TIP OF THE WEEK
Set targets and print OASIS progress charts on www.hhqi-star.org
A goal is a pinpointed destination. It is then a matter of mapping out the steps that will get you there.
With the Setting Targets, Achieving Results (STAR) Web site, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has provided home health agencies across the U.S. with access to a valuable tool for mapping out quality improvement target goals in the following focused clinical areas:
- Acute care hospitalization
- Emergent care
- Discharge to community
- Improvement in ambulation
- Improvement in bathing
- Improvement in dyspnea
- Improvement in transferring
- Improvement in management of oral medications
- Improvement in pain interfering with movement
- Improvement in status of surgical wounds
- Improvement in urinary incontinence
PUBLIC QUALITY MEASURE DATA (OASIS)
The STAR site is a helpful, quick resource for OASIS information on these publicly reported quality measures. The quality measures are derived from the OASIS (Outcome and Assessment Information Set) data set and are updated quarterly.
SETTING GOALS, ACHIEVING RESULTS
Go to www.hhqi-star.org for one-stop access for setting quality goals and printing reports. Every home health agency should sign up for the STAR site, set quality goals, and login regularly to chart progress or readjust targets. Even agencies that have already logged on and set goals should take a moment to set goals for 2007 now. Make sure your target date is for 2007.
If you’ve never used the STAR site, call the Ohio KePRO Home Health Team at 1.800.385.5080 to obtain your agency’s security code in order to begin.
RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT
Quick Step-by-Step Guide to Using the Home Health STAR Site
This small booklet helps Ohio home health agencies use the Home Health Setting Targets, Achieving Results (STAR) Web site.
To order, click here and select “Home Health” in the drop-down box. Then, scroll to the bottom and add the “Quick Step-by-Step Guide to Using the Home Health STAR Site” to your cart. Finally, proceed to checkout. All resources in the Ohio KePRO Shopping Bag are free of charge to Ohio healthcare providers. Please allow 10 business days to process your request.
REMINDER: Complete the 2007 Ohio Home Health Immunization Survey
Please take five minutes to complete the survey relating to your immunization practices. Ohio KePRO’s Home Health Team is re-measuring the immunization practices at Ohio home health agencies to compare with last year’s survey and we need your help. The results will be compared with last year’s survey to identify trends over time. Your answers are confidential.
IN THE NEWS
WOOD RIVER HOME PUTS FOCUS ON RESIDENTS' CHOICES
June 2, 2007 -- The Independent, NE -- This spring, a facility in Nebraska moved from offering breakfast at a set time with a set menu to offering an open breakfast, allowing residents to choose every day whether they want sausage or bacon and pancakes or French toast. It's a small step, but it's one of many the home is making to change from a stricter, more medically oriented culture to one that is centered on residents' choices, needs and relationships. Read more >>
RESEARCH PROBES SENIORS' PLANS FOR END-OF-LIFE CARE
June 6, 2007 -- Eurek Alert -- A study by University of Wisconsin-Madison sociologist Deborah Carr and her Rutgers University colleague Dmitry Khodyakov offers insight into a critical aspect of end-of-life planning: the choice to appoint a "health care proxy" who will make treatment decisions should a person become incapacitated. Writing in the June issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, the researchers report that education, religious attitudes and experience with a loved one's death - especially a painful death - are all powerful influences on this decision. Read more >>
SIMPLE TEST PREDICTS 6-YEAR RISK OF DEMENTIA
June 10, 2007 -- Eurek Alert -- A simple test that can be given by any physician predicts a person’s risk for developing dementia within six years with 87 percent accuracy, according to a study led by researchers at San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC). The test, developed in the study by the researchers, is a 14-point index combining medical history, cognitive testing, and physical examination. It requires no special equipment and can be given in a clinical setting such as a doctor’s office or at a patient’s bedside. Read more >>
MEDICARE QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ORGANIZATIONS RARELY IMPLEMENT HARSHEST PENALTIES, REPORT FINDS
June 12, 2007 -- Kaiser Network -- Quality improvement organizations, which are responsible for improving the quality of care given to Medicare beneficiaries, recommended corrective actions in 72 percent of cases with a confirmed quality concern but implemented the least severe corrective actions in 70 percent of those cases, such as monetary fines, referrals to licensing boards or exclusion from Medicare, according to a report released Friday by the HHS Office of Inspector General, CQ HealthBeat reports. Read more >>
COMING ATTRACTIONS
HOME HEALTH QUALITY AFFAIR: CELEBRATION OF YOUR SUCCESS
June 27, 2007, 9:00am to 3:00pm
Northeast Conference Center, Westerville, Ohio
We will be spotlighting seven agencies that achieved remarkable improvement rates in 2006 in acute care hospitalizations, pain that interferes with activity, transferring, and/or oral medication management. Take this opportunity to renew and maximize your agency’s quality improvement efforts. Learn “what works best” and discuss successful strategies with your peers.
Keynote Speaker: Ronald A. Savrin, M.D., M.B.A., Medical Director, Ohio KePRO will discuss new healthcare transparency initiatives
Download the Event Flyer (PDF)
COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE CONFERENCE CALLS
July 10, 2007, 9:00am -- Pain
July 10, 2007, 3:00pm -- Oral Meds
July 11, 2007, 9:00am -- Telehealth
July 12, 2007, 9:00pm -- Transferring
July 12, 2007, 3:00pm -- Acute Care Hospitalizations/Organizational Culture
Dial in: 1-877-326-2337
Conference ID: 2143198
