Integrated Case Management: The Surprise Question That Can Improve Timeliness of Hospice Referrals

Posted on August 21, 2017 by Administrator

For patients with cancer, palliative care should begin at diagnosis to help them shoulder the disease’s emotional, physical and financial burdens, explains Laura Ostrowsky, director of case management at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). However, for multiple reasons, referrals to hospice frequently happen too late for MSKCC patients to derive full benefit from that service.

In this episode of HealthSounds, Ms. Ostrowsky shares some key questions for integrated case managers to ask providers to improve timeliness of hospice referrals, patient and family satisfaction with hospice service, and awareness of end-of-life care. The strategy is one way MSKCC uses integrated case management to validate its worth in a value-based system: providing the best care in a quality-effective manner.

During Integrated Case Management: A New Approach to Transition Planning, an August 2017 webinar now available for replay, Ms. Ostrowsky outlines MSKCC’s use of a team-based case management model that follows patients as they transition across the health system.

Length: 3:06 minutes

Beyond Housing, Chronic Care Plus Connects Medically Vulnerable Homeless to Social Services

Posted on December 20, 2016 by Administrator

Working to bridge the gap between hospital discharge and permanent supportive housing for homeless patients, the California-based Chronic Care Plus program found that 40 percent of client needs are related to social determinants, explains Paul Leon, CEO of the Illumination Foundation, a Chronic Care Plus joint venture partner. In this audio interview, Leon explains the need to not only house patients but also to connect them to a plethora of social services, including mental health appointments.

During Intensive Care Coordination for Healthcare Super Utilizers: Community Collaborations Stabilize Medically Vulnerable Homeless Patients, a December 2016 webinar now available for replay, Mr. Leon shares the inside details of this recuperative care program that offers community-based stabilization for medically vulnerable chronically homeless patients, including program results and savings achieved.

Length: 4:14 minutes

Yale-New Haven Embedded High-Risk Care Coordinators Monitor Geriatric Homebound

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Administrator

Following weekly huddles with nurse practitioners, Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS) geriatric care coordinators use a red-yellow-green system to prioritize care for its Medicare homebound patients, explains Dr. Vivian Argento, the executive director of geriatric and palliative services at Bridgeport Hospital, in this audio interview.

While the bulk of care provided by YNHHS’s geriatric care coordination model is delivered during house calls to seniors deemed homebound by Medicare criteria, the program also provides care to patients in assisted living facilities.

The YNHHS geriatric care coordination model was one of three embedded models of care presented during a June 2015 webinar, Embedded Care Coordination for At-Risk Populations: A Case Study from Yale New Haven Health System, now available for replay. During the program, Dr. Argento was joined by Amanda Skinner, YNHHS executive director for clinical integration and population health, who described livingwellCARES, embedded on-site care coordination for YNHHS employees; and its patient-centered medical home’s hybrid model of centralized and embedded care coordination resources.

Length: 3:11 minutes

Chronic Care Management Medicare Reimbursement Could Boost Patient Portal Use

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Administrator

Provisions for separate payments for chronic care management (CCM) services included in the 2015 Medicare Physician Fee schedule support more flexibility in communications between healthcare provider and patient, notes Rick Hindmand, attorney with McDonald Hopkins, including the use of patient portals.

Hindmand, whose law firm advises a nationwide client base extensively on healthcare reimbursement, outlines communication scenarios expected to qualify for CCM service payments as well as suggestions for segmenting care transition management services provided under CCM and a second CMS initiative.

Rick Hindmand advised physician practices on how to best structure their organizations to optimize CCM reimbursement during a November 19, 2014 webinar, Chronic Care Management Medicare Reimbursement: New Revenue Opportunities for Care Coordination, a 45-minute program sponsored by The Healthcare Intelligence Network.

Length: 5:16 minutes

Case Management Focus on Care Transitions Helps to Halve 30-Day Medicare Rehospitalizations

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Administrator

Caldwell UNC Health Care case managers embedded in primary care practices take patient follow-up seriously, calling 90 percent of individuals who visit the ED and almost all discharged from a hospital stay, explains Melanie Fox, director of the Caldwell Physician Network Embedded Case Management program at Caldwell UNC Health Care. In particular, connecting with the recently discharged has helped her organization to reduce 30-day rehospitalizations from 19.16 percent in 2012 to 9.69 percent in 2013. If that crucial transition of care is well managed, all other goals for the patient should fall in line, she notes.

In this audio interview, Ms. Fox describes the 12-point checklist for the recently discharged and offers advice on engaging providers and staff before the case manager even settles in at physician practice.

Melanie Fox will describe how Caldwell UNC Health Care’s managers embedded in primary care practices and work sites are improving the quality of care and reducing healthcare costs during a September 25, 2014 webinar, Embedded Case Management in Primary Care and Work Sites: Referral, Stratification and Protocols, a 45-minute program sponsored by The Healthcare Intelligence Network.

Length: 12:00 minutes

Hybrid Embedded RN Care Managers Target High-Cost, High-Utilization ‘VIPs’

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Administrator

When Sentara Medical Group determined its embedded RN care managers spent only 25 percent of their time on care management, it revamped its embedded model, explains Mary M. Morin, RN, NEA-BC, RN-BC, nurse executive with Sentara. In the new hybrid model, RN care managers support two to three practices and also visit high-cost, high-utilization patients at home, in the hospital and virtually.

At first, Sentara management balked at a perceived duplication of service between the RNs and home health nurses—until they saw the fruits of these patient encounters, which Ms. Morin describes in this audio interview. Home visits in particular allow RN care managers to assess the patient’s environment and meet the individual on their level, which lifts engagement in self-care, she notes.

Mary Morin will explain the motivation behind Sentara’s hybrid embedded case management model and the model’s impact on its highest risk population during a July 31, 2014 webinar, “A Hybrid Embedded Case Management Model: Sentara Medical Group’s Approach,” a 45-minute program sponsored by The Healthcare Intelligence Network.

Length: 8:28 minutes

Navigating Patients Pre-Discharge on Care Transitions

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Administrator

With hospital readmission rates under close scrutiny by CMS, Torrance Memorial Health System launched a readmission program in early 2013 that has been recognized as a program of excellence for its innovation and impact on the community. Navigators work with patients prior to discharge from the hospital to educate them on the hospital’s Care Transitions program, which includes a network of Skilled Nursing Facilities, or SNF’s and one home health agency. And once the patient is discharged, ambulatory case managers keep watch on the patients after the 30-day penalty phase is over.

Josh Luke, Ph.D., vice president of post acute services at Torrance Memorial Health System and founder of the California Readmission Prevention Collaborative and the National Readmission Prevention Collaborative, shared the key features of the program during Award Winning Readmission Prevention Protocols: Navigating Care Transitions with Preferred SNF and Home Health Providers, a 45-minute webinar on January 8th, 2014, at 1:30 pm Eastern.

Length: 12:55 minutes

Assessing Readmission Risk to Prioritize Home Visits for Complex Patients

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Administrator

Modifying a popular hospital admissions risk assessment tool for its own use helps Stanford Coordinated Care to prioritize home visits for its roster of high-risk patients, all of whom have complex chronic conditions, explains Samantha Valcourt, MS, RN, CNS, Stanford’s clinical nurse specialist. Stanford’s HARMS-11, based on Iowa Healthcare Collaborative’s HARMS-8 hospital risk screening tool, looks at individuals’ utilization, social support and medication issues, among other factors, to measure a patient’s risk of readmission.

The resulting home visits, a critical component of Stanford’s care transitions management program, help to uncover health challenges the complex chronic patient may still face, including four common medication adherence barriers Ms. Valcourt describes in this interview.

Samantha Valcourt shared how Stanford’s Coordinated Care uses a home visit assessment to improve care transitions post-discharge during a December 19, 2013 webinar, Home Visits: Assessing Complex Patients Post-Discharge To Reduce Readmissions.

Length: 6:28 minutes

Improving Population Health with Embedded Case Managers in an Open, Multi-Payor Community

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Administrator

There’s education, there’s experience, and then there’s the ‘right stuff’ — the indefinable personality traits that earmark an individual as a change agent, collaborator and ambassador of case management, says Annette Watson, senior vice president of community transformation for Taconic IPA (TIPA), of TIPA’s requirements for the RN case managers it hires for its advanced patient-centered medical homes.

Then there are the not insignificant contributions of the RN case manager to accountable and patient-centered care, which Ms. Watson describes in this interview.

While staff-buy-in and communication continue to challenge the embedded case manager model, the participant in CMS Innovation Center’s Comprehensive Primary Care (CPC) initiative says reimbursement for embedded case management is less of an obstacle today than in the past, due to funding-friendly care models and pilots descending from healthcare reform.

Ms. Watson shared how TIPA has successfully embedded case managers in an open, multi-payor community during an October 9, 2013 webinar, Improving Population Health with Embedded Case Managers in an Open, Multi-Payor Community.

Length: 8:36 minutes

Medicare Pioneer ACO Year One: Lessons from a Top-Performer

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Administrator

Lauded for its care coordination service, Monarch had to overcome a few challenges when retrofitting the Naylor Transition of Care (TOC) model for the ACO — among them insufficient patient access, patient skepticism and resource limitations. By focusing on readmissions reductions and four disease management conditions — ESRD, COPD, CHF and diabetes — and creating a care coordination team that included the newly created care navigator, case managers, and pharmacist, the organization has improved patient compliance, reduced negative drug interactions and hospital days and improved patients access to community services.

During Medicare Pioneer ACO Year One: Lessons from a Top-Performer, a September 18th webinar at 1:30 pm Eastern, Colin LeClair, executive director of ACO for Monarch HealthCare, shared first year lessons from its Medicare Pioneer ACO experience, how it evolved in year two and the impact on its organization’s participation in other accountable care organizations.

Length: 14:03 minutes

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