Where The Needs Of Others Come First · Available 24x7 For Emergencies
Medicare Advises Working with a Geriatric Care Manager in Del Mar to Avoid Readmission
In July, we brought you a post on hospital readmission—one of the most frustrating problems facing both hospitals and their patients. Now, Medicare is seeking to force hospitals to come up with their own solutions to the readmission problem or else pay high fines. According to experts, one of the best ways to make sure seniors stay home after leaving the hospital is to get a geriatric care manager in Del Mar involved before discharge in order to help with the transition.
High Readmission Rates Penalized
Government programs often have to decide between handing out incentives or penalties to keep their operations working smoothly. In this case, Medicare has come down solidly on the penalty side, charging hospitals steep monetary fines if they fail to get their readmission rates under control. This approach makes sense because Medicare loses money when seniors have to be hospitalized again. Often, the additional stay could have been avoided with better attention to prescription instructions and other doctors’ orders.
Ideal Situation for a Geriatric Care Manager in San Diego County
Helping seniors adjust to a new set of requirements in order to recover from a hospital visit is just what a geriatric care manager in San Diego County is trained to do. A manager can listen closely to doctors’ orders before discharge, devise a plan for adhering to those orders, organize transportation to follow-up appointments, appoint an in-home caregiver to help with rehab exercises, and take care of the many other details necessary for a successful recovery.
Medicare Recognizes Value of GCMs
Medicare officials hope that GCMs will quickly become a major part of the hospital discharge process when the elderly are involved. In most cases, experts think that readmission could be avoided if a capable assistant were present to process instructions. In San Diego County, seniors and their family members have easy access to just such an assistant.
Originally posted 2013-10-08 10:30:24.
