Employee Management
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Infectious Disease Groups Demand Border Patrol Administer Flu Shots to Detainees
Leading clinicians and public health officials are strongly questioning the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol’s (CBP) decision not to vaccinate migrants in detention facilities against flu and other infections. The CBP should at the very least immunize employees so they do not bring the virus in to detainees or acquire it, experts say.
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Burnout: The Signs of Onset, Methods of Prevention
Burnout is a systemic problem in healthcare and a test of resilience for the individual worker. In a new book on a problem that has become epidemic, a physician draws on his own experience with burnout and interviews those who are susceptible to the condition or are surprisingly resilient.
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Presenteeism Common in Long-Term Care
Results of a study using active surveillance for acute respiratory infection over a five-month period revealed that 89% of sick staff in a long-term care facility still reported to work. The facility established policies against such presenteeism, but they may need to be revised to minimize the pressure on staff not to miss work, the authors noted.
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Flu Vaccination Rates in Long-Term Care Workers Improving
Improving healthcare worker flu vaccination in long-term care settings remains a challenge, but there are signs of improvement as more facilities are seeking “honor roll” status aimed at reaching higher immunization rates.
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Ensure Flu Vaccine Policies, Exemptions Are Clear, Equitable
As more facilities adopt mandatory vaccination policies, they have to decide whether to allow exemptions. Some require influenza vaccination as condition of employment, while others allow specified exemptions. Medical exemptions may include allergy to vaccine components or a history of Guillain-Barré syndrome. One key to these policies appears to be consistency in making equitable arrangements, as workers denied religious exemptions have successfully sued through the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
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How to Find the Ideal Case Management Staffing Level
No matter what size a hospital and case management department are, there are difficulties in finding the right level of staffing. There is no one-size-fits-all approach because each hospital has its own expectations and sensitive situations in which case management might be needed. The goal should be to have case managers work to the full capacity of their skills and abilities.
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ED Case Managers Can Help Improve Transitions and Outcomes
Case managers in the ED can perform more than utilization reviews. In a newer model for their role, case managers can help put ED patients in touch with resources, helping them avoid readmissions and improve outcomes. Cleveland Clinic realized that with the changing landscape of healthcare, there is a way care management can put patients in touch with the community services they need to stay out of the hospital and ED. Case managers based in the ED can help patients with whatever they will need when they are well enough to leave.
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Case Management Dashboard Can Improve Patient Outcomes
Hospitals and other healthcare organizations can improve patient navigation, quality, and efficiency by creating goals and a plan through data collection and a dashboard. Health systems are successfully using analytics to engage with electronic medical records and in creating roadmaps for patients. Electronic data collection helps health systems predict roadblocks more accurately. It also helps facilitate faster transitions.
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Centralized Utilization Review: Key Considerations for Successful Implementation
As hospitals grapple with ever-changing utilization review (UR) guidelines from CMS and consolidate with other facilities, many are centralizing their UR operations. Under a centralized model, an offsite UR nurse or case manager is alerted when a new patient is admitted and sees all the documentation necessary to determine whether the medical record supports the patient’s status. Centralized UR establishes a standardized common process across facilities, which is a key benefit for multihospital health systems.
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CMS Update: Outpatient Total Knee, Hip Arthroplasty
To provide patients with better value and results, CMS has issued a final rule regarding the inpatient-only list of surgical procedures. This list includes procedures that typically are only provided in the inpatient setting and not paid under the Outpatient Prospective Payment System. Criteria for removing procedure from the inpatient-only list includes determining that the procedure is performed in numerous hospitals on an outpatient basis. For example, total knee arthroplasty moved from the list starting in 2018. Total hip arthroplasty is expected to be removed from the list in 2020.