Fearless Editing:

Hidden opportunities to improve profits in the healthcare industry abound in the area of discharge planning. The Discharge Planning Handbook for Healthcare: Top Ten Secrets to Unlocking a New Revenue Pipeline provides innovative new solutions that will show hospital administrators how to turn one of the most antiquated aspects of healthcare into one of the most productive. The performance-improvement concepts and approaches discussed in this volume balance all aspects of existing business models and provide a new approach to managing the discharge planning process. Management engineer and Six Sigma Black Belt Ali Birjandi and registered nurse and administrative director Lisa M. Bragg employ innovative solutions to help readers: Redefine the concept of discharge planning Assign the proper metrics The COS-Q snapshot - a new tool for success Employ Lean concepts in redesign Apply a practical approach to improvement Create a culture that produces results An extended case study invites managers and administrators to take an interactive approach to the learning and applying of these concepts. A spreadsheet tool is included to help readers stay on task in their quest to improve efficiency and quality of care. The approach and methods taught in this book have led to dramatic results in a number of institutions. When adopted by your organization, they can help to improve performance and boost revenue.

Carolyn Dale, M.C. (University of Washington) is currently an associate professor at Western Washington University in the journalism department. She has taught editing, writing and magazine staff courses at the university level for 20 years and has worked as a newspaper reporter and editor and consultant for online media. Tim Pilgrim, M.A., Ph.D. (University of Washington), is also an associate professor at Western Washington University in the journalism department. He has newspaper and online consulting experience and has taught college-level newswriting and editing for 25 years at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.

Acknowledgments, Introduction, 1 Concepts: A Time for Editing, 2 Priority: Shaping Stories on the Page, 3 Clarity: The Poetic Heading, 4 Working with Words-and Their Writers, 5 Shaping Beautiful Writing, 6 Components of Story Packages, 7 Editing Images, 8 Color, 9 Typography, 10 Clarity with Data: Informational Graphics, 11 Layout and Design, 12 Balancing Community Interests: Ethics and Law, Index