Hospital leaders consider case management a top priority

Community hospital CEOs and C-suite executives consider case management the second most important strategic initiative, according to a survey conducted by Curaspan Health Group.

On a 1-to-10 scale, the respondents ranked clinical care highest with a score of 9.3, while case management scored 8.4. Functions often included in case management, such as utilization management and denials management, scored 8.1 and 7.5, respectively.

The results suggest that while the more narrow case management functions matter, what matters more to hospital leadership is how they all work together, writes Jackie Birmingham, RN, MS, is vice president of regulatory monitoring and clinical leadership at Curaspan Health Group said in a column published in Curaspan Connections.

Improving postacute relationships

Although Birmingham was pleased to see that hospital leaders value case management, she was disappointed that they ranked networks with postacute providers last, scoring 6.9. The ranking was particularly odd because respondents ranked transition management fourth, scoring 7.7.

“You can’t have effective transition management—or case management, for that matter—without postacute providers,” Birmingham writes.

Birmingham encourages case managers to make sure their facilities have strong relationships with postacute providers and that hospital leadership appreciates the value of that network.

If every patient seems like a hard-to-place patient, you need to expand your network, she adds. Consider technology if turnaround on referrals takes a long time and information is falling through the cracks. Hospitals can significantly decrease delay days if they invest in building efficiencies with their postacute providers.

With a tuned-up network in place, case managers can highlight its value to hospital leadership. Collect and distribute data that shows how reduced placement time has helped cut LOS by cutting down delay days and how more targeted placements have trimmed preventable readmissions.