Three Kansas Hospitals Adopt New MCG Solution to Improve Care Quality and Documentation of Medical Necessity

SEATTLE, Feb. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Three hospitals in Kansas are among half a dozen facilities that have licensed Indicia for Case Management since its launch last June. MCG (formerly Milliman Care Guidelines), a leading provider of clinical guidelines to payor and provider markets, developed the solution to help hospitals drive optimal outcomes and improve documentation of medical necessity.

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"Indicia for Case Management will help our care coordination team promote quality outcomes for our patients," says Cathy Pimple, Chief Quality Officer at Emporia-based Newman Regional Health. "Our case managers are excited about having quick and easy access to MCG's evidence-based clinical guidelines."

Indicia for Case Management was designed with hospital case managers in mind, enabling them to track, document, and report on care management decisions throughout a patient's stay. The tool's reporting capability helps hospitals identify potential gaps in care, capture variances, and discover opportunities for targeted improvements.

"We have gone from an archaic paper-based system to a tool that allows us to run reports, track and trend, and give our physicians more accurate information about the admission criteria and expected length of stay relevant to each patient's case," says Vikki Mader, Health Information Management Director at Pratt Regional Medical Center. "We couldn't be more pleased."

Others agree that Indicia for Case Management has tremendous potential to drive care quality while protecting revenue. Klare Givens, Utilization Review/ EMR Provider Facilitator at Norton County Hospital says, "We look forward to the change Indicia for Case Management will bring, helping us give patients higher quality care while meeting criteria for medical necessity."

MCG leadership echo the growing enthusiasm around the company's newest provider-focused solution. "Indicia for Case Management provides case managers a rich evidence-based resource to guide clinical decision-making in the hospital," says Jon Shreve, President of MCG. "Well-documented decisions that drive optimal outcomes are the common goal of everyone involved in a patient's health journey."

About Newman Regional Health
Located in Emporia, Kansas, Newman Regional Health is a 53-bed general acute care hospital that includes an eight-bed acute rehabilitation care center and five physician office clinics. Newman provides a wide range of inpatient and outpatient medical and surgical services, including a comprehensive breast care center, 24-hour STEMI center and cardiovascular catheterization lab, wound care clinic, hospice, urgent care clinic, and medical equipment stores. Newman operates on a not-for-profit basis and is owned by the people of Lyon County.

About Pratt Regional Medical Center
Pratt Regional Medical Center, located in Pratt, Kansas, is a not-for-profit facility owned by the citizens of Pratt County and managed by Pratt Regional Medical Center, Inc. A progressive medical center serving south central Kansas and the panhandle of Oklahoma, it comprises a 69-bed acute care facility, 51-bed short- and long-term care facility, home health agency, rural health clinics, and specialty physician clinics.

About Norton County Hospital
Norton County hospital is a 25-bed critical access hospital and rural health clinic providing medical services to the residents of Norton County and surrounding Kansas and Nebraska communities. One hundred and thirty dedicated and skilled employees complement a medical staff of four physicians and four mid-level practitioners in providing all levels of inpatient care and a broad range of outpatient ancillary services.

About MCG
MCG, formerly Milliman Care Guidelines and now part of the Hearst Health network, independently develops and produces evidence-based clinical guidelines and software used by more than 2,200 clients, including 1,200 hospitals and 8 of the 10 largest U.S. health plans. Updated annually by an experienced team of clinicians, the care guidelines support the care management of a majority of Americans. For more information, visit www.careguidelines.com.

The Hearst Health network also includes FDB (First Databank), Zynx Health, and Homecare Homebase. The mission of the Hearst Health network is to help guide the most important care moments by delivering vital information into the hands of everyone who touches a person's health journey. To learn more about the Hearst Health network, read the Hearst press release.

Media Contact
Nancy Narraway
MCG
Tel +1 206 389 5405
[email protected]

SOURCE MCG