Episodes of care:Should we have them?

Abstract

In this paper the authors discuss the introduction of ?episodes of care?, a new systemfor monitoring hospital-linked patient care services. They consider the proposal in thecontext of clinical, financial and technical frameworks. The authors conclude thathealth planners are likely to benefit from the introduction of this form of monitoring.The proposed change would also allow more accurate analysis of the true cost ofinterventions. However, it is likely to require significant investment in informationtechnology and there may be loss of patient confidentiality.

Cost drivers of public hospital occupational therapy outpatient care

“…While outpatient medical consultations or radiographic referrals are frequently completed in one occasion of service (Duckett & Jackson, 1993;Douglas, Ram Vemuri & Jianguo, 1996;Jackson, Sevill, Collard & Tate, 1996), episodes of ambulatory occupational therapy care often contain multiple occasions of service. In many hospitals, outpatient services are funded per occasion of service, irrespective of the time spent delivering the service, or the number of occasions of service required to address patients' problems.…”

“…In many hospitals, outpatient services are funded per occasion of service, irrespective of the time spent delivering the service, or the number of occasions of service required to address patients' problems. While outpatient medical consultations or radiographic referrals are frequently completed in one occasion of service (Duckett & Jackson, 1993;Douglas, Ram Vemuri & Jianguo, 1996;Jackson, Sevill, Collard & Tate, 1996), episodes of ambulatory occupational therapy care often contain multiple occasions of service. They frequently focus on rehabilitation of 'disability' ( WHO, 1997), and often need to be delivered over a period of time to optimise the rehabilitation process.…”