TIP OF THE WEEK
Friday calls can help decrease weekend hospital visits
“Friday calls” is a new best practice strategy developed by Wright Memorial Home Health and Hospice in Trenton, Mo. This home health agency (HHA) used Friday calls in conjunction with hospital risk assessments, front-loading visits and emergency plans of care to improve in 10 out of 11 quality measures.
WHAT ARE FRIDAY CALLS?
Any patient who is not going to receive a visit on a Friday gets a Friday call. The purpose of the call is to make sure the patient is ready for the weekend and to ensure his or her questions, concerns, or needs are addressed that day. Friday calls helped Wright Memorial proactively address patients’ problems, rather than having patients call the agency or 911 over the weekend. Most importantly, it gave patients and their families peace of mind to hear from their caregivers at the agency. All employees – clerical, clinical, non-clinical – participate in making these calls. Any need for follow-up over the weekend is communicated to the weekend staff.
Your agency can adopt a simple script for making these calls by asking:
- How are you doing today?
- Is everything okay for the weekend?
- Is there anything you’re going to need?
- Do you know how to reach help should a situation arise?
- Remind them to call the On-Call Nurse if a problem arises.
You may choose to call only those patients that have been identified with the following characteristics:
- High risk for hospitalization
- Frequent hospitalizations
- Difficulties managing medications
If implemented correctly, these calls can help you decrease the number of weekend calls, weekend hospital visits, and on-call staff visits. Track these three data elements to measure the success of your Friday calls.
RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT
Assessment of Risk Factors for Hospitalization and Emergent Care
This assessment can be used at start of care (SOC) or resumption of care (ROC) to identify patients who are at higher risk for re-hospitalization. Clinicians can use this information when planning the care of patients.
IN THE NEWS
HOME HEALTH PPS FINAL RULE RELEASE
August 22, 2007 -- Home Health Interactive -- CMS released the industry's long-awaited final rule for the Home Health Prospective Payment System. Slated to take effect January 1, 2008, the regulation establishes an update to the 60-day national episode rates and the national per-visit amounts under the Medicare prospective payment system. It is also expected to rebase and revise the home health market basket; revise the fixed dollar loss ratio used in the calculation of outlier payments; refine the overall home health payment system and establish new quality of care data collection requirements. The final rule will be published in the Federal Register August 29, 2007. Read more >>
MEDICARE: NO HOSPITAL REIMBURSEMENT FOR PRESSURE ULCERS
August 2007 -- HcPro -- Hospitals will no longer receive Medicare reimbursement for eight preventable infections after October 2008, said CMS in a press release. According to CMS officials, the move is a cost-cutting measure, and its list of conditions includes pressure ulcers. Other conditions include falls, urinary tract and vascular infections stemming from improper catheter use, objects left in the body during surgery, blood incompatibility, and mediastinitis after heart surgery, according to the New York Times. Source >>
August 2007 -- HcPro -- Want your facility to be a part of CMS' upcoming Post Acute Care Payment Reform Demonstration (PAC-PRD)? The agency is actively soliciting participants for the next phase of the project, which CMS hopes will beget a new reimbursement tool and payment structure uniform to all types of postacute care. To be considered, contact Barbara Gage, the principal investigator at RTI, at 781/434-1717 or bgage@rti.org. The demonstration and data collection will begin in January 2008; RTI is CMS' contractor for the project. Source >>
MORE CARE NEEDED IN HOMES, SAYS OHIO AIDE
August 21, 2007 -- Toledo Blade -- To help keep Ohio's Medicaid costs under control, the state wants more senior citizens to get health-care services in homes and communities, which will balance out nursing home usage - and improve choices for long-term care options, a state official visiting Toledo said yesterday.
Gov. Ted Strickland is expected to soon appoint a group of long-term care consumers, providers, advocates, and others to complete a budget and service plan for the state to better meet needs and control costs. Read more >>
August 21, 2007 -- Kaiser Network -- The Medicare prescription drug benefit has significantly increased the share of seniors with drug coverage, but one in five beneficiaries reported delaying or not filling prescriptions because of cost, according to the results of a survey published online in the Journal Health Affairs, the Los Angeles Times reports. The survey -- conducted in October 2006 by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund and Tufts-New England Medical Center -- included more than 16,000 seniors. Read more >>
August 16, 2007 -- The Commonwealth Fund -- A new study by the University of Minnesota School of Public Health finds that Green House nursing home residents experience better quality of life, with the same or better quality of care than those in traditional nursing homes. The study, which was published in the June 2007 Journal of American Geriatrics Society, found that Green House residents experienced lower rates of depression, bed rest, reduced activity, and decline in functional abilities, but did have higher rates of incontinence than did residents in one of the comparison settings. Read more >>
AGING CELLS KEY TO SLOWER HEALING IN ELDERLY
August 16, 2007 -- Voice of America -- As we age, our muscles, bones and organs heal more slowly than they did when we were young. And they frequently don't recover to be as strong or resilient as they were before the injury. Researchers say the reason can be found at the cellular level. Stanford neurology Professor Thomas Rando has been looking at the process of cellular aging and cell injury. He found adult stem cells play an important part in the healing process. Rando explains that adult stem cells play an important role in the healing process. Read more >>
COMING ATTRACTIONS
Ohio Immunization Partners for Healthy Adults Meeting
September 6, 2007 at 11:00 a.m.
LifeCare Alliance, 1699 W. Mound Street, Columbus, Ohio, 43223
Or dial 1.877.339.0018, conf ID: *8625947*
RSVP by calling Liz Simpson at 216.447.9604 by August 31, 2007
Together We Make a Difference: Solutions for Senior Care 2007
October 5-7, 2007, Columbus Ohio
The conference features plenary sessions and didactic sessions on medical direction, physician- nurse practitioner collaboration, urinary incontinence, atrial fibrillation, appropriate medication prescribing, and the latest diabetic medications (Registration ends Sept 28, 2007). Contact Catherine Austin at (216) 778-8087, Executive Assistant of OMDA, for more details.
The Tip of the Week Archive is available on the Ohio KePRO Web Site.
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