Case Managers Views on the Role of Respiratory Therapists in Discharge Planning

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the views of case managers (CMs) regarding the involvement of the respiratory therapists (RTs) in discharge planning for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the potential impact the RTs might have on reducing readmissions rates for the patient with COPD. The problem is that the RTs are excluded from the discharge planning teams. The 12 CMs, from nine different states, interviewed for this study possessed at least 1 years of experience in discharge planning of patients with COPD from acute care hospitals. Case managers are the discharge coordinators who initiate the discharge planning immediately upon the patient’s admission to the hospital and are an integral part of the multidisciplinary team that cares for the patient. They connect the patient, family, and caregivers with the appropriate resources based on the plan of care for the patient upon discharge to ensure seamless transition. Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, their responsibilities increased because of the need to prevent patient readmission within 30 days postdischarge (Shah et al., 2016). In 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) added patients with COPD to the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP), which was established in 2012 for patients with the pneumonia, acute myocardial infarction, and heart failure diagnosis (CMS, 2015). The goal of the HRRP was to reduce 30-day readmission rates in this patient population.