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ED managers, hospital leaders, emergency medicine, and hospital organizations breathed a sigh of relief on Oct. 24, 2008, when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a memorandum that clarified the use of standing orders in hospitals.
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The Greater Dayton (OH) Area Health Information Network (GDAHIN) was established in 1998, but local EDs have not been benefitting from the network for the entire 10 years; in fact, it was turned off in 2003.
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A new pilot program that allows EDs and health care systems across Milwaukee to share patient information is expected to save thousands of dollars by eliminating redundant testing, while improving patient care.
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If someone told you that an ED had experienced a 60% increase in volume between 2000 and 2008, you wouldn't be surprised to learn that the average length of stay (LOS) for their patients also had increased dramatically.
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As part of its Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) payment rule for 2009, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has established a multiple imaging composite methodology, which means it will provide a single composite ambulatory payment classification (APC) payment each time a hospital bills more than one procedure from an imaging "family" on a single date of service. The families are:
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Every year at about this time, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) publishes its final Out-patient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) payment rule for the following calendar year, and every year emergency medicine experts express their dissatisfaction with one aspect or another of what CMS has wrought. This year, however, might prove to be an exception.
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The establishment of a communitywide patient information sharing system by the Wisconsin Health Information Exchange (WHIE) was a collaborative effort from the start, says Kim Pemble, WHIE's executive director.
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The National Quality Forum (NQF), expressing its desired to reduce overcrowding and improve quality of care, has endorsed 10 national voluntary consensus standards for hospital-based ED care. The standards are:
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Monty Gooch, RN, BSN, director of emergency services at Middle Tennessee Medical Center (MTMC) in Murfreesboro, says that one of the keys to his department's smooth patient flow door-to-doc time of 35-40 minutes despite steadily growing volume is the way it works closely with other departments.
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Ongoing initiatives in the ED at Middle Tennessee Medical Center (MTMC) in Murfreesboro have led to improved patient flow.
