Increasing Patient Cencus is Key To Turning Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit Around

Oct. 6, 2010 - PRLog -- The impact of changing federal regulations over the past five years has been hardfelt by this 70+-bed inpatient rehabilitation unit (IRU). With the loss of single joint orthopedics as a qualifying admission and then the loss of state Medicaid benefits in 2009 for inpatient rehabilitation, this 550-bed regional referral facility found it increasingly difficult to maintain budgeted census. Witnessing the negative effect of these regulations, the hospital’s chief executive officer asked B. E. Smith to help his rehab team understand and quantify the impact of the regulatory changes and develop a plan to put the IRU back on track.
Rehab leaders face a volume and pace of regulatory changes that leave them little time to
plan for how they will adjust their business and continue to maintain their margins while being in compliance. Determining how best to alter business practices to support changing regulations often requires asking some hard questions:
• How is your IRU leadership preparing for/ responding to regulatory and practice
changes?
• What new programs, practices or ideas have you implemented to maintain census?
• How long does it take to receive an admission decision from your IRU?
Upon assessing the situation, B. E. Smith's Rehab Consulting Interim  addressed the challenges and offered clear solutions to the facility. Find out how at http://www.besmith.com/healthcarecasestudies.aspx

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A leading provider of Healthcare Interim Leadership, Permanent Executive Placements and Consulting. B. E. Smith recently placed over 600 leaders into healthcare organizations worldwide. For more information, visit www.besmith.com or call 877.802.4593.