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Connected Care Blog
Home health and hospice face real and difficult challenges - an aging population, workforce shortages and evolving healthcare policy. Enormous opportunities also are unfolding. All trends indicate that the home will be the hospital of the future.
The Connected Care Blog highlights trends and regulations through the prism of technology - and the impact on your agency.
We appreciate Nurses!
This week we celebrate Nurse Appreciation Week.
Nursing is often described as both an art and a science. Nursing is a profession that includes dedicated people with varied interests, strengths and passions because of the many opportunities the profession offers.
Nurses work in multiple settings such as emergency rooms, school based clinics, and at the patients' home. The roles are many - from staff nurse to educator to nurse practitioner and home health- and serve all of them well with a strong commitment to patient safety.
Enjoy a bit of history and trivia to celebrate Nurses Week.
- 1954 National Nurse Week was observed from October 11 - 16. The year of the observance marked the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale's mission to Crimea. Representative Frances P. Bolton sponsored the bill for a nurse week. Apparently, a bill for a National Nurse Week was introduced in the 1955 Congress, but no action was taken. Congress discontinued its practice of joint resolutions for national weeks of various kinds.
- 1974 In January of that year, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) proclaimed that May 12 would be "International Nurse Day." (May 12 is the birthday of Florence Nightingale.) Since 1965, the ICN has celebrated "International Nurse Day."
- 1974 In February of that year, a week was designated by the White House as National Nurse Week, and President Nixon issued a proclamation.
- 1982 In February, the ANA Board of Directors formally acknowledged May 6, 1982 as "National Nurses Day." The action affirmed a joint resolution of the United States Congress designating May 6 as "National Recognition Day for Nurses."
- 1982 President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation on March 25, proclaiming "National Recognition Day for Nurses" to be May 6, 1982.
- 1990 The ANA Board of Directors expanded the recognition of nurses to a week-long celebration, declaring May 6 - 12, 1991, as National Nurses Week.
Everyone 'sells' in a home healthcare agency. Referrals are promoted by word of mouth by patients as well as sales staff that reaches out to physicians or hospitals to market their services. For the most part, all homecare and hospice agencies provide similar services - so what set's your business apart from the rest? Why should your business get the referral?
The answer is simple - physicians will refer to you because they believe you provide great care with excellent outcomes to their patients. But what makes you different? That answer will set you apart from other competing agencies.
What you need to do first is to : Review your strengths and weaknesses, learn about your competitors, and develop a plan to improve your services and communicate those differences to your potential referral sources.
Thereafter, you can build your message and communication plan. Understand who your target audience is and what is important to them. Then you can develop a message that will resonate with them related to your specialty of services offered, technology solutions that help you connect with the referring physician's office and provide tangible results of patient satisfaction.
The results will be significant for your agency: more referrals and good patient outcomes.
Thornberry Achieves High KLAS Score of 92.2
Thornberry Ltd. is pleased to announce it received a high overall KLAS score of 92.2 in the homecare category, and a 91 in the hospice category (both based on a 100 point scale) in the "2011 Best in KLAS Awards: Software & Professional Services," December 15, 2011. 2011 KLAS Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved. www.KLASresearch.com. The annual Best in KLAS report ranks the best-performing healthcare IT vendors in more than 100 market segments based on ratings from over 18,000 interviews with healthcare providers.
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Over the last five years it has been suggested that the homecare & hospice industry has quickly adopted EMR technology in an effort to improve efficiency, patient outcomes and profits.
The push towards technology is also in preparation for the impending firestorm of a dwindling Medicare Trust Fund, reductions to state Medicaid programs and the Affordable Care Act. But, it isn't about just adopting technology. Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) will demand quality documentation that's collected electronically at the point of care, so that patient data can be easily shared across care settings.
However, reports indicate that EMR enabled or not, paper-based charting is still rampant. It seems that 53% of homecare & hospice agencies are still using paper to chart at the point of care, even if they've invested in an EMR solution.
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We are pleased to join the nation in celebrating November as Home Care & Hospice Month. According to the National Association of Home Care & Hospice, approximately 12 million Americans benefit from home-delivered health care from 33,000 home health care providers. Thornberry has made it a priority to develop a software system that is specifically designed to meet the demands of the home care and hospice industry. More than 2,000 home care and hospice nurses utilize NDoc nationwide to help them better serve their patients.
As the nation takes extra time to honor the home care and hospice industry, it is our goal to honor this special industry every day by providing an effective solution that helps home care and hospice providers improve and maintain the health of their patients
Today, we are at the HCA Quality and Technology Conference where attendees are taking a close look at the benefits of telehealth during the daylong Home Telehealth Certification Program.
Integrated telehealth technology holds huge promise for delivering and managing patients with chronic illnesses in their homes. Studies have shown compelling results for telehealth technology that's integrated with an electronic medical record (EMR).
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"Do more with less" is a mantra most industries share these days. The challenge for home care is real: with the Affordable Care Act, a dwindling Medicare Trust Fund and reductions to some state Medicaid programs, how do you do more with what seems to be a never ending storm of cuts?
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The NAHC 30th Annual Meeting & Exposition has come and gone. You came home with a folder filled with ideas, business cards and sales material all promising to make you and your agency a home care super star! So...now what?
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Thornberry welcomes three new staff members, Rosa Cunha as Clinical Systems Specialist, Will Amesbury as Support Programmer and Kathy Clark as Sales Product Specialist.
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Maximizing opportunity and minimizing risk is not gambling advice, but it is, however, the theme for the National Association for Home Care & Hospice 30th Annual Meeting & Exposition. The conference just kicked off, in Las Vegas, and will run through October 5, 2011.
Thornberry is a proud to be an exhibitor at booth #548. Since 1995, Thornberry has been providing home care and hospice agencies with an extensive set of tools to maximize opportunity and minimize risk. Stop by our booth to learn how an effective technology strategy can position your agency for success.
KLAS identified Thornberry as one of the best of breed leaders in homecare performance scores. KLAS interviewed more than 300 home health agencies and the results are gathered in the report, "Homecare 2011: New Expectations, New Market Energy," September 2011. © 2011 KLAS Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved. www.KLASresearch.com
The proclamation reads - Technological advances have always driven America's economy forward and improved the lives of our people, from the industrial innovations of the nineteenth century to today's cutting edge science. Progress in our Nation's health care system is no different, and hinges on the work of hospitals, private practices, and information specialists as they modernize our health information systems. During National Health Information Technology Week, we highlight the critical importance of secure and efficient information systems to improving the delivery of health care in the United States.
Read the full proclamation or visit http://www.healthitweek.org/ for more information.
"We need health information technology to bring our health care system into the 21st century," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "These funds will help safety net providers acquire state-of-the-art health information technology systems to ensure the delivery of quality care to some of the most remote areas of our country."
Read the full story.
Have you registered for the NAHC 30th Annual Meeting & Exposition? If not, now's the time! Register before September 14, 2011 and NAHC will enter you to win a VIP style trip to the conference. Register today!
A couple weeks ago we asked you what percentage of your clinicians are charting at the point of care. 50% of you said 65% of your clinicians chart at the point of care. Here are the full poll results:
We encourage all home care agencies to strive to chart at the point of care 100% of the time. It's been proven time and time again that documentation at the point of care ensures:
- Quality patient care
- Improved OASIS accuracy
- Increased reimbursement
- Enhanced patient safety
For some tips on how to increase your staff's ability to chart at the point of care read the blog article - Tips to Increase Charting at Point of Care.
The National Association of Hospice & Home Care (NAHC) is celebrating its 30th year by launching a home care and hospice hall of fame. Nominations should be submitted by September 7th to nra@nahcreport.com
Honorees will be recognized for their leadership, service, innovation and for their part in increasing public awareness of hospice and homecare. The NAHC Board will make the selections.
The top 30 winners will be announced at the NAHC Annual Meeting to be held at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 3, 2011.
Additional Hall of Fame winners will be announced at every NAHC Annual Meeting. Winners will have their photos framed along with a brief description of their contributions to home care and hospice and especially to NAHC.
Our industry faces an abundance of changes. Although, one core component that remains a steady factor to achieve home care success is accurate documentation. Charting inaccuracies can be detrimental to the patient and to the provider. It's been proven time and time again that documentation at the point of care ensures:
- Quality patient care
- Improved OASIS accuracy
- Increased reimbursement
- Enhanced patient safety
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We've attended a number of conferences across the nation. Key topics have ranged from Face-to-Face, ACO's, hospice payment reform, compliance enforcement and health care reform, just to name a few.
Most recently, we attended NAHC's 2011 Financial Management Conference in San Diego. The overwhelming message we heard, at the conference, was one of change. Yesterday, we read Home Care Technology Report's article about the focus of the recent conference and what it means for the industry. We decided we couldn't have said it better than Tim Rowan, the editor of HCTR. Here's the story.
We asked home care and hospice agencies across the nation:
What's your most valuable technology investment?
The infographic below showcases the responses...Clearly, EMR stands out as the leading technology investment.
Have you selected an EMR system yet?
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As the healthcare industry faces increased scrutiny regarding how patient privacy is maintained, it is important to find tools to better protect patient data, especially data found on laptops. Understanding current security standards and the tools available to help prevent security breaches, is just one piece of the pie. Selecting and implementing a plan that will protect your agency from incidence like this is another.
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The Central Penn Business Journal's Health Care Report explores the progress of Pennsylvania's health information exchange (PHIX). The goal of the system is to provide a secure statewide network for sharing electronic health information for Pennsylvania's health care providers and patients. In the article, 'Slow Phix', Tom Peth, Thornberry's President, provides an industry perspective on the overall progress of HIEs in the home health market.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that starting July 1, it will begin using innovative predictive modeling technology to fight Medicare fraud.
Medicare claims will be analyzed using innovative risk scoring technology that applies effective predictive models, an approach similar to that used by credit card companies, to successfully identify fraud. For the first time, CMS will have the ability to use real-time data to spot suspect claims and providers and take action to stop fraudulent payments before they are paid.
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St. Luke's Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho was diligently attempting to maintain accurate charts. But their business processes, and lack of technology, made the task time consuming and frustrating - as well as nearly impossible.
The Problem
St. Luke's was using paper-only charts with an electronic billing system. Clinicians charted on paper before returning to the office to complete bubble sheets to scan for billing. If there was an error, the scan sheet would be rejected and the clinician would have to return to the office to complete again. Billing information was entered into the hospital system for the centralized billing office. However, the hospital billing office did not have the resources to follow up on rejected accounts. Clerical staff spent most of their time at the copier, attempting to maintain current charts that were generally out of date despite their diligence.
Leadership was frustrated that clinicians spent so much time in the office and that clerical staff wasn't able to perform more strategic activities, due to the constant need to make copies. Clinicians were frustrated that patient charts, particularly medication lists, were unreliable. Clerical staff felt like they were bearing the blame of inaccurate charts in what was an impossible situation. The constant copying was such a mundane task that clerical staff felt underutilized, unappreciated and bored. In fact, one position experienced turn-over so frequently that temporaries were brought in to perform the job.
It was the picture of inefficiency, not to mention unsafe for the patients. Not surprisingly, the department was unprofitable.
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Home Care Technology Report highlights Thornberry's new cooperative arrangement with Home Health Gold. The article reflects Thornberry's mission to improve the customer experience and increase agency productivity and efficiency by enhancing NDoc with complementary technologies. Home Health Gold Professional will be included in every new customer implementation of Thornberry's homecare and hospice management software, NDoc.
2011 System Manager Award presented to Laura Kriss (center) by Darrin Adams (left) from Karen Ann Quinlan Home Care & Hospice and Thomas Peth (right) President of Thornberry Ltd. Thornberry Ltd is pleased to announce that Laura Kriss, Clinical Supervisor for Nurses & Company, Inc., is the 2011 recipient of its "System Manager of the Year" award. Presented at Thornberry's recent user conference, Laura was recognized for her dedication to achieving NDoc® expertise. Way to go Laura!
We are gearing up for our Annual User Conference May 24 - 26 in Lancaster, PA . Our customers will gather from across the nation to share ideas, hear industry speakers and learn about the latest advancements that NDoc has to offer.
Care Continuum Alliance Releases Free ACO Toolkit
A new Care Continuum Alliance toolkit for accountable care organizations (ACOs) provides resources on key wellness and health management strategies essential to the emerging care model's success.
Home Care Technology Report explains this resource.
Thornberry welcomes Larry Smeage as Vice President of Sales. Larry will lead Thornberry's sales team in educating home health & hospice agencies about NDoc's ability to increase clinicians' efficiency, improve patient outcomes, reduce costs, and enhance profitability.
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Trends suggest home care and hospice will soon be caring for twice as many patients with the same number of staff. Could your current technology solution enable you to care for twice as many patients without hiring?
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Farzad Mostashari, MD, has been named the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology within the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The appointment is effective April 8, 2011. He succeeds David Blumenthal, M.D.
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In January we launched the NDoc Super User Challenge, a rewards program that helps customers learn new ways to leverage NDoc as a resource. Every quarter we announce a new challenge. At the end of the quarter participating customers will be encouraged to share how they accomplished the goal and they'll be rewarded with a fantastic prize!
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We recently gave away a $150 Amazon.com gift card to one lucky survey participant. Congratulations Stacy White, from Tennessee Quality Homecare & Hospice. We interviewed our winner to find out more about her agency and... how she plans to spend her Amazon.com gift card!
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We asked you to tell us what's on your mind... and you did. Here's how you said you are using technology to advance your organization and prepare for the future.
- 48% of you want to learn more about Health Information Exchange (HIE) in 2011.
- 66% of you said that Face to Face is a top priority for 2011, along with Therapy Changes and Hospital Readmissions.
View the results from the home care technology survey.
As a homecare & hospice leader we'd like to hear how you are using technology to advance your organization and prepare for the future. Please take five minutes to answer an 11 question survey.
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The homecare industry has a dirty secret. There is a lot of inefficiency and waste. Not because anyone is raking in ridiculous bonuses, taking luxury trips on the agency's dime or buying $27,000 umbrella stands. No, our waste is far more mundane.
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It feels a lot like spring today, which means the trade show season is right around the corner. Here's where we are headed this spring.
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Home health continues to grow at a breath-taking pace - but remains one of the least automated industries in the country. To take advantage of the nearly infinite opportunities that exist, home health and hospice organizations must critically examine their technology platforms - or risk being unable to compete in the marketplace.
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St. Joseph's Certified Home Health Care Agency, Syracuse, NY, was using a paper driven, manual care plan system for its home health aides. Bob Aber, St. Joseph's Director of Information Technology, turned to mobile technology to help improve efficiency and close the communications gap between the office and aides in the field.
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Meet the NDoc Software Team at the
PHA Annual Conference
State College, PA
May 16th - 18th - Booth #19
Build a Winning Team to Bring Care Home
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