-
(Editor's note: This is the second in a three-part series on innovative approaches to documentation that can significantly enhance your department's revenues, without making any changes in patient flow and throughput processes. This article discusses how the use of incentives can improve documentation and increase revenues. The final installment will discuss excellence in coding and billing practices.)
-
For the past two years, the ED at Avera Weskota Medical Center, a small, rural critical-access hospital in Wessington Springs, SD, has been using a new "Emergency Services Aftercare" instruction form to help patients remember vital information about the care they received and instructions to follow once they get home.
-
Moving admitted patients out of the ED and into inpatient beds reduces overcrowding more than adding beds to the department does, and -- in one hospital at least -- brings in more profits, according to two studies published online in advance of the October 2008 issue of Annals of Emergency Medicine.
-
It's enough of a challenge when an ED is alerted by its local EMS that victims of chemical contamination are on their way by ambulance. But when these patients arrive by car unannounced that brings your response to an entirely different level.
-
ED managers are not often thought of as inventors, but David Soria, MD, chief of emergency medicine at Wellington (FL) Regional Medical Center, has created a device that has helped his department knock an average of 2-3 minutes off its triage time, which was already an impressive 10-15 minutes.
-
Citing a growing body of evidence showing that patients who have had a transient ischemic attack (TIA) are at a significant risk of having a stroke within 48 hours, authors of a four-article supplement in the latest edition of the Annals of Emergency Medicine have underscored the need to diagnose and treat TIA much more quickly than previously believed.
-
Given the findings of a recent study in the Annals of Emergency Medicine,1 ED managers should take immediate steps to improve communications with patients, says Bruce Janiak, MD, FACEP, FAAP, professor of emergency medicine, Medical College of Georgia, and vice chair of the ED at MCG Health Medical Center, both in Augusta.
-
Under a new policy instituted in May 2008, patients in the ED at Metro Health Medical Center in Cleveland who have minor ailments must now pay part of their bill before being treated or be referred to one of MetroHealth's 16 clinics in the area. They are guaranteed an appointment within 72 hours.
-
The ED at Metro Health Medical Center in Cleveland began considering a new policy for patients with minor ailments about two years ago, recalls Charles L.
-
(Editor's note: With this issue, ED Management begins a series on innovative approaches to documentation that can significantly enhance your department's revenues, without making any changes in patient flow and throughput processes. In this month's issue, we address the most effective documentation tools, proper staffing to optimize their use, and how to convince administration to make the required investment. In subsequent issues, we'll cover electronic tracking and chart monitoring, productivity incentives, and excellence in coding and billing practices.)
