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The largest health plans appear to be in the process of adopting guidelines from the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) for machine-readable insurance cards, according to Peter Barry, of Peter T. Barry Co., a Milwaukee-based consulting firm specializing in health care and information systems. Barry is chair of WEDI's initiative on health identification cards.
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After Concord (NH) Hospital's multidisciplinary cardiac care team began holding daily collaborative rounds with patients and family members on the cardiac patient care unit, length of stay decreased and patient satisfaction scores rose.
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A comprehensive system to ensure that patients with pneumonia receive recommended care resulted in a significant increase in quality measure scores at Mission Hospital in Asheville, NC.
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Patient access staff will have to get used to a change for Medicare patients, with the new Advance Beneficiary Notice of Noncoverage (ABN) form now used for all situations where Medicare payment is expected to be denied. The form, implemented by the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS), becomes mandatory
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Military veterans who recently served in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other countries often return home with “invisible” healthcare needs that might be overlooked in community healthcare settings.
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Emergency providers determine whether to admit patients to the hospital every day, but a new study suggests that while many of these decisions are consistent and clear-cut regardless of region or hospital, for certain common, low-mortality conditions, some physicians are as much as six times more likely to admit patients than others.
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Prescription opioid misuse and abuse is an expensive and dangerous problem nationwide as injured workers stay on the drugs too long, hurting their recovery and dampening their motivation to return to work.
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A new Affordable Care Act demonstration project in Illinois has case managers working with a Medicare-Medicaid population to meet their psychosocial needs in addition to monitoring their health.
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The care coaching model of case management provided through the Medicare-Medicaid Alignment Initiative (MAI) in Illinois provides social support to people at risk for escalating health problems.
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Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and other leading causes of death, and now a new study has found that some hospital workers have significantly higher risk of developing the disease.
