 1, 2009
View Archives Issues
-
Struggling to find post-acute care for undocumented and uninsured immigrants
When a Florida hospital transferred a seriously disabled, undocumented immigrant back to his native Guatemala for care and won a subsequent lawsuit filed by the man's American guardians, the case made national headlines. -
Finding discharge options for uninsured immigrants
"When faced with an increasing number of immigrants who don't have funding for post-acute care, hospital case managers and social workers must use their ingenuity to come up with creative options that lessen the financial burden of care," says Deborah Cruze, JD, MA, program associate, health sciences and ethics at Emory University's Center for Ethics in Atlanta. -
Transporting patients to native country for care
For Fred Nenner, MSW, and the rest of the staff at Lutheran Medical Center in New York City, successfully returning injured immigrant patients to their family in their native country is one of the most challenging and rewarding jobs they tackle. -
Hospital returns immigrant to his family in Poland
Returning an immigrant to his or her native country for post-acute care is a long and complicated process but one that produces great rewards, says Fred Nenner, MSW, director of social services at Lutheran Medical Center in New York City. -
Preceptors, mentors help CMs learn the way around
A program that pairs new case managers with a preceptor for eight weeks and a mentor for a year has increased staff satisfaction and reduced turnover for the case management department at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC. -
Critical Path Network: Interdisciplinary initiative reduces LOS by 2%
Following a systemwide initiative, Catholic Healthcare Partners has reduced its average length of stay by 2%, potentially avoiding 18,000 hospital days in the multistate hospital system with headquarters in Cincinnati. -
Critical Path Network: Multidisciplinary meetings lower LOS, excess days
Within 45 days after daily multidisciplinary patient care conferences were instituted at North Fulton Regional Hospital, the hospital's average length of stay dropped by more than a day and excess days decreased by more than 300 days within the first quarter of implementation. -
Critical Path Network: Patient satisfaction upon discharge improved
When hospitalists use discharge communication software, patients and the outpatient doctors who carry out the care have better perceptions of the quality of the discharge process, according to new research published in the August issue of the Journal of Hospital Medicine. -
Management, staff collaborate on hiring
At Carolinas Medical Center, the management team and a panel of case managers and social workers interview all potential employees and collaborate on who will fit best in the department. -
Reduce one-day stays when observation is better
Hospitals sometimes fail to transition patients to the optimal level of care, which can create issues with quality of care and reimbursement. -
Access Management Quarterly: Revamp process for sudden surges in registrations
This spring during the H1N1 epidemic, registrations through EDs increased dramatically nationwide. The processes of virtually every patient access department were put to the test. -
Access Management Quarterly: Number of patients leaving against advice increasing
Would it surprise you that the number of patients leaving a hospital against medical advice (AMA) increased 39% between 1997 and 2007? The number totaled 368,000 in 2007, says a new report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.