As part of its efforts to increase transparency in health care and to help consumers make informed decisions about which hospital to choose, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) expanded the information on the Hospital Compare website, adding 10 new outpatient measures and updated information on 30-day mortality and readmission rates for heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, and pneumonia.
Here's a common hospital discharge scenario: the patient is ready to be discharged home, and the hospital has a discharge planner or case manager who is prepared to call the patient's primary care physician (PCP) to discuss the patient's post-discharge care. But who does the discharge planner call? And will anyone respond to the call?
After three years, Massachusetts General Hospital's Medicare demonstration project to manage the care of high-risk, high-cost Medicare patients appears to be making a difference for many medically complex patients, according to Joanne Kaufman, RN, MPA, A-CCC, nurse manager for the care management program at Massachusetts General.