TREA

System and method for managing discharge workload in healthcare environment

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Information

  • Patent Application
  • 20070142713
  • Publication Number
    20070142713
  • Date Filed
    December 15, 2005
    18 years ago
  • Date Published
    June 21, 2007
    17 years ago
Information
Abstract
A computerized system and method for determining a discharge workload score for a patient and a discharge planner is provided. A first discharge data element for a patient is received and assigned a first value. A second discharge data element for the patient is received and assigned a second value to the second discharge data element. The first and second values are utilized to determine a discharge workload score for the patient. The one or more patients for a care planner are determined. The workload score for each of the one or more patients is accessed and the workload scores are utilized to determine an overall workload score for the care planner.
Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:



FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an operating environment for use with an embodiment of the present invention;



FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating the documentation of discharge activity by a case manager in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;



FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for calculating and reporting a workload score for a patient in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;



FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for filtering activity score reports for display in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;



FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for determining a workload score for a discharge planner in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;



FIG. 6 is an exemplary screen for the input of discharge data for a patient in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and



FIG. 7 is an exemplary screen displaying the discharge workload for case managers at a healthcare facility in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.


Claims
  • 1. A method in a computerized environment for determining a discharge workload score for a patient, the method comprising: receiving a first discharge data element for a patient;assigning a first value to the first discharge data element;receiving a second discharge data element for the patient;assigning a second value to the second discharge data element; andutilizing the first and second values to determine a discharge workload score for the patient.
  • 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the discharge elements are selected from the group comprising documentation of a discharge activity, documentation of durable medical equipment for the patient, documentation of location patient is discharged to, documentation of condition of patient, time spent by discharge planner on discharge activities for patient, education provided to patient and combinations thereof.
  • 3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a discharge workload score for the patient comprises summing the first and second values.
  • 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a third discharge data element for a patient; andassigning a third value to the third data element.
  • 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: utilizing the first, second and third values to determine a discharge workload score for the patient.
  • 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second values for the first and second discharge data elements are accessed from one of a table or database.
  • 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the workload score for the patient is stored in the patient's electronic medical record.
  • 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: utilizing all values for discharge data elements for the patient to determine the workload score for the patient.
  • 9. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for causing a computing device to perform the method of claim 1.
  • 10. A method in a computerized environment for determining a workload score for a care planner in a healthcare environment, the method comprising: determining one or more patients for a care planner;accessing the workload score for each of the one or more patients; andutilizing the workload score for each of the one or more patients to determine an overall workload score for the care planner.
  • 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: displaying the overall workload score for the care planner.
  • 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: determining the total time spent by the care planner documenting discharge data for the one or more patient's of the care planner.
  • 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: displaying the total time spent by the care planner documenting discharge data.
  • 14. The method of claim 10, further comprising: determining one or more patients for a second care planner;accessing the workload score for each of the one or more patients of the second care planner;utilizing the workload score for each of the one or more patients of the second care planner to determine an overall workload score for the second care planner; anddisplaying the overall workload score calculated for both of the care planners.
  • 15. The method of claim 10, wherein the workload scores for each of the one or more patients of the care planner are accessed from the electronic medical records of the patients.
  • 16. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for causing a computing device to perform the method of claim 10.
  • 17. A computerized method for displaying workload scores for multiple discharge planners in a healthcare environment, the method comprising: receiving a request to display workload scores for one or more discharge planners;accessing an overall workload score for the one or more discharge planners; anddisplaying the overall workload scores for the one or more discharge planners.
  • 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: displaying the overall workload scores for all discharge planners.
  • 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising: displaying the overall workload scores for specified discharge planners.
  • 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising: displaying the workload scores for the one or more discharge planners that satisfy the filter criteria.
  • 21. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for causing a computing device to perform the method of claim 17.