Hospital Alerts Product Guide & Best Practices

Hospital Alerts will notify your team members when a current or former patient visits the emergency room or is admitted to the hospital. Hospital Alerts are generated in real-time, meaning you should receive an alert that the patient is in the hospital within minutes of them entering the building. Alerts can typically be provided for all on-service patients and any patient your organization has cared for in the past 12 months. 

Best Practices:

• Your organization's champion should sign up to receive Hospital Alert email notifications.
• Your organization's Cortex Champion should review hospital alerts as quickly as possible, within 24 hours. Following the below best practice guidelines for patient reacquisition is recommended:
  • Review Cortex Reacquire Patient Opportunity alert. Specifically, look for:
    • Last time your organization cared for the patient
    • Reason for ED visit 
    • Patient Contact Information
    • Whether this is an opportunity to prevent a penalizing readmission for the hospital.
  • Determine if the patient is eligible for more care at your level of care
  • Reach out to the hospital
    • Generally, you want to talk to the case manager or social worker assigned to the patient in the ED (via phone or in person). Great opportunity to get to know case managers and form a relationship. 
    • Introduce yourself by saying:
      • “This is <name> calling from <location>. I just learned that one of our shared patients, <patient name> is in the ED. We cared for this patient <days since discharge> ago and have a bed/caregivers ready.”
  • If this is an opportunity to prevent penalizing readmission for the hospital, say:
    • “This patient was actually discharged from an inpatient stay <days since hospital discharge> ago. We’d love to help you avoid a penalizing readmission”.
  • Reach out to the patient/family member
    • Look through past notes to see if the patient is a self-caregiver or if someone in the family is the decision-maker. Call and say:
    • “This is <name> calling from <location>. I just learned that you might be back in the Emergency Department. I’d love to help.”
  • Start admissions process

Check out the flowchart below to learn how Hospital Alerts are generated.