SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATED PATIENT DISCHARGE PLANNING

摘要

A system and method for automated patient discharge planning is disclosed. Using the present invention, a primary care facility discharge planner may use an automated procedure to place a patient in a secondary care facility anywhere in the United States regardless of the target location. The system comprises computers (10, 12), local and wide area network connections (14, 18), and application programs for accessing local and national databases (16, 20) containing information regarding secondary care facilities located throughout the United States. The method comprises the steps of entering a target location (30), determining whether a local or national database is to be searched (32), locating candidate secondary facility records (34) and transmitting patient information to select candidate facilities (38, 42). Reduced reliance on manual placement procedures results in significant cost savings due to a reduction in the patient's length of stay in the primary care facility.