Case Management

The field of case management is rapidly evolving as hospital leaders look to case managers to help them meet a host of new regulatory requirements and financial goals. But too often this has put undue pressure on case managers and taken focus off their most important job—coordinating care.

Q: What is uncompensated care and how is it calculated on a hospital-by-hospital basis? 

A hospital case manager tries to get a power wheelchair for her elderly father and runs into roadblocks along the way.

CMS recently announced a new category of payment programs: the Primary Cares Initiative. Within a few years, CMS expects 25% of primary care providers to join one of the five voluntary payment models.

Q: What is the difference between the terms "health literacy" and "language literacy"? 

There are some changes to the Beneficiary and Family Centered Care-Quality Improvement Organization’s (BFCC-QIO) program, and if you’re one of the organizations affected by the changes, you may need to update your patient notices to reflect them.

Q: What is the difference between "wholistic" and "holistic" care as these terms apply to case management?

If you’re feeling drained and uninspired at work lately, you’re not alone. A survey published in the June 4 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine found that burnout among doctors costs the U.S. healthcare system some $4.6 billion each year due to turnover and reduced clinical hours.

Q: How can case managers better define and differentiate between a patient's capacity and a patient's competence?

Despite the presence of clear guidelines for ethics committees, these working groups vary considerably across institutions.