Case Management

CMW Sneak Peek: Focus on advocacy and quality

Case Management Weekly, November 19, 2008

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If your case management program is like most, it focuses mainly on utilization review and discharge planning. Stefani Daniels, RN, MSNA, CMAC, ACM, says many case managers are getting bogged down by these duties and losing focus of what case management is really about: patient advocacy.

“The heart of hospital case management must be advocacy. It’s a case manager’s No. 1 ethical obligation,” says Daniels. “The problem is it’s often a challenge to translate advocacy into day-to-day practical operational terms.”

Daniels says that case managers often focus only on the end of a patient’s stay, the transition period. However, she says case managers should be advocates for all three stages involved in hospital care:

  • Access—how the patient gets to the hospital
  • Throughput or care management—the care the patient receives while in the hospital
  • Transition or discharge planning—how and when the patient will leave the hospital and the level of care he or she will require at that time

Check out the November 2008 issue of Case Management Monthly to get the full story, and discover all the benefits of being a Case Management Monthly subscriber!



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