ALC Presentation & Dinner Meeting
An education session was held on July 4, 2019, designed for physicians to gain a greater understanding of Alternate Level of Care (ALC) Designation. The objective of the meeting was to help support healthy relationships between physicians and front-line staff, specifically the Patient Care Coordinators and Transition Liaison (TL) Nurses. The aim of this education session, designed for physicians, was to gain a greater understanding of the ALC designation and to provide a venue to discuss how it impacts physicians.
Presenter: Renee LaRochelle, ALC Regional Knowledge Coordinator
Presenter: Kathy Derita, Access and Flow Practice Lead
Co-ordinator: Lynn Gerein, VJH Health Service Director
Objectives of the meeting:
• Gain awareness of the Mandated requirements for ALC Designation reporting
• Develop an understanding of why we do ALC Designation & Z-coding
• Gain clarity of the Role of the ALC Designator and Interprofessional Team
• Become familiar with how the ALC Decision is made.
• Aware of the current state of ALC Designation Decision Accuracy across IH
• Question and answer period
There was ample opportunity for discussion between physicians and site and IH administration on this topic. Some of the key points received were:
1) Regional ALC coding procedures are based on national CIHI (Canadian Institute of health information) guidelines.
2) ALC coding should be reviewed daily for all hospital inpatients.
3) ALC coding is meant to be a clinical decision and according to CIHI was originally intended to be made by the most appropriate “physician or his/her delegate.” At VJH, ALC coding is determined by the TL and does not require physician consent or approval nor consensus from the multidisciplinary team.
4) Physicians would like to see more collaboration between the MRP and those designating ALC coding (TLs) prior to coding status changes.
The meeting was well received by the physicians attending. To view a pdf of the presentation click here.