Month: February 2020

Three More Agencies Earn Accreditation

Three more agencies earn accreditation from the Alliance, bringing the total of accredited agencies to 59.

HCA Accreditation Logo

Congratulations to Acti-Kare (Middleboro), Kind Senior Care (North Andover), and Northeast Clinical Services (Danvers) for achieving Home Care Alliance Accreditation!

There are currently 59 agencies that have earned accreditation by demonstrating their compliance with each of the 15 standards of our Accreditation Program.

Since Massachusetts does not license private pay home care agencies, the Alliance created a Home Care Agency Accreditation Program in 2010 to establish operational and quality standards equivalent to licensure in most other states.

The program includes fifteen standards relating to: Client rights, privacy, and complaint procedures; Protections against abuse; Fair employment practices; Caregiver background screening; Competency, training and supervision; Insurance coverage; and Compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws. Accreditation is only awarded to agencies that meet or exceed all fifteen standards.

The Accreditation Program allows agencies to demonstrate that they meet high standards of quality. It shows clients and families that they are protected because the agency directly employs its workers and carries workers’ compensation, liability insurance, and an employee dishonesty bond. Accreditation demonstrates that an agency’s caregivers receive background checks, screening, and proper training for their jobs. Accreditation also provides a competitive edge in the marketplace, contributes to securing new business, and enhances staff recruitment by showing a commitment to fair labor standards.

Accredited agencies can use the Alliance’s Accreditation Logo to show their commitment to quality on their websites, brochures, and stationery. The Alliance lists all accredited agencies on its website, gives them special designation in its print directories and in the online Find an Agency function.

Talking Home Care: Marijuana and the Workplace

Pat Kelleher speaks with Layla G. Taylor about what employers need to know about marijuana.

Taylor and Kelleher

With many states (including Massachusetts) decriminalizing marijuana in recent years, home care agencies and other employers find themselves having to answer questions they never thought to ask. How do I protect my clients? What are my employees’ rights? Am I still allowed to issue drug tests and, if so, under what circumstances?

For the 13th episode of the Talking Home Care podcast, Pat Kelleher explores these and other questions with Layla Taylor, a partner at Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn and an expert in employment and labor law.

(If you’re a return listener from iTunes, please subscribe to the podcast; we moved the feed to a new location last year).

You may listen to the podcast by clicking any of the platform images above, clicking “play,” or downloading it directly (Length: 25 minutes; Size: 19 MB). If you enjoy the podcast, please give us a five-star review so others can find it.

Host: Patricia Kelleher is the Executive Director of the Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts.

Guests: Layla G. Taylor is an attorney with Sullivan Hayes & Quinn who focuses on labor and employment law.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Talking Home Care: PDGM’s First 30 Days

Pat Kelleher moderates a discussion among three leading experts about the first month of PDGM. Slides available at https://www.thinkhomecare.org/pdgm-slides

Attaya, Ashworth, Seabrook, and Kelleher

Medicare’s Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) system went into effect on January 1, 2020. How has the industry fared in the month since the “most significant regulatory and reimbursement reform” in recent memory?

For the 12th episode of the Talking Home Care podcast, we put that question to a live panel of three of the nation’s leading experts at the Northeast Home Health Leadership Summit: Chris Attaya of Strategic Healthcare Programs, Stacy Ashworth of Select Data, and Nick Seabrook of BlackTree Consulting. Slides from the discussion are available for download.

(If you’re a return listener from iTunes, please subscribe to the podcast; we’ve moved the feed to a new location).

You may listen to the podcast by clicking any of the platform images above, clicking “play,” or downloading it directly (Length: 70 minutes; Size: 31 MB). If you enjoy the podcast, please give us a five-star review so others can find it.

Host: Patricia Kelleher is the Executive Director of the Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts.

Guests: Chris Attaya is the Vice President, Product Strategy of Strategic Healthcare Programs. Stacy Ashworth is the Executive Vice President of Clinical Innovation of Select Data. Nick Seabrook is the Managing Director & a Founding Member of BlackTree Consulting.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Behavioral Adjustments Under Early PDGM

NAHC’s Bill Dombi replies to reports that patients across the country are being told they no longer qualify for certain Medicare services or that services have been cut or discontinued.

Kaiser Health News and other health care media outlets are reporting that patients across the country are being told they no longer qualify for certain Medicare home health services or that services have to be cut back or discontinued due to changes in Medicare scope of benefits.  On a call with state home care association executives this week, Bill Dombi, President of the National Association for Home Care and Hospice confirmed that they are hearing of such cases from patient advocacy groups, such as the Center for Medicare Advocacy.  If such behavior gives the industry “a reputation for putting bottom line ahead of patient care, it’s going to be bad long term for the home care industry,” said Dombi.

In terms of any shortcoming with the PDGM model, he said,  we want to be able to lay these at the feet of the model’s crafters at CMS, not having them come back at us for over adjusting behaviors even beyond what was built into the model. He further suggested that until proven otherwise it might be case of managers and field staff inaccurately translating direction from management as to what has changed. He suggested CMS might need to do some more education around what has changed (payment) and what has not (coverage).

NAHC will present a series of six new webinars – free to members and non-members – on PDGM in Real Time featuring an open forum in which attendees can share and gain insights with Home Care & Hospice Financial Managers Association (HHFMA) experts about what is working and not working in the early weeks of PDGM.

These webinars are designed to enable home health agencies to achieve “high performer” status through continuous operational improvements in financial, clinical, business analytics, and administrative operations as PDGM unfolds.

The schedule for the “Wednesday webinars at 1 PM ET” is as follows:

  1. February 12 at 1:00 PM ET Info Tech/EMR readiness
  2. February 19 at 1:00 PM ET PDGM coding
  3. February 26 at 1:00 PM ET PDGM cash flow & LUPAs
  4. March 4 at 1:00 PM ET Therapy in PDGM
  5. March 11 at 1:00 PM ET Clinical management of patient episode
  6. March 18 at 1:00 PM ET PDGM data analytics

Registration information can be found here.