MedSWIS Software Hott Sheet

MedSWIS ANNOUNCES THEIR WORLDWIDE WEB SITE!

Our ‘Home Page’ is ready for your review! The MedSWIS Web address is: http://www.medswis.com and our e-mail address is: info@medswis.com.

Mecon is one of the largest hospital consulting firms nationally involved with "right sizing" employee numbers, and function, based upon current and future estimated patient levels. They have established criteria by which to benchmark or compare performances between hospitals and indicate "best practice" facilities to emulate.

The following MedSWIS Users have been members of the Mecon Task Force which was created to suggest improved measures for Social Work Services in inpatient and outpatient settings:

• Pat Anderson (U of WI)
• Jean Brown (U of Cinn)
• Scarlett Cardwell (U of NC Hospital)
• Laurie Groves (Med Ctr of Central Mass)

Non- MedSWIS Members:

• Joanna Gorczyca (Robert Wood Johnson - NJ)
• Dave Neal (U of MI - Mental Health)
• Chris Heck (Jewish Hosp of Cincinnati)
• Sandra Mullings (Emory - GA)
• Mary Norris (Orlando Regional Med Ctr)
• Cheri Plavnick (UCLA Med Ctr)
• Bob Miller (MedSWIS Software)
• Sally Ward (UHC Children’s Hospital)

Some of the key recommendations of the Task Force that Mecon has already adopted are listed here so that you can begin preparing for your next consultant visit!

SOCIAL WORK CASES: Refers to all patients that have had at least one contact with Social Work Services during the reporting period. The contact may be in person, by mail, via telephone, or through another person on behalf of the patient. Minimum time requirements are listed below, and case count is the total of the case sub-sets which follow.

INPATIENT SOCIAL WORK CASES: Refers to all inpatients having at least one contact with Social Work Services during a one-month reporting period directly or via contact with family, significant other, or an agency on behalf of the patient. Discussion of a patient during rounds does not constitute a case, and a patient is counted only once during the monthly reporting period even though they may have been seen by more than one worker. Supporting documentation is required and there is a ten (10) minute minimum contact time requirement. A patient that is counted as a case this month can be counted as a case next month if they are still in your facility active with a staff member. The new MedSWIS report "Unduplicated Case Count" in Version 4.2 was created to provide you with correct data for this area.[Ed: It is still valid, however, to have duplicate case counts]

Example: A patient is admitted to ICU, receives social services, and is transferred to Med Surg where discharge planning services are provided by another worker. The admission and transfer occurs in the same month. In this example the patient would be counted as ONE case.

SOCIAL WORK (EMERGENCY) CASES consists of all patients that receive Social Work Services in the Emergency Department. If the patient is subsequently admitted, the patient may also generate a count under the category of Social Work Inpatient Cases.

Example: A patient is seen in the Emergency Room by a staff member for crisis intervention and is later transferred to a hospital unit where another worker takes over. If this happened in the same month the case count would be TWO.

SOCIAL WORK (NON-EMERGENT) OUTPATIENT CASES falls into two categories; patients receiving face-to-face services, and patients receiving care management services. Each ten (10) minute minimum face-to-face service contact with the patient/significant other is counted as a case, and supporting documentation is required. Care management cases are counted only once per month, and is defined as outpatients receiving one or more Social Work services directly, via a significant other or agency on behalf of the patient, during a one month period where no contact was made in person. There is no minimum contact time requirement, but supporting documentation is required.

Examples of face to face case counts: 1) A dialysis outpatient seen twice a week over the course of a four week period would be counted as EIGHT cases for this one-month reporting period, with supporting documentation; 2) A patient comes into the department for a fifty (50) minute therapy session once per week for eight weeks and appropriate documentation is maintained. This patient case count for this monthly report would be FOUR in the current month and FOUR in the next month since they were seen on eight different occasions for ten minutes or more per face to face contact.

Example of a care management case count: A discharged patient requires phone follow-up on a weekly basis, with no contacts made in person, and appropriate documentation is maintained. Regardless of the number of phone contacts with the patient/significant other or community agencies the patient would count as ONE case in the current monthly reporting period, and as ONE case in the next reporting period, for as long as the case is active.

HOSPITAL SOCIAL WORK ENCOUNTERS refers to total patient encounters (direct contacts) by a social worker. An encounter can be directly with the patient, via a significant other, or an agency on behalf of the patient. Supporting documentation is required, and there is no minimum contact time requirement. Rounds or Chart Reviews do not count as an encounter. The MedSWIS fields patient contacts, family contacts, and collateral contacts, can be used to collect this information.

One of the goals of the Mecon Task Force is to facilitate a Special Interest Session at the Annual Conference in Phoenix sometime between May 3rd and May 7th, 1997. Mecon representatives have been invited to attend, and we hope that you can attend too. Look for updates as well as other Task Force activities in the Social Work Administration Bulletin Board.

If you have questions about the Task Force or if you would like to share pertinent information with it please pass the information on to the MedSWIS office.