January
2004
Volume 28 •
No. 1
Wait for admission to write orders?
Patient
numbers will follow patients after Jan. 20
Patient account numbers assigned at the start of an episode of care will now remain with the patient until discharge, a change expected to streamline order- and charge-entry, simplify admissions, and reduce delays in patient care.
The new Account Number Retention Project was scheduled for launch Jan. 20 after months of preparation by more than a dozen departments, ranging from Patient Admitting and Information Technology to the Clinical Lab and Radiology, said Charles Dibble, assistant director of patient admitting.
In the past, the first characters of the patient's account number indicated the patient's current status - such as 01 for inpatient, 02 for the Emergency Department or 03 for an ambulatory surgery patient. If the patient's status changed, for example, from an ED patient to an inpatient admission, a new account number was created. Now patients retain the account number assigned at the beginning of their episode of care. (For example, a patient admitted from the E.D. will keep the 02 account number until discharge.)
"Account numbers will now be keyed to the episode, not the individual's current - and often temporary - medical status. We have better ways online to determine quickly the patient's status from LastWord, the patient information system. This new approach is more patient-centric," Dibble said.
Benefits to physicians and their patients include:
Orders no longer need to be printed, transcribed and verified every time
an emergency or observation patient is admitted.
Admitting physicians/teams can enter orders in LastWord on Emergency Department
patients without waiting for a new inpatient or observation account to
be created. "This was sometimes awkward and caused delays, because the
physician needed to determine the type of admission - inpatient or observation
- before the account could be created. If the patient's status changed
(for example, observation to inpatient), a new account had to be generated
and the orders had to be re-entered in Lastword," Dibble said.
Account numbers in effect on Jan. 20 will remain unchanged.
(Because of
reimbursement regulations, a new account will still need to be generated
if a patient is admitted or discharged from C1, G2, H2, even when the
patient is moved from another hospital unit, because the move is technically
a discharge and admission, Dibble said.)
Patient numbers will follow patients after Jan. 20
Physicians can help make new nurse ratio law an opportunity
Check those fax numbers - Phone numbers change often
Gastroenterologist Young crosses street and brings experience to Medical Board
Cancer Center progress continues
Hospital plans for flu contingencies and so should physicians
Deal
struck to provide lab services to Santa Clara IPA
AutoPulse
Resuscitation System
Bioengineering
receives Degree granting authority
