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The role of the hospital case manager has taken many twists and turns over the past two decades. Case management started out as a sectioned-off role of utilization review without any relationship to the direct care providers or interdisciplinary care team.
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The administration at Scottsdale (AZ) Healthcare System thinks it so important for the Important Message from Medicare (IM) to be delivered correctly that all case managers go through extensive training on when and how the IM should be given to patients.
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When two bombs went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, hospital clinicians had one thought: I have to get to work. A surgeon who had just run 26 miles came into Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and prepared to operate. Nurses and doctors treating the wounded wondered about their own family and friends.
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When hospitals determine that the care patients are receiving or are about to receive will not be covered by Medicare because it is not medically necessary, not delivered in an appropriate setting, or is custodial in nature, the hospital should provide the patient with a Hospital-Issued Notice of Noncoverage (HINN) to inform them that they will be responsible for the bill if they choose to stay in the hospital.
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Medicare requirements for issuing the Important Message from Medicare (IM) and the Hospital-Issued Notices of Noncoverage (HINNs) have been around so long that they sometimes get short shrift.
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Of the hundreds, if not thousands, of patient safety strategies employed at hospitals across the country, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released a report identifying the top 10 patient safety strategies that can be implemented immediately by healthcare providers.
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When doctors, nurses, and other hospital operating room staff follow a written safety checklist to respond when a patient experiences cardiac arrest, severe allergic reaction, bleeding followed by an irregular heartbeat, or other crisis during surgery, they are nearly 75% less likely to miss a critical clinical step, according to a new study funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
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A proactive approach to the Recovery Auditor (RA) process has paid off for Alamance Regional Medical Center in Burlington, NC. Out of more than 800 denials from the auditor, the hospital has appealed up to the administrative law judge level, if necessary. So far, the hospital has won a high percentage of the appeals. Many are still pending because of a backlog.
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Gundersen Healths integrated care coordination program, in which a team of RN care coordinators and social workers follows the 1% to 2% most complex patients through the continuum, has resulted in a 46% decrease in average length of stay and a 64% decrease in unplanned hospital admissions or emergency department visits.
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As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Value-Based Purchasing program moves toward basing reimbursement on quality, case managers can take the lead in making sure their hospitals score well and dont lose reimbursement.
