Category: Advocacy

Metrowest Home Care & Hospice Honored for Their Work

Congratulations go out to MetroWest Medical Center which, in collaboration with MetroWest HomeCare & Hospice, has been awarded the 2010 Betsy Lehman Patient Safety Recognition Award. The award honors leadership and innovation in patient safety and the development of systems-based solutions through the implementation of best practices. The theme for this year’s award focused on the importance of transitions in care across the healthcare continuum.  Jane Pike–Benton, Executive Director at MetroWest HomeCare & Hospice, presented their innovative approach at the most recent statewide STAAR Learning Session and sent this along to the Home Care Alliance:

“ At Metro-West, we implemented a multi-faceted approach to the transitioning of patients that was designed and implemented via a strong cross-continuum collaboration between the home health agency and the hospital. The model includes:

  • the implementation of a ‘teach back tool’ for patients with heart failure both within the hospital and through their transition to home with home care services
  • the development of a standardized Heart Failure Protocol with front loading of home care visits, the use of a standardized teaching tool based upon evidenced-based research, an increase focus on medications, and the integration of phone calls by the home care case managers on non visit days
  • post hospital telephonic support via the use of a calling center in conjunction with the MetroWest HomeCare Nurse Specialist intervening for these patients when gaps in care are identified
  • the implementation of a Transition Care Coach who is also a MetroWest HomeCare Nurse who meets with the patients bedside prior to discharge from the hospital
  • the implementation of a Palliative Care Team with members from both MetroWest Hospice and MetroWest Medical Center

These initiatives demonstrate the importance of cross-continuum collaboration to our patients and to our health care system. Our entire team is committed to implementing new and innovative ways to provide care for our highest risk patients, and to demonstrate the value that home health care offers to hospitals and other health care partners.”

Among those sending congratulations to MetroWest HomeCare & Hospice and MetroWest Medical Center on their innovative approach to patient care across the continuum was HHS Secretary Judy Ann Bigby, MD.  Her comments as to MetroWest as a “shining example” were posted on the Commonwealth Conversations Public Health Blog.

Thank you to Jane and her team for demonstrating leadership in this crucial area of care transitions and readmission reduction.

Physician Face to Face Encounter Update

The Home Care Alliance wrote an article in the Massachusetts Medical Society’s newsletter in an effort to further educate physicians on the CMS face-to-face encounter requirement. The article was written at the beginning of the year and published in the February edition of “Vital Signs,” the MMS newsletter, although much has happened since then.

With one month left until the April 1st enforcement deadline, the Alliance continues to provide updates as they become available. To that end, some new important Q&A’s have been posted on the CMS website, which are available here.

A few of the new Q&A’s are listed below:

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Reminder: CMS Forum on Value-Based Purchasing

This is a reminder that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will be hosting an “Open Door Forum“on designing a value-based purchasing program for home health agencies. The forum is intended to solicit input from all parties interested in implementing such a program.

CMS Special Open Door Forum

Designing A Home Health Value Based Purchasing Program

Thursday, February 24th from 1:30-3:00pm (Conference call only)

Value-based purchasing (VBP) is meant to link payment more directly to the quality of care provided and is along the same lines of other payment reform efforts seeking to reward providers for delivering high quality and efficient clinical care.

Section 3006 of the Affordable Care Act requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop a plan to implement a value-based purchasing program for payments to home health agencies under the Medicare program.

CMS will be seeking stakeholder input on a number of topics defined in the statute including:

  • The ongoing development, selection, and modification process for measures of quality and efficiency;
  • The reporting, collection, and validation of quality data;
  • The structure of value-based payment adjustments, including the determination of thresholds or improvements in quality, the size of such payments, and the sources of funding for the value-based bonus payments;
  • Methods for the public disclosure of information on the performance of home health agencies;
  • and any other issues.

If you wish to participate on Feb 24th, dial 1-800-837-1935 – Conference ID 37941789.

More information on this and other CMS Open Door Forums is available here.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Spread the Word with Our New Home Care Posters

The Alliance’s 2011 Home Care Posters are now available for order.  Handsome and professionally-printed, they’re perfect for display in councils on aging, senior centers, hospitals, doctors offices, Churches, or anywhere people in need of home care might see them!

The posters direct viewers to our website, www.thinkhomecare.org, where they can use our online Find An Agency or our Print Directories to find an agency that suits their needs.

Tens of thousands of people in Massachusetts live independently at home with the help of home care. If your family needs help, our online directory can match you with the agency that best suits your need, whether it’s for care 24 hours a day, or just a few hours a week.

Details:

  • Shipped in packages of two, with one poster of each design;
  • Posters are full-color and printed on 100-lb, 11 x 17″ cardstock;
  • Shipped flat and with an extra cardboard insert so posters are protected and ready to mount the moment they arrive;
  • All packages include four self-adhesive, wall-friendly strips for easy mounting and removal.
2011 Poster - Blue

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Join HCA for Home Health Care Advocacy Day

With the legislature looking hard at cost-saving measures and the Governor’s payment reform bill moving to the legislature for analysis, now is the time to get involved in the Home Care Alliance’s advocacy efforts.

This is also why this year’s Home Health Care Advocacy Day is so important.

Taking place from 10:00 am to 11:30 am on March 3 in Room 437 of the Massachusetts State House, this event will feature expert speakers touting the value of home care to legislative staff and HCA members who are ALL encouraged to attend.

Materials will be available for HCA members who wish to stop by legislative offices and relay what they heard at the briefing after the event concludes.

Registration is not required, but please contact the Alliance if you or someone from your agency plans on joining us for this important day so that we know how much materials are needed.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

 

Governor Releases Health Reform Legislation

Today , Governor Patrick released proposed legislation “Improving the Quality of Health Care and Controlling Costs by Reforming Health Systems and Payments.” The bill calls for  “Encouraging the formation of integrated care organizations, commonly referred to as accountable care organizations, comprised of connected or integrated groups of health care providers that achieve improved health outcomes and lower the costs of care.

The bill does not explicitly define provides and services that must be encompassed in an ACO instead defining an ACO as “an entity comprised of provider groups which operates as a single integrated organization that accepts at least shared responsibility for the cost and primary responsibility for the quality of care delivered to a specific population of patients cared for by the groups’ clinicians; which operates consistent with principles of a patient centered medical home and satisfies the other requirements of this chapter; which has a formal legal structure to receive and distribute savings;  The bill does anticipate that “certain providers that are not primary care providers may be ACO network providers in more than one ACO, as set forth in regulation by the division.”    The “division” which has authority to draft authorizing regulations is the Division of Health Care Finance & Policy.

The bill calls for greater transparency in payment arrangements and requires that by March 31, 2012, the “Division will “document, categorize and publish all current payment arrangements in the commonwealth between payers and providers.”   Medicaid participation in the ACO model is envisioned by 2014.

The Alliance will be reviewing this legislation with the Legislative and Policy Committee and the Board of Directors and welcomes member feedback. as to whether home health’s role should be more explicit in this legislation.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

CMS Soliciting Input on Value-Based Purchasing for HHAs

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will be hosting an “Open Door Forum“on designing a value-based purchasing program for home health agencies. The forum is intended to solicit input from all parties interested in implementing such a program.

CMS Special Open Door Forum

Designing A Home Health Value Based Purchasing Program

Thursday, February 24th from 1:30-3:00pm (Conference call only)

Value-based purchasing (VBP) is meant to link payment more directly to the quality of care provided and is along the same lines of other payment reform efforts seeking to reward providers for delivering high quality and efficient clinical care.

Section 3006 of the Affordable Care Act requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop a plan to implement a value-based purchasing program for payments to home health agencies under the Medicare program.

CMS will be seeking stakeholder input on a number of topics defined in the statute including:

  • The ongoing development, selection, and modification process for measures of quality and efficiency;
  • The reporting, collection, and validation of quality data;
  • The structure of value-based payment adjustments, including the determination of thresholds or improvements in quality, the size of such payments, and the sources of funding for the value-based bonus payments;
  • Methods for the public disclosure of information on the performance of home health agencies;
  • and any other issues.

If you wish to participate on Feb 24th, dial 1-800-837-1935 – Conference ID 37941789.

More information on this and other CMS Open Door Forums is available here.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

CMS Announces New Proposed Rule on Quality of Care Complaints

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released an announcement of a new proposed rule that would include home health and hospice agencies in the expanded list of providers required to give Medicare beneficiaries written notice of their right to file a quality of care complaint.

The written notice would consist of information on the beneficiary’s right to contact a Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) as well as how to contact their local QIO with quality of care concerns.

CMS will be accepting comments on this proposed rule until April 3 and links are available with more information on the rule itself and how to comment below.

 

Medicare proposes new rules for notifying beneficiaries of their right to lodge quality of care complaints

Providers Would Have to Give All Beneficiaries Written Notice of Their Rights

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule today that would require most Medicare-participating providers and suppliers to give Medicare beneficiaries written notice about their right to contact a Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) with concerns about the quality of care they receive under the Medicare program.

Under current rules, only beneficiaries admitted to hospitals as inpatients are required to receive information about contacting their state QIO regarding quality of care issues. Today’s proposed rule would require that in order to participate in the Medicare program, providers and suppliers would need to inform beneficiaries of their right to complain to a QIO about quality of care, as well as how to contact their local QIO. In all, the following care settings are impacted by this proposal:

  • Clinics, rehabilitation agencies, and public health agencies that provide outpatient physical therapy and speech-language-pathology services
  • Comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facilities
  • Critical access hospitals
  • Home health agencies
  • Hospices
  • Hospitals
  • Long-term care facilities
  • Ambulatory Surgical Centers
  • Portable x-ray services
  • Rural health clinics and Federally Qualified Health Centers

“Today’s proposed rule would ensure that beneficiaries know they have a voice in the care they receive under the Medicare program,” said CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, M.D. “By requiring providers and suppliers to furnish QIO contact information to all beneficiaries, we are protecting beneficiaries’ rights to bring their worries about quality of care to a third party for review, which can lead to better care not only for the beneficiary, but for all patients in a given care setting.”

Since the 1970s, Medicare has contracted with private, mostly not-for-profit organizations such as QIOs to preserve beneficiaries’ access to high-quality, high-value healthcare.  QIOs are located in every state as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each QIO is staffed by professionals, mostly doctors and other healthcare professionals, who are trained to review medical care and help beneficiaries with complaints about the quality of care they receive. These professionals also work directly with providers and facilities to make improvements in quality across all care settings.

One of the key tools QIOs use to improve quality of care is responding to complaints from Medicare beneficiaries regarding the care they receive from Medicare-participating providers and suppliers.  QIOs investigate these complaints, gather facts from all parties involved, and recommend action to help providers and suppliers improve quality of care.

“Medicare beneficiary complaints are an important source of information that QIOs use to improve the quality of care for all patients,” said Dr. Berwick. “Sometimes providers themselves are unaware of problems or the reasons for these problems until a beneficiary shows the courage to ‘speak up’ and report the issue to a QIO. By speaking up, beneficiaries can help other patients escape the same poor outcomes they have experienced.”

CMS will accept comments on the proposed rule until April 3, 2011 and will respond to comments in a final rule to be issued in the coming months. . To submit comments click here: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=CMS_FRDOC_0001-0641

The proposed rule has been published today (2/2/11) at the Federal Register and can be found online at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-02-02/pdf/2011-2275.pdf

For more detailed information check out the CMS Overview webpage at http://www.cms.gov/qualityimprovementorgs It has more information about the QIO Program and how it works to improve care for Medicare beneficiaries and all Americans, including contact information for each of the 53 QIOs across the country.

Beneficiaries with questions or concerns about the quality of care they receive under Medicare can learn more about their rights by calling 1-800-MEDICARE or by reading Medicare’s fact sheet, “Quality of Care Concerns,” online at http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/11362.pdf.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Governor Patrick Announces Proposed Budget

Governor Deval Patrick released his $30.5 billion budget blueprint for the state that decreases spending by $570 million, which the Governor said is the highest year-to-year cut in the state budget in 20 years.

Fortunately, among the many challenges presented, this budget maintains many home care-related items. The MassHealth Senior Care line item is increased in the Governor’s budget by more than $11.3 million to account for anticipated need. The same reasoning is behind increases in other line items, including, MassHealth Fee-for-Service Payments, MassHealth Essential, and MassHealth Managed Care. To be clear, these increases in funding account for growth of need for services paid for by these line items and does not translate to increased rates of payment.

The Elder Affairs home care line items were also mostly level funded with two exceptions. Home Care Purchased Services lost the funds it gained through FMAP allocation –originating with the federal government and funneled through the state – and through a supplemental budget passed in the waning days of the previous legislative session, which amount to $4.9 million. The other reduction, to “meet projected need due to reform,” was more than $10 million in the Prescription Advantage line item, although the explanation suggests that the federal government, through health care reform, will be picking up the state’s share of funding while maintaining the service.

The budget also accounts for previously announced reductions in Adult Day Health services, which will take effect March 15, 2011. More information on those changes are available here.

The Governor added in his address to the media that he will be filing payment reform legislation very soon.

The Home Care Alliance will continue to advocate for line items important to home care agencies and more information will follow as the budget season progresses.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Advocacy Alert: Quest for Co-Sponsors

The Home Care Alliance has successfully gained legislative sponsors to file the association’s 2011-2012 state legislative priorities and now the focus moves to gaining cosponsors to sign on and support these issues.

Visit HCA’s Legislative Action Center and click “write your legislator” under the top message (“Please Cosponsor Bills that Support Care at Home”).

Many more bills impacting home care agencies, their staff, and patients have been filed and more information on those will be provided on this newsfeed as HCA learns more.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.