Page 65 - Hospitalists - Risks When You're the Doctor in the House (Part One)

SVMIC Hospitalists - Risks When You’re the Doctor in the House

• Provisions for follow-up care including appointments,

statements of how care needs will be met, and plans for
additional services (eg, hospice, home health assistance,

skilled nursing)

This minimal content should be augmented by information
critical to the aftercare providers. Utilizing a template for

discharge summaries is helpful to ensure inclusion of relevant
information. Any discharge summary template should identify all

incomplete testing, including laboratory, and the date by which
a result is anticipated.

Several computer-based innovations designed to improve the
discharge summary process or notification of pending tests at

discharge have been developed, but issues involving cost and
end-user adoption need further consideration. The Office of the

National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)
supported a pilot project to develop standardized data sets for

transitions of care between acute and post-acute care sites and
to measure the impact of those exchanges on healthcare service

utilization, but these types of innovation are not universally
available at this time.

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