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Four reports issued by the AAAHC Institute for Quality Improvement, a subsidiary of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC), offer insights into some of the most common outpatient procedures, including cataract surgery, colonoscopy, low back injection, and knee arthroscopy. Highlights of the studies include:
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If you're not paying as much attention to documentation and medical necessity for Medicaid patients as you do for those covered by Medicare, your hospital is likely to suffer when the Medicaid Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program starts on Jan. 1, 2012.
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(Editor's note: This is a multi-part series where we will explore the most common roles, functions, models, and caseloads in the hospital case management field.)
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Key components of the initiatives include forging an alliance with post-acute providers, transition coaching for at-risk patients during the hospital stay and after discharge, and teaching patients to use their personal health record to track their care and list questions for providers, according to Tammy Cole-Poklewski, RN, MS, director of quality, patient safety, and care management at the 142-bed facility.
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After Charleston (WV) Area Medical Center began a readmission reduction program, readmission rates for a group of targeted heart failure patients was reduced by 50%.
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In response to comments from healthcare professionals, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) made significant changes to the final rule for the creation of accountable care organizations (ACOs), which encourage providers to better coordinate care across all settings.
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When it's typical for patients to wait four hours or more to see an emergency physician, and your leave-without-being-seen (LWBS) rate is pushing 10%, you know it's time to rethink the whole process.
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In an era when controversial mandatory flu vaccine policies threaten to end up in some high court as a cause célèbre, The Joint Commission is urging healthcare organizations to go for the proverbial gold.
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In the first weeks of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, a physician became ill at a Chicago hospital and tested positive for the virus. Then other healthcare workers became ill and tested positive an outbreak that began at a time when the virus was not widespread in the community.
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It could happen, says Eric Chiu, founder & president of HyTrust, a company in Mountain View, CA, that specializes in access control for data. It likely would be caused by someone employed or formerly employed at your organization, he says.
