Patient Flow Enewsletter
Volume 1, Issue 3
Thursday, February 26, 2004
In this Issue
:- Perspectives: Mandatory Staffing Ratios and EDs in California
- Best Practices: The Tech Advantage: Using IT To Improve Patient Flow
- Site Interview: California Endowment's Robert Ross on San Diego's Safety Net Challenges
- Innovations: Unclogging the ED by Carving Out Space for a New Unit
Perspectives
Mandatory Staffing Ratios and EDs in California
In an effort to help combat ED crowding problems, the California Department of Health Services created a new mandate regarding nurse-to-patient ratio, which took effect on January 1, 2004. Hospitals throughout the state are struggling to meet these new requirements, but it's not just Californians that are likely to be affected. All eyes are on California - eagerly awaiting the mandate's implications nationwide.
Best Practices
The Tech Advantage: Using IT To Improve Patient Flow
Technology has changed the way physicians practice modern medicine, and even how major care providers operate. Through creative use of information technology (IT) it is possible to increase efficiency, even in the face of ED crowding. Dr. Ted Chan, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, discussed how integration of computer systems and use of IT solutions improved his facility's ED efficiency.
Site Interview
California Endowment's Robert Ross on San Diego's Safety Net Challenges
Faced with a startling budget shortfall, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he will dramatically restructure Medi-Cal, the state's free health care program for poor and uninsured residents. Particularly hard hit could be San Diego County, where hospitals already provided more than $325 million in uncompensated care in 2002. Dr. Robert K. Ross, president and CEO of The California Health Endowment, shared his thoughts on bringing various viewpoints together to address the safety net in San Diego.
Innovations
Unclogging the ED by Carving Out Space for a New Unit
The Emergency Care Center at Grady Health System in Atlanta - like its counterparts nationwide - faced increasing demands with decreasing resources. An Urgent Matters demonstration grant allowed administrators to designate a seven-bed Care Management Unit to treat a core group of patients rather than admitting them to the hospital.
