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Since implementing a maternity program that includes educational mailings and telephone counseling sessions for all pregnant members, BlueChoice HealthPlan of South Carolina has been well below the state average for pre-delivery hospitalizations and pre-term deliveries. And health plan members have experienced a drop in pre-term admissions and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) lengths of stay.
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Members with bipolar disorder are getting the help they need to keep their condition under control through a new telephone coaching program from Health Alliance Plan (HAP) of Michigan.
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By combining its individual disease management programs into a member-centered system and reminding members of gaps in recommended care, Buffalo-based HealthNow New York helps members assume responsibility for managing their conditions so they can stay healthy and out of the hospital.
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At Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC, families are given a patient pathway to accompany certain clinical pathways that are used by the medical team to coordinate care.
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When Shore Memorial Hospital of Somers Point, NJ, completed its three-year transition to adopting new electronic technologies, including a bar-code point-of-care system, there were numerous positive outcomes.
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When working on the pharmacy department's budget, it's important to have the most accurate data available both within the health care organization and outside of it. It's also important to convince physicians of changing prescribing habits that might unnecessarily increase the pharmacy department's costs without adding to any improvements in patient care.
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Ask any pharmacy director about presenting budgets to a hospital's top managers, and you'll hear that it wasn't easy, especially when the budget projects a major increase in costs.
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Hospital pharmacies often encounter obstacles in the budgeting process, particularly when it's difficult to obtain the necessary data or when a health care organization is having a difficult year financially.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) continues its transformation of how it pays ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) and hospitals for outpatient services, but each iteration of the four-year project nonetheless manages to raise a fresh round of objections.