Sneak peek: See the discharge process through the patient’s eyes
Case Management Weekly, March 17, 2010
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Case Management Weekly!
The advent of the DRG system gave hospitals an incentive to decrease LOS. The average LOS is two days shorter than it was 15 years ago, according to Greg Nelson, president of Baptist Leadership Group (BLG) in Pensacola, FL.
Financial implications are not the only reasons to reduce LOS, says Stefani Daniels, RN, MSNA, CMAC, ACM, managing partner at Phoenix Medical Management, Inc. in Pompano Beach, FL. The acute care setting is a high-risk environment, and patients are safer in a lower level of care or at home.
Regardless, the reduction in LOS has made the discharge process critical. Patients and their families now change wound dressings, administer medications, and monitor progress. “We expect patients to serve as their own little case managers,” says Daniels. “And in most cases, it is unrealistic.”
Case managers and discharge planners must reinforce the discharge plan, ensure that patients understand the discharge instructions, and follow up with patients to ensure they remember those instructions.
Check out the April 2010 issue of Case Management Monthly to learn more. You also can discover the benefits of becoming a Case Management Monthly subscriber.
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Case Management Weekly!
Related Products
-
Strengthening Nurse-to-Nurse Relationships:
This educational video will help nurses at all levels understand the issue of horizontal hostility. It provides the expert...
-
Case Management Weekly
Case Management Weekly is a free e-mail newsletter that offers news, resources, and Q&As to help case managers from all...
-
Competency Evaluation Tools for Case Management Professionals, Second Edition
This second edition of a best-selling toolkit helps organizations evaluate case management professionals based on their...
-
Reducing Readmissions: A Blueprint for Improving Care Transitions
As the healthcare industry implements reforms that will penalize hospitals for readmissions deemed unnecessary, it’s crucial...
-
Readmission Reduction Program
During this 90-minute audio conference, our speakers give you strategies to reduce your readmissions rate; CMS has targeted...
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- HIPAA Q&A: Level of encryption needed for email
- Q&A: Acute respiratory failure diagnosis does not require intubation
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- HIPAA Q&A: TPO disclosures to a business associate
- Capturing all necessary codes for IUD insertion and removal can be challenging
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- Topic: CMS, OESS post new security compliance review information, checklist
- Identify potential Medicaid RAC target areas
- Q/A: Coding infusions to correct low potassium levels
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- E-mailed
-
- HIPAA Q&A: Level of encryption needed for email
- Q&A: Acute respiratory failure diagnosis does not require intubation
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Q/A: Coding infusions to correct low potassium levels
- CMS has reformulated payments for some bilateral procedures
- Oxygen Cylinder Storage Requirements
- Q&A: Follow CMS' coding guidelines when using modifier -25
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- Hospitals are not bound by InterQual criteria for determining patient status
- Q/A: New code for image-guided minimally invasive lumbar decompression
- Searched