Date: December 12th, 2024

Duration: 120 Minutes

Description:

Every hospital that accepts Medicare and Medicaid must comply with CMS discharge planning guidelines. These standards apply to all patients, not just those covered by these programs. CMS has established specific discharge planning policies and procedures, and this webinar will detail the required elements and the rationale behind CMS’s updates to these standards.

Led by industry expert Laura A. Dixon, this session will delve into the IMPACT Act and its implications for hospital discharge planning, including standardized assessment, quality data, and resource data requirements. Hospitals are obligated to assist patients with post-discharge care options, such as home health services, skilled nursing facilities, long-term care hospitals, and inpatient rehabilitation facilities, with the exception of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs).

Patients have the right to timely access their medical records, which must include details about the discharge planning process, discharge instructions, and requirements. This webinar will also cover:

Topics Covered

• Transfers to other facilities
• Assessment of readmissions within 30 days
• Caregiver rights and recommendations
• Strategies for reducing preventable readmissions
• Timely discharge planning

Additionally, we will briefly discuss the discharge planning conditions of participation for Critical Access Hospitals, emphasizing their alignment with acute care hospital requirements.

Webinar Objectives

• Discuss the revised discharge planning requirements set by CMS for all hospitals, including
• Critical Access Hospitals.
• Understand how patients and physicians can request a discharge planning evaluation.
• Highlight the importance of providing hospitalization information to the physician or
• provider prior to the first post-hospital visit.
• Describe patients’ rights to timely access their medical records, including a copy of their discharge plan.

Webinar Agenda

• Introduction
• Deficiency data related to discharge planning
• Overview of the discharge planning process and the IMPACT Act
• Identification of patients requiring discharge planning
• Role of support persons
• Considerations for incapacitated patients
• Detailed discharge planning process
• Responsibilities of RNs, social workers, or qualified individuals in developing evaluations
• Timeliness of evaluations
• Discussion of evaluations with patients or their representatives
• Documentation of discharge evaluations in medical records
• Implementation of the discharge plan
• Reassessment of discharge plans
• Freedom of choice for post-acute care providers
• Transfer or referral processes
• Discharge planning requirements for Critical Access Hospitals
• Metrics for discharge planning
• Appendix and Resources

Who Should Attend

• Discharge planners
• Transitional care nurses
• Social workers
• All staff nurses involved in patient discharges
• Chief nursing officers
• Nurse educators
• Chief operating officers
• Chief medical officers
• Physicians
• Risk managers
• Regulatory/Compliance officers
• Utilization review nurses
• Joint Commission coordinators
• Chief executive officers
• Nurse managers
• Performance improvement directors
• Health information directors
• Patient safety officers
• Anyone involved in redesigning the discharge process to prevent unnecessary readmissions.

About Our Speaker

Laura A. Dixon recently served as the Regional Director of Risk Management and Patient Safety for Kaiser Permanente Colorado where she provided consultation and resources to clinical staff. Prior to joining Kaiser, she served as the Director, Facility Patient Safety and Risk Management and Operations for COPIC from 2014 to 2020.

In her role, Ms. Dixon provided patient safety and risk management consultation and training to facilities, practitioners, and staff in multiple states. Such services included creation of and presentations on risk management topics, assessment of healthcare facilities; and development of programs and compilation of reference materials that complement physician-oriented products.