TIP OF THE WEEK
Integrating Cross-Setting Relationships at Your Agency
Private and public purchasers, healthcare organizations, clinicians, and patients should work together to redesign healthcare processes in accordance with the following guidelines:
- Care based on continuous healing relationships.
- Customization based on patient needs and values.
- The patient as the source of control.
- Shared knowledge and the free flow of information.
- Evidence-based decision making.
- Safety as a system property.
- The need for transparency.
- Anticipation of needs.
- Continuous decrease in waste.
- Cooperation among clinicians.
Home health patients often have many different healthcare providers guiding their care. They may have been referred to your agency from the hospital. But prior to being hospitalized, they may have been in a skilled nursing facility. In addition, several specialists along with their primary care physicians may have treated them. Because there are so many different paths that a patient takes through the continuum of care, it is imperative caregivers are able to communicate effectively with each other. By building cross-setting relationships, home health agencies can manage each patient effectively, efficiently, and safely.
The National Chronic Care Coalition (NCCC), composed of 38 healthcare provider networks in 20 states, developed the Self-Assessment for Systems Integration (SASI) tool to assist in creating and evaluating seamless chronic care systems that cross settings, providers, and financing.
The SASI tool involves the following steps:
- Gathering Sources of Information for the Self-Assessment
- Conducting an Organizational Self-Assessment
- Establishing an Assessment Group
- Assessing Integration by Objective
- Reviewing other Healthcare Organizations’ experiences using SASI
- Going through the Change Process
Download the SASI User Guide (PDF)
Or e-mail your questions to info@nccconline.org
RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT
Continuity of Care: Proceedings of the Pinnacle Roundtable
October 2007 -- American Pharmacists Association -- Continuity of care is an increasingly important issue for pharmacists throughout the care continuum. “Even according to conservative estimates, hospital errors are the nation’s eighth leading cause of death -- ahead of breast cancer, AIDS, and motor vehicle accidents combined,” according to the National Consumers League. Such errors include medication errors, other types of medical errors, and hospital-acquired infections. Read more (PDF) >>
IN THE NEWS
BORUN CENTER LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEER HOMES TO TEST PILOT INCONTINENCE TRAINING PROGRAM
Join the Borun Center and 19 other nursing homes to test pilot a free distance-learning module for improving incontinence care January – August 2008. The group will meet once a month for an hour and a half teleconference for a total of eight months. Leadership at each home must commit to completing the training, assign a nurse supervisor to serve as a project champion, and support the delegation/completion of homework and field assignments.
View the curricular materials and course objectives.
To volunteer or for more information, contact Project Director Anna Rahman at (513) 258-4421. Act soon; the project can accommodate only 20 nursing homes. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are pending.
CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES ASKS FOR FEEDBACK ON PAPERWORK BURDEN
October 12, 2007 -- Federal Register -- In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), published areas for potential improvement in reducing paperwork for healthcare professionals.
Interested individuals are invited to estimate the burden and provide suggestions for improvement in the following areas: Medicare Part D, Application for Prescription Drug Plans/Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug Plans, Data Collection for the Nursing Home Value-Based Purchasing (NHVBP) Demonstration, Medicare Advantage Applications (Part C), Medicare Enrollment Application, and Home Health Conditions of Participation.
Federal Register: October 12, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 197), Page 58096-58098
ENROLLMENT IN MEDICAID TAKES A RARE DIP
October 11, 2007 -- Associated Press -- For the first time in nearly a decade, enrollment in the nation's health insurance program for the poor fell during the fiscal year ending June 30, says a new survey of state Medicaid directors.
In turn, that drop led to the second smallest increase in Medicaid spending during the past decade -- 2.9 percent. Read more >>
CARING FOR AMERICA’S AGING POPULATION:A PROFILE OF THE DIRECT-CARE WORKFORCE
September 2007 -- Bureau of Labor and Statistics -- Direct-care workers constitute a low-wage, high-turnover workforce with low levels of health insurance; taking these characteristics into account guides the challenge of how to deal with the growing demand for long-term care by an aging U.S. population. Read the report (PDF) >>
A REPORT ON SHORTFALLS IN MEDICAID FUNDING FOR NURSING HOME CARE
September 2007 -- AHCA -- BDO Seidman, LLP (BDO), in concert with Eljay, LLC (Eljay), was engaged by the American Health Care Association (AHCA) to work with its state affiliates and other sources to compile information on the shortfall between Medicaid reimbursement and allowable Medicaid costs in as many states as feasibly possible. Read the report (PDF) >>
COMING ATTRACTIONS
Improving AMI Care
IHI Teleconference -- October 18, 2007, 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.
Dial: 1-800-860-2442. No PIN code is required. Ask the operator to connect you to the Campaign Office.
OCHC Home Health Reform PPS Workshop * New session added
A full day in-depth program is scheduled for October 24, 2007 to provide detailed instruction on how to implement the changes at your agency. Download flyer >>
OHCO: Connecting OASIS and Clinical Decisions in the post-PPS Reform Environment
October 30, 2007
Contact Karen Lowe at (614) 763-0036, Ext. 206 for more information.
The Many Facets of Pain Management: An Integrated Approach
November 7, 2007, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland.
Call (216) 778-7707 for more information.
The Tip of the Week Archive is available on the Ohio KePRO Web Site.
Clinically driven. Client focused. Value based.