Care Coordination

Care Management

Phone: 208-245-7628

Care ManagementCare Managers are advocates for the patients and help them understand their current health status, what they can do about it, and why those treatments are important.

We assist our patients with access to care and appropriate use of available resources. For all patients requiring assistance with discharge planning, transfers to other facilities, assistance at home or needing additional equipment at home, we help ensure an effective progression of care, appropriate level of care and safe transition to home or alternate living. This often involves coordination and communication with the patient and family, physician, insurances, and community resources that provide services the patient may need. Our goal is to ensure both optimal patient and hospital outcomes, including quality of care, efficient resource utilization, and reimbursement for services.

Each patients chart is reviewed daily to assure that the patient is in the appropriate admission “status” and level of care for the patients clinical condition. We work very closely with our Primary Care Physicians to assure that the admission transitions appropriately.

Our Care Management department provides a personalized service for our patients. Often, we know our patients and they know us, familiarity smooths out the communications and allows us to offer that extra understanding of discharge needs that may only arise in a rural setting. We will call post-discharge to verify if there are additional needs that were not identified at the time of discharge and assist with those arrangements or answer those questions. If an answer is not clear, we will contact your physician and obtain an answer for you.

Care Management is available Monday – Friday 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and on-call on the weekends.

Swing Bed Program

Why Benewah Community Hospital

Since 2012, BCH has participated in the Hospital Engagement Network. This three-year national quality program has its goal of a 40% reduction of any patient harm that occurs during a patient’s hospital stay, as well as reducing preventable re-admissions by 20%. BCH monitors and submits data that demonstrates:

  • No Catheter Acquired Urinary Tract Infection for 3 years
  • No Central Line Acquired Blood Stream Infection for 3 years
  • Maintenance of our 30-day readmission rate for all causes at 5% (compared to national rate of nearly 20%)
  • No hospital-acquired Pressure Ulcers (Stage 2 or greater) in 3 years
  • No hospital-acquired Venous Thromboembolism (pulmonary embolism or deep vein blood clots that develop in the hospital)
  • Overall infection rate 0.3% (national average is 0.86%)
  • Surgical site infection rate of 0.56% (national average of 0.81%)

What is a Swing Bed Program?

A swing bed is a 24 hour skilled nursing care, plus the benefit of “rehabilitation” therapies to help patients transition to home or a long term care facility. Swing beds can be utilized to help recover from surgery, illness, or accidental injury.
In rural areas where access to services may be limited, patients may need more care and support before discharge to home. The BCH Swing Bed Program is designed to provide patients with a higher level of individualized, in hospital care and physical rehabilitation to help them reach an optimal level of functioning. This comforting alternative allows the patient to stay in the hospital and eliminate any stress of relocating. If you or anyone you know is hospitalized in a facility away from home, he/she may be eligible to be transferred to BCH for a swing bed stay.

Who will provide care?

A swing bed team is comprised of highly skilled health care professionals.

  • The patients physician
  • Nurses
  • Social Services
  • Case Management
  • Dietician
  • Physical, Occupational, or Respiratory Therapists

As a team, we follow a written plan of care to help each patient achieve and maintain an optimum level of independent functioning. Swing Bed patients play an active role in their recovery. They are encouraged to wear everyday clothes as they complete therapy and participate in activities and exercises. Guided by the caring staff, patients practice skills of daily living: eating, dressing, grooming, personal hygiene, and household tasks. The Swing Bed team welcomes families to visit frequently and to bring books, games, and hobbies for their loved ones to enjoy.