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  • Language is key in clinical documentation

    When Stony Brook University Medical Center presented an educational program to its urology staff about the importance of using the correct terms in documentation, the physicians pointed out that in medical school, they learned to write "urosepsis" on the chart for patients who had developed sepsis from a severe urinary tract infection, according to Catherine Morris, RN, MS, CCM, CMAC, executive director of care management and clinical documentation improvement administrator at the 591-bed regional hospital in Stony Brook, NY.
  • Reorganization adds staff and improvements

    After working with a consultant to determine how to improve clinical documentation, the care coordination department at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC, revamped its clinical documentation program, adding more staff and shifting the team from unit-based to service-based.
  • Why aren't patients in compliance? Top issue may be misunderstanding

    When patients don't follow their discharge plan and end up back in the hospital or fail to keep their chronic disease under control, resulting in complications, it could be that they simply don't understand what they're expected to do.
  • Case managers reduce pre-term deliveries

    A program that provides face-to-face case management and hormone injection services for women at risk for pre-term birth has reduced the spontaneous pre-term birth rate by 8% among the Medicaid population served by the program.
  • Blood test reduces hospital readmissions

    In a study reported online by the American Journal of Cardiology, Henry J. Michtalik, MD, MPH, and his colleagues tested heart failure patients on admission and discharge for levels of a protein that's considered a marker for heart stress.
  • Readmissions reduced for heart failure patients

    A proactive approach to hospital readmissions by Health Alliance Plan (HAP) resulted in a 14% decline in readmissions for heart failure in the Medicare population when compared to the previous year.
  • Re-engineering project reduces hospital trips

    The last place patients want to end up after a hospital stay is right back in the hospital.
  • 'Prehabilitation' prepares for knee replacements

    A comprehensive "prehabilitation" exercise program for patients with severe knee arthritis can improve strength and functional ability before knee replacement surgery, reports a study in the February issue of The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, official research journal of the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
  • Rule for conditions acquired at hospital

    Now that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a proposed rule that would prohibit payment for healthcare-acquired conditions for Medicaid beneficiaries, it's more important than ever that case managers work with physicians to ensure that conditions that are present on admission are clearly documented in every patient's chart, says Deborah Hale, CCS, president of Administrative Consultant Services, a health care consulting firm based in Shawnee, OK.
  • Home monitoring cuts cardiac readmissions

    When Ocean Medical Center in Brick, NJ, and Meridian At Home care agency collaborated on a remote monitoring program for heart failure patients, the readmission rate for heart failure dropped from 14.93% before the program began to 4.84% in the first eight months of the pilot program.