Center to Advance Palliative Care

For Patients and Families
Partner
Sponsor
 
  Print this page
Views

CAPC Palliative Care Discussion Forum
Staffing

Next Reply: Re:In-patient Palliative Care Program
Previous Message: Salary for RN or APN
Next Message: staffing and budget

Post In-patient Palliative Care Program
Author: Bmurray
Date: Feb 1, 2008 11:48 am
We are growing our in-patient Palliative Care Program but do not have a Medical Director at the present time. We are not billing for services, is a Medical Director a requirement?
Replies: order by [Date] [Author] [Subject]
Re:In-patient Palliative Care Program (by PCaines on 02/04/2008)
Depending on your state nursing practice act, payor regulations and hospital by-laws, an advanced practice nurse may bill for consults in the hospital setting. Some states require a collaborative agreement with a physician for this to occur. There are excellent resources about the topic of nurse billing on the CAPC website and on the Hospice and Palliative Care Nurses website (www.hpna.org). This varies from state to state.

A medical director is helpful for program development because of the relationships he/she has with medical staff and the perspecive of medical practice he/she brings to the palliative care program. A physician champion is a critical element for successful programs.

This response was provided by PCLC Faculty Member:
Lyn Ceronsky, MS, APRN, BC
System Director
Fairview Health System
Palliative Care Leadership Center
Minneapolis, MN
+ Re:In-patient Palliative Care Program (by tcousounis on 02/24/2008)
As the PCLC faculty state, a medical director is not required, but an inpatient consult program will increase its chances for success by having a physician champion. Inpatient consult programs that start as "community service" programs (without a physician champion and without a dedicated source of patient service revenue) frequently fail to "mature" - eventually the hospital finds alternative means to deliver better end-of-life care (such as making use of hospitalists already on staff) that demand less "financial sponsorship".
Tim Cousounis, Mdvantage Palliative Care Group.
www.palliativecarebilling.com

IMPORTANT: In order to post a new message or reply to an existing post in the discussion you must login. If you are not a registered member you may join here.
The statements posted in the forum section of capc.org are opinions expressed by website visitors and do not necessarily represent the viewpoints or positions of the Center to Advance Palliative Care(CAPC). CAPC is not responsible for the factual or legal accuracy of any of the statements posted.


General questions about using the CAPCconnect™ palliative care discussion forum? EmailPatricia.Caines@mssm.edu

Lost login username/password questions? Email: Margaret.Schutz@mssm.edu