Integration trend gains steam: how to avoid pitfalls when disciplines merge.
If your hospital hasn't already collapsed social work, utilization review, discharge planning, and other disciplines into case management, it's probably just a matter of time before it does, experts say. And whether or not the integration effort succeeds depends largely on the real motivation behind it. Simply mashing case management and utilization review together in an effort to cut costs--and corners--is likely to result in tension among all disciplines involved and may not be in the best interests of patients. At University Hospital in Denver, the case management team has partnered with the Office of Clinical Practice to form a unit that preserves the integrity of both case managers and quality managers while giving each group a better perspective on how their roles interrelate.
D019090:Case Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003120:Colorado; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D015274:Interdepartmental Relations; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013714:Tennessee; D014600:Utilization Review