CMSA Releases Inaugural Case Study Featuring UCI Health

At the 2025 CMSA Annual Conference & Expo, CMSA proudly launched its inaugural case study, UCI Health Discharge Standardization: A Multidisciplinary Approach, developed in partnership with #CMSA2024 Poster Presenter Sandra Stein, MSN, RN, CCM, IQCI. This in-depth case study exemplifies CMSA’s commitment to showcasing real-world innovations in case management that drive better outcomes across complex care environments. 

UCI Health, the region’s only Level I trauma center and a cornerstone of tertiary and quaternary care in Southern California, faced significant operational challenges: high occupancy, record ED visits, and growing patient complexity. With overcrowding, delayed discharges, and communication breakdowns straining hospital resources, the organization recognized the need for a systemic solution. 

The answer? A multidisciplinary, case manager-led approach to standardizing the discharge process. Anchored by the use of Expected Discharge Dates (EDD) and a color-coded visualization tool within the Epic system, this initiative fostered real-time, team-based collaboration across nursing, pharmacy, therapy, social work, case management, and more. Daily discharge rounds, a discharge hospitality lounge, and partnerships with insurers and community resources further accelerated patient throughput and supported high-quality transitions of care. 

Key results from the initiative include: 

• A 23% increase in monthly discharges over 18 months 
• Improved EDD update rates and 97% accuracy at discharge 
• A 7% rise in patient satisfaction scores for discharge planning 
• Reduced length of stay and fewer long-stay outlier patients 

Most notably, case managers served as central drivers of this success—coordinating communication, anticipating discharge needs early, and uniting disciplines around a shared mission: safe, timely, patient-centered discharges. 

As CMSA continues to elevate the profession, this case study serves as both a learning tool and a source of inspiration, demonstrating how structured processes and empowered case management can deliver measurable change. 

Read the full case study now to explore the strategies, lessons learned, and replicable practices that make this initiative a model for hospitals nationwide: https://cmsa.org/cmsa-case-study-discharge-standardization/