Transitions : Handbook of Managed Care for Inpatient to Outpatient Treatment

This is the first book devoted to the steps from hospital discharge to outpatient therapy. Structured interventions are provided along with the pitfalls and roadblocks that threaten smooth transitions. The focus on the continuity of care goes beyond traditional aftercare planning and use of referral networks. The authors critically examine problems arising from schedule delays, selection of inappropriate therapies, relapse and rehospitalization, unauthorized disclosure of the case file, agency bureaucracy, and damaged therapist-client relationships. Case examples further illuminate failures of improper case management in contrast to step-by-step positive alternatives. The solutions offered are related to clients with specific hospitalized disorders (anxiety, anorexia, substance abuse) and special populations (children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly). Never before has a single work exposed the precarious transitions between programs and informed both clients and providers of ways to overcome mistakes by following simple guidelines.