Hospital Case Management – June 1, 2008
June 1, 2008
View Issues
-
Observation or inpatient? Correct patient status more critical than ever
Deciding whether patients should be in observation or inpatient status always has been a challenge for hospitals and now that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has embarked on a nationwide program to audit for overpayment, placing patients in the correct status is more critical than ever. -
Status management cuts observation patients, LOS
Faced with an increasing number of patients in observation status, Brandon (FL) Regional Hospital began an observation management process that resulted in a 16% decrease in observation patients and a 27% drop in observation length of stay in just one year. -
CMS proposes additional quality measures
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed significant expansion in hospital quality reporting requirements, including adding 46 new quality measures for which hospitals must submit data over the next two years, and increasing the number of hospital-acquired conditions for which Medicare won't reimburse. -
Critical Path Network: Busy ED keeps promise of 'door to doc' in 31 minutes
Gilbert (AZ) Hospital has one of the busiest emergency departments in the area and an average ED waiting time of less than 12 minutes. -
Critical Path Network: Collaboration reduces LOS, improves outcomes
Strategies that include developing close relationships with post-acute providers; meetings to explore options for extended-stay patients; and collaboration between nurse practitioners, hospitalists, and the interdisciplinary care team have helped Catawba Valley Medical Center in Hickory, NC, reduce the number of patients who stay more than 15 days. -
Ambulatory Care Quarterly: You can't assume headaches are benign
An elderly woman tells ED triage nurses she's had an excruciating, unrelenting headache for the past two days. She has a steady gait. -
If patients say this, suspect life-threatening headache
If you assume that patients complaining of headache are nontherapeutic medication seekers or chronic complainers, you risk undertriaging these patients, warns Rebekah Child, RN, MSN, CEN, CNIV, an ED nurse at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.