• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Real-life solutions: 'Important Message'

Case Management Weekly, December 11, 2007

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Case Management Weekly!

Since CMS introduced the "Important Message from Medicare" (IM) in July, Monique Bessent Smith, BSN, MSN, MHA, isn't the only case manager to have seen well-oiled routines blown apart.

The IM requires hospitals to tell patients about their hospital discharge rights on admission and again two days before discharge.

Bessent Smith, manager of case management at Presbyterian Hospitals in Charlotte, NC, says that getting everyone, from the patient access department to physicians, to share the IM load has made a big difference. She also says that a basic, but effective, audit system has helped her hospital avoid any nasty surprises.

"We came up with an Excel program to give everyone a grade for a particular record and chart. It means we can make sure everything is documented and charted from the day a patient arrives," she says.

Source: You can read the entire article in the December issue of Case Management Monthly.

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Case Management Weekly!

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive