Hospital Case Management – May 1, 2012
May 1, 2012
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Get ready for more headaches as Medicaid RACs are ramped up
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) instructed state Medicaid agencies to develop a RAC program by Jan. 1 of this year but the program is not expected to be in full swing until well into 2013. -
Keep on plugging on ICD-10
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has delayed the implementation of the ICD-10 procedure and diagnostic coding set, but that doesn't mean that hospitals can forget about preparing for the conversion to the new system, says Deborah Hale, CCS, CCDS, president and chief executive officer of Administrative Consultant Service, a healthcare consulting firm based in Shawnee, OK. -
Care management cuts ED use for pain
Before Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d'Alene, ID, began its pain care management program, emergency department physicians were spending 36% of their work day seeing patients whose primary complaint was pain, excluding orthopedic patients and those experiencing chest pain. -
Re-engineered discharge cuts readmissions
Before North Broward Medical Center in Deerfield Beach, FL, re-engineered its discharge process two years ago, 29% of patients were being readmitted within 30 days. Now, the figure has dropped to 15%. -
Centralized process facilitates transfers
By centralizing the patient transfer process, Baylor Health Care System, with headquarters in Dallas, has made it easier for patient to transfer from one hospital to another and facilitates communication between clinicians. -
Access Management Quarterly
Many hospital associates believe that registration staff simply sit at their desk and greet patients, reports Barbara Blum, director of access, admitting, and registration at MedStar Health in Columbia, MD. "They have no idea what the registration staff's responsibilities include," Blum says. -
Case Management Insider
[Editor's note: Last month in Case Management Insider, we started our discussion on the case management process. We reviewed the first two steps in the process which were "selection and screening" and "patient assessment and diagnosis." In this month's edition we will continue to review the steps that case manager's use in their daily work to achieve positive outcomes for their patients and their organizations.]