Care Coordination/Care Management in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania’s Patient Bill of Rights affords every patient the right, upon request, to be given the name of his attending physician, the names of all other physicians directly participating in the patient’s care, and the names and functions of other health care persons having direct contact with the patient.1 Additionally, patients may be afforded additional rights regarding the coordination of their care depending on the type of facility the patient is located in. For instance, patients in older adult daily living centers also have the right to participate in the development and implementation of his or her individual plan of care.2 Patients in outpatient facilities have the right to be informed of the identity of the physician primarily responsible for his or her care, as well as to be informed of the extent of participation of trainees and other physicians in the care regimen.3 For patients in birth centers, the facility must ensure that the patient’s record accompanies the mother and newborn during any transfers within the facility4; additionally, any expecting mother that is enrolled in the Healthy Beginnings PLUS Program will be provided a care coordinator that acts as a facilitator of multidisciplinary communications and arranges for transmission of the mother’s prenatal records to the expected hospital of delivery.5