Special care teams beneficial for patients and hospitals' costs
Patient Financial Services Weekly Advisor, September 12, 2008
A new medical specialty that focuses on meeting the needs of seriously ill patients may save the average U.S. community hospital up to $1.3 million per year, researchers said this week, according to a Reuters report.
The palliative care teams, usually consisting of a doctor, nurse and social worker, can help reduce hospitals’ costs from lengthy intensive care stays or unnecessary tests by guiding patients and their families to make more informed decisions and rely on resources available to them.
Special care teams focus on the sickest 5-10% of patients with the most difficult cases. Many of these patients also have Medicare coverage, so hospitals often lose money on them because they are paid only a set fee per admission.
To read the full Reuters report, click here.
Comments
0 comments on “Special care teams beneficial for patients and hospitals' costs ”
Related Products
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- HIPAA Q&A: Answering service messages
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Q&A: Coding for dry skin due to cold weather
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Are your workforce members texting PHI?
- Topic: CMS, OESS post new security compliance review information, checklist
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- Privacy, security concerns high in HIEs
- QA:Coding multiple initial infusions
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- E-mailed
-
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- HIPAA Q&A: Level of encryption needed for email
- HIPAA Q&A: Answering service messages
- HIPAA Q&A: TPO disclosures to a business associate
- Are your workforce members texting PHI?
- Q&A: Coding for dry skin due to cold weather
- Hospitalist-surgeon comanagement has no effect on outcomes
- Don't let these sentinel events trigger falsely
- Correctly bill ancillary bedside procedures in addition to the room rate
- Searched
