What is observation care? Clearing up common misperceptions

From the 4 February 2013 article at KevinMD.com

o treat observation care as simply a loophole that allows hospitals to avoid the Medicare penalties from readmissions — as Brad Wright, an assistant professor of health management and policy at the University of Iowa did earlier this month — is to take a short-sighted approach to a complex health issue.

 

Observation care in fact aims to address several of healthcare’s thorniest challenges head on. In the process, a well-run observation unit can not only help reduce hospital readmission rates, but it can reduce crowding and speed throughput in the ER, save patients an extended first hospital admission (let alone a re-admission), and perhaps most importantly, improve patient outcomes.

To see how, and to clear any misconceptions some like Wright could have about observation care, it might be helpful to do some Q&A.

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Read the entire article here

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• Can Patient-Centered Care Reduce Hospital Readmissions? (healthblawg.typepad.com)
• The Relationship Between Discharging Patients From the Hospital Too Early and the Likelihood of a 30 Day Readmission: Treat, Street and Repeat. (diseasemanagementcareblog.blogspot.com)
• D. Brad Wright: Penalizing Hospitals for Re-admissions: Will It Work? (huffingtonpost.com)
• Positive nursing environments reduce readmissions (medicalstaffingnetwork.wordpress.com)