CARIBOU — Cary Medical Center has been named a finalist of the Case in Point Platinum Awards, a program that recognizes the most successful and innovative case-management systems working to improve health care across the care continuum.
The awards program is produced by Dorland Health, the publisher of “Case in Point,” “Case in Point Weekly,” the “Case Management Resource Guide” and the Case in Point Learning Network. The program sets the standard for recognizing professionals and organizations that demonstrate sustained success across a variety of models and settings in the overarching spectrum of care coordination. The goal of case management in hospitals is to decrease fragmentation, ensuring safe transitions of care and containing escalating healthcare costs.
Cary Medical Center was one of nine hospitals and healthcare systems named a finalist in the national competition and the only one from Maine. Among the other finalists were the Cleveland Clinic Health System and Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Kris Doody, RN, and CEO of Cary, said that being named a finalist in the prestigious national competition alongside such respected organizations is an honor for the hospital and is the result of several years of effort.
“We recognized a number of years ago that we needed to put the patient at the center of care,” said Doody, who has led the effort to advance the hospital’s case-management program. “We wanted to be proactive in adapting to the changing healthcare environment.”
The advancing case-management program must work to seamlessly connect patients to whatever services they need, said Doody.
“This presents a unique challenge considering that today patients’ length of stay in the hospital is much shorter and patients often transition from one level of care to another,” Doody noted. “We wanted to develop a program that made this transition process safe, efficient and as comfortable as possible for the patient.”
One of the key areas of success for the hospital was the creation of a joint task force to review the entire case-management process. The initial effort focused on questions patients had about admission and discharge. The project pulled together a multi-disciplinary team to create a “welcome packet,” including a variety of information ranging from hospital discharge times to patients’ rights and general information about the hospital.
Sherry Wright, director of the hospital’s case-management program, cited other examples of how Cary has advanced the care of patients.
“Patients and families are at the center of our case-management process,” said Wright, who is a registered nurse. “Our case managers work with patients and families even prior to admission. In orthopedics cases when total joint surgeries are involved, case managers will often have skilled rehab arrangements already made before the patient even has the surgery.”
Another highlight of the case-management program at Cary is the establishment of daily patient rounding on all patients who are scheduled for discharge within 24 hours. Rounds are completed on each of the patients to assess any change in status. Each patient also receives a post-discharge phone call to assess how they are doing at home.
The hospital’s case-management program also works closely with out-patient case managers at Pines Health Services. Prior to patient discharge, the hospital case manager will contact the primary-care physician’s office. The outpatient case manager then follows up with the patient after they leave the hospital to assess their status.
Jim Davis, chief executive officer at Pines, said that the integration of the hospital and primary-care-based case management has been a great benefit to patients.
“The coordination of care that exists between Cary and Pines through the case-management program helps to assure that patients get the appropriate follow-up in regard to post-hospital visits with their healthcare provider, answers to questions about medications or other issues,” Davis commented. “The program is vital to supporting the patient during the transition from the hospital to home or other level of care.”
The success of Cary Medical Center’s case-management program has not only led to significant improvements in patient care, including reducing the average length of stay for patients in the hospital, but it has also improved patient satisfaction scores.
“We are so pleased with the high level of patient satisfaction reflected in our patient survey,” said Doody. “We are so proud of our staff and particularly our nurses and case managers who have been so committed to this process, which has led to this national recognition. Awards are always nice, but it’s taking care of the patient that really counts, and it is just the right thing to do.”
Cary will be recognized alongside the other finalists in the fourth annual Case in Point Platinum Awards event on Tuesday, May 7, at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md.
