Category Archives: Acute Care Rehab

Investing in information systems is a costly endeavor and everyone involved asks the same question, “What will the return on investment be?” It’s no different in healthcare, and in the world of meaningful use, ROI is not discussed in terms of dollars but rather value to the organization in how these systems improve their ability to deliver on expectations or…
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Having recently returned from a sales meeting where I had the opportunity to discuss meaningful use and accountable care initiatives, I was struck by a sense of disconnect between those who use healthcare information technology and those who sell it. The focus of my discussion was upon the value of patient care as described by the change in the patient’s…
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With the first read of Pam Arlotto’s ”Rethinking Return on Investment: The Challenge of Accountable Meaningful Use,” healthcare providers are acquainted with what it will take to transform existing care delivery organizations to patient-centric, high quality, cost-efficient organizations to compete under the proposed Affordable Care Legislation.  Managing value will require a realignment of organizational culture and operations to achieve success. Management of…
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If you sign up for Medicare & Medicaid email updates, you will now and again get a message from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to your preferred mailbox.  I chose to do so because it’s easier than looking for new information. Delivered recently to my inbox was an updated message that more than five billion dollars has been saved…
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Each September Medicare publishes an excellent booklet that no beneficiary should be without and honestly, I feel no clinician should be without. Why? Because in fairly simple laymen terms this annual booklet describes, defines and provides countless resources for the patients we serve. In reality, it provides a baseline set of information that many clinical staff don’t seem to understand…
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I often get the opportunity to listen to the workflows and ‘ideal’ aspirations of those that chart on a daily basis in healthcare because of my position at MediServe. I get to work alongside innovation driven individuals moving to the next step of rehabilitation documentation. Everyone has some skin in the game and each discipline has very specific expectations. After…
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As with most, I have followed the standard that a patient must demonstrate functional improvement to be eligible for Medicare payment in post-acute rehabilitation settings.  Last month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service (CMS) agreed to changing this standard by recognizing that “maintaining” vs. “improving” a patient’s functional status is equally valid to justify eligibility for rehabilitation services.  This…
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Pay for performance has become a central strategy in the drive to improve health care. In fact, it was  a key component of a law that went before the Supreme Court earlier this year. The New England Journal of Medicine study published in April 2012, (http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1112351), found little evidence that pay for performance programs actually helped keep patients alive longer. Comparing outcome data…
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I have seen many different options for dispensing equipment that is “required” for a patients ADL use. The most important question is whether we provide the item for home-going use; “Is the item a personal convenience item not generally covered by Medicare?” If it is categorized as personal convenience, what is the medically necessary rationale for the facility to provide…
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The FDA is updating its position and regulatory control of decision-support software. Since 1989, the use of computer-based products and software-based products as medical devices has grown considerably and the FDA is now rethinking its position on computer-generated information resulting from primary patient data. How the data is collected, input into a computer, interpreted, analyzed and used has sparked much…
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