Hospital Case Management – January 1, 2016
January 1, 2016
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Talk to each other to improve patient care, reduce readmissions
When hospital staff start examining the reasons patients are being readmitted, the famous line from the movie Cool Hand Luke may come to mind: “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.”
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Justifying short inpatient stays just got easier — or did it?
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has modified the controversial two-midnight rule to allow shorter stays to be billed as inpatient stays based on the physician’s judgment, but the change means that complete documentation is more important than ever before.
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Interdisciplinary Walking Rounds: A Key Strategy for Improving Case Management Outcomes – Part 2
In last month’s edition of Case Management Insider, we began exploring the evolving world of interdisciplinary care rounds. “State of the art,” as defined by The Joint Commission and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, is to have some form of bedside or walking rounds.
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CMS launches mandatory joint replacement bundled payment initiative
Beginning April 1, approximately 800 hospitals in 67 geographic areas will begin participating in the first mandatory Medicare bundled payment initiative.
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ACO teams with post-acute providers for improved care coordination
As part of its efforts to provide better coordinated care to Medicare beneficiaries at a lower cost, the Michigan Pioneer Accountable Care Organization at Detroit Medical Center has partnered with post-acute providers and works with them face to face to coordinate care and ensure that patients get what they need in a timely manner.
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Beef up your discharge planning to prepare for new rules
CMS has announced a proposed revision of the discharge planning requirements for acute care hospitals, long-term care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, critical access hospitals, and home health agencies.
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Multidisciplinary team brainstorms on transitions for complex patients
At Spectrum Health Butterworth and Blodgett Hospitals in Grand Rapids, MI, patients who are likely to have complex discharge needs are identified early in the hospital stay and referred to a multidisciplinary Complex Transitions Team, which develops a plan of action designed to remove barriers and produce a smooth transition to the next level of care.
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Opportunities, responsibilities are increasing, but what about salaries?
The good news: there are more opportunities than ever before for case managers. The bad news is that, faced with more responsibilities, many hospital case managers are working longer hours but not always getting compensated for it.