The community case management program: for 12 years, caring at its best.
One of the most complex issues currently under debate in this country is how best to provide health care for our society. Since 1995, Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, has been effectively addressing one facet of this national crisis by providing services to a population of primarily elderly, chronically ill individuals perpetually caught in the gaps between acute and end-of-life services. Community case managers link program participants with appropriate health care services and providers that enhance physiological and functional status, identify resources that enrich quality of life, and encourage relationships and skills which foster self-efficacy. By emphasizing timely access to health-maximizing services, this program documented an impressive 81% reduction in financial losses to the organization during 2006 for emergency and inpatient services provided to a specific sample from this population.
Poudre Valley Hospital, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
Cyndy Hunt
CH
Luzinski
Eleanor
E
Stockbridge
Janet
J
Craighead
Deborah
D
Bayliss
Marie
M
Schmidt
Janice
J
Seideman
D000368:Aged; D019090:Case Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003120:Colorado; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000517:prevention & control; D018575:Home Care Services, Hospital-Based / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D016294:Models, Nursing; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009720:Nurse Clinicians / Q000458:organization & administration; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000458:organization & administration; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010351:Patient Discharge; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000517:prevention & control; D012944:Social Support