The last thing you want to do after a stay at the hospital is to go back. When a hospital provides good quality care, the need for patients to go back and spend extra time in the hospital can sometimes be avoided. Some hospitals do better than others at keeping their patients from spending extra days in the hospital.

Take Mike: Mike has just gotten home from the hospital where she was treated for a heart attack. A few days later, she unexpectedly had to go back for more treatment. Mike spent two extra days in the hospital. But why did she need to go back? Could her return have been prevented? Mike might have had a new problem, but what if she wasn't ready to go home om the first place?

Hospitals that provide high-quality care give their patients the information, care, and the support they need before leaving, so they aren't as likely to spend extra days in the hospital. The CMS, the federal agency that runs Medicare, measures how many extra days patients spend in the emergency room, in observation, or as a patient in the hospital. Hospital can use this information to improve their services, reduce their patient's chance of needing to return, and measure their progress over time.

And you can use this information to compare how well hospitals keep their patients from spending extra days back in the hospital. Visit the hospital compare website and search for a hospital and get started. You can also help prevent a return to the hospital by asking the hospital staff and your doctor what you can do to reduce your chances of needing to go back. Ask questions! make sure you feel prepared before you leave the hospital. Visit hospital compare, talk to your healthcare team, and get the information you need to make healthcare decisions that are right for you.

Create a short story (Your own words that report the story heard above).

Include 5 specific pieces of data that Case Management would use in their basic job functions.

Underline the 5 pieces of data in your short story to signify their usefulness to Case Management. (Example: The patient Mike, was an inpatient.)

Evaluate the importance of health information data for the case management department.

Identify3 unique purposes for the data.

Assess why it is essential for case management functions.