The Home Care Alliance of MA will honor excellence in home care when we present the 2019 Innovations Showcase and Star Awards at the “Our Time to Shine” celebration on Tuesday, November 19, at the Granite Hills Golf Club, Quincy.
The Home Care Alliance of MA will honor excellence in home care when we present the 2019 Innovations Showcase and Star Awards at the “Our Time to Shine” celebration on Tuesday, November 19, at the Granite Hills Golf Club, Quincy.
What a better way to show your staff appreciation during home care month then treating them to an afternoon of celebration, food and a special inspiration keynote by Tim Cunningham, an intrepid survivor and best-selling author.
Together, we can celebrate our people and our pioneers by recognizing how they make life better for thousands of patients and their families. In celebrating individual achievement, we shine a light on our collective accomplishments.
2019 Star Award winners are: Champion: Sandy Hurley, President/Administrator, Commonwealth Clinical Services, Winthrop
Clinicians of the Year: Nicole Geddes, LPN, Aberdeen Home Care, Danvers Gerry Sanderson, RN CDP, NVNA and Hospice, Norwell
Manager of the Year: Robin Pelletier, Director of Supportive Care Services, Southcoast VNA, Fairhaven
Aides of the Year: Me McBride, CHHA Team Leader, South Shore VNA, Rockland Vinette Tyme, Care Coordinator, HouseWorks, Newton
Innovation award winners: Connected Home Care, Concord: Oz Documentation System O’Connell Care at Home, South Hadley: Advanced Internal In-Service Training Maxim HealthCare Services, Plymouth: Novice Nurse Program
Celebrate Home Care Month by nominating your best and brightest staff members for the Innovation and Star Awards!
Join us during Home Care Month for the
Alliance’s annual celebration of innovation and excellence which will return to
the Granite Links Golf Club in Quincy on November 19, 2019.
Nominate your innovative programs and star
employees to be recognized during this celebration of the BEST in home care in
Massachusetts!
Innovations Awards
The Innovations Awards recognize programs,
products, or operational changes that enhance the quality or outcomes of
patient care, improve community well-being; drive efficiency in operations
within the agency or the health care system; or enhance staff productivity or
satisfaction.
Star Awards
The Star Awards celebrate the exceptional accomplishments of the everyday heroes in our midst who make incredible differences in the lives of their patients/clients and their families. A STAR award brings well-deserved recognition for both the agency and the individual.
HCA held a celebration for our 50th Anniversary on Wednesday, June 26th at the Venezia Waterfront Ballroom in Boston, MA. With close to 200 in attendance it certainly showed the great community the home health industry offers in the state of Massachusetts! The Home Care Alliance is honored to have so many supporting members, old and new.
Pictures from this great event are now available for viewing. A special thank you to Wellsky for sponsoring our photographer for the evening. We would also like to thank our other sponsors as through their support, we were able to hold such a memorable night. Drink sponsor, Axxess; Entertainment sponsor, Simione Healthcare Consultants; Favor sponsor, Hanover Insurance; Décor sponsors, Byram and Fred C. Church.
Most of the HCA Staff (Left to Right): Jake Krilovich, Megan Fournier, Jon Ezrin, Tim Burgers, Pat Kelleher, Colleen Bayard, Michelle Burton, (Missing) Tom Meyer
The 2019 New England Home Care & Hospice conference was a resounding success!
That only makes us more excited about the 2020 NEHCC, which will be at Gurney’s Newport Resort in beautiful Newport, RI May 13-15, 2020.
Nearly 300 registrants and over 75 vendors (over 450 total attendees) made the 2019 New England Home Care & Hospice Conference and Trade Show one of the biggest and best ever. The Sea Crest Beach Hotel in Falmouth, MA hosted two pre-conference intensives, four keynotes, and 24 break-out sessions over three days. Attendees left happy and with their brains full of innovative ideas to bring back to their agencies. The NEHCC committee is thankful to all whom attended and look forward to seeing everyone back next year.
Be sure to save the date for the 10th Annual Conference, scheduled for May 13-15, 2020 at the Gurney’s Newport Resort in beautiful Newport, RI.
There’s a reason for the saying: “It’s lonely at the top.” Being a leader can sometimes become a very isolating experience. With this new “Lunch and Learn” series, HCA of MA is encouraging our industry leaders to ease that executive isolation by joining with a peer group whose responsibilities and challenges mirror your own. Each session features an “expert” talk on a topic of relevance to you as an industry leader. There will also be lunch and plenty of time to talk. Step away from the office, and the phone for a few hours to connect because sometimes “what you know is who you know.”
Connecting Care for Patients: Interdisciplinary Care Transitions and Collaboration Friday, June 14th, 12:00-2:00PM
Spotty communication, task‐oriented case management, inadequate teamwork and work silos all conspire to fuel poor outcomes, higher costs and staff and patient dissatisfaction. The recently published book Connecting Care for Patients: Interdisciplinary Care Transitions and Collaboration is a powerful system of evidence‐based strategies for reducing fragmentation and achieving quadruple‐aim goals. Come out to hear a high level look at techniques for implementing truly connected care.
Speaker: Barbara Katz, RN, MSN, President, BK Health Care Consulting, LLC
Additional upcoming sessions include:
Gas Explosions in Lawrence MA: Emergency Preparedness, Management and Lessons Learned Wednesday, July 17
In September, 2018, a series of gas explosions rocked the towns surrounding Home Health Foundation’s corporate office. Thousands of residents, including HHF staff, patients and families were impacted, and HHF was plunged into rapid implementation of their emergency plan. What followed was a testament to the importance of preplanning and how a creative, nimble and dedicated team can make all the difference in the face of an unprecedented emergency. As the fires receded and life began to return to normal, the emergency team moved into after-action analysis in order to continously improve the quality and scope of its emergency preparedness. This presentation will describe in detail the pre-, inter-, and post-emergency activities employed, and lessons learned.
Speakers: Donna Beaudin, OTR/L, MBA, CHC, NHA, Corporate Compliance Officer, Karen Gomes, RN, MS, CPHQ, President and CEO
Medicare Advantage’s New Supplemental Benefit: Plan Views And Next Steps Monday, August 26
As part of the Chronic Care Act of 2018, Medicare Advantage (MA) plans were allowed greater flexibility in structuring and targeting supplemental benefits, so that plans could offer benefits to “maintain the health or function of chronically ill enrollees” that are not “primarily health-related.” A small percentage of plans added some services in 2019 (primarily nicotine replace therapy) In the only report of its kind, the Long term Quality Alliance interviewed Medicare plans to identify challenges that they face in including a supplemental benefit in their MA bid and preparing to launch it. Hear about LTQA’s findings as well as their recommendations for statutory, regulatory or CMS Guidance they are looking toward to move this important change forward.
Speaker: G. Lawrence Atkins, Executive Director, Long-Term Quality Alliance in Washington, DC.
Several new resources are available to members to help them combat one of the most dangerous health conditions in the Commonwealth: Sepsis.
Sepsis: A public health challenge of enormous proportions, a top driver of health care costs, and a condition that kills more people each year than cancer. But when recognized and treated swiftly, sepsis can be stopped before it causes significant health damage.
The statistics are sobering: Approximately 42,000 Massachusetts residents are diagnosed with sepsis every year and an estimated 5,000-7,000 of them die from the condition. Sepsis is consistently among the top causes for 30-day hospital re-admissions in all regions of Massachusetts and is the third-leading cause of hospital inpatient deaths in the state. And yet, Massachusetts is only a middling performer on sepsis indicators, ranked 25th in mortality in 2017 and at the national average in providing timely care for patients with sepsis.
Providers and policy makers have come together as the Massachusetts Sepsis Coalition – under the umbrella of the Betsey Lehman Center for Patient Safety – to bring more resources to bear in terms of understanding, identifying, and treating sepsis. The Coalition’s initial task force assessed the current state of sepsis response in hospital emergency departments and just recently released their extensive report, with recommendations.
Because 80% of sepsis cases are thought to originate outside the hospital, the home care community is beginning to examine our own understanding of, and training around, sepsis identification. A year or so ago, the Home Care Association of New York State developed their “Stop Sepsis at Home” campaign and tool kit. The Home Care Alliance of MA presented this to our members on several occasions, including at last year’s annual Spring Conference and Trade show.
On May 14th, 2019, the Alliance will host – along with Healthcentric Advisors – a free Train the Trainer session on Sepsis Awareness in the home setting. All members are encouraged to send someone. Agencies who cannot attend can find sepsis resources below.
The Home Care Alliance of MA is happy to announce a resource page completely dedicated to keeping Home Health Care Providers informed for the upcoming Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) Mandate. You can access this page by going to www.thinkhomecare.org/EVV
Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs is moving forward with “deliberate speed” to implement the federal EVV mandate. Massachusetts is developing a hybrid model for EVV, allowing agencies to use their current EVV vendor or choose any vendor that can collect and transmit the required data elements. For those agencies without an EVV vendor, Massachusetts has contracted with Optum to design a free EVV system. The current schedule would require personal care agencies that participate in the MA Home Care program that currently have an EVV system in place to begin testing in late 2018. Personal care agencies that don’t currently have an EVV system in place will have additional time to either go live with the Optum system or select and implement an EVV system from another vendor.
According to data collected by EOEA, well over half of the EOEA home care provider agencies in MA do not currently have an EVV vendor. These agencies will have to make important purchasing decisions within the next year. This page is created to provide the must up to date information on EVV including important resources, vendor information and more.
EVV Vendor Webinar Series
Along with access to to important documents, websites, and contact information – HCA of MA has developed a monthly webinar series that allows EVV Vendors a one hour webinar to demonstrate their platform to our members for FREE! The webinars are typically held the 2nd Tuesday of every month and are recorded in the case you cannot listen to the series live.
*Registering online gains you access to all webinars currently scheduled and any future webinars that may be scheduled
EVV Implementation: One Agency’s Experience
One additional resource webinar will be a one hour program with an agency member: HebrewSenior Life. Members of the HSL Leadership Team as they share their experience with implementing an EVV platform. They will offer product highlights and the benefit and impact experience for clients, workforce, operations, and finances. They will also share their approach to the establishment of policies, procedures, and timelines for success with onboarding for caregivers and leaders.
This webinar will be held on Wednesday, April 24 at 1:00PM. This is also FREE to members!
The NEHCC is the region’s premier event for home care and hospice agencies. It’s hosted by the six New England state home care associations, which collectively represent nearly 400 organizations. The 2019 NEHCC will be held June 5-7, 2019 at the Sea Crest Beach Hotel in Falmouth, MA.
For more information about the conference, or to register to attend, visit www.nehcc.com.
The Home Care Alliance of MA is proud to top education to our members on important and relevant topics. There are roughly 5-8 programs held a month and during the winter, they mostly belong to webinar education! Webinars are a cost effective way of educating your staff – you pay an affordable price for one line and have staff gather in a room to listen together, or access the recording for a later date training.
Below you will find some of our current webinars being offered which range in topics from Coding to CASPER reports to Aide education.
There are continuously new programs offered including on-site education, trainings, and conferences. Check out our calendar on our website to stay the most informed!
Contact Megan Fournier at mfournier@thinkhomecare.org or 617-482-8830 for any questions!
Hundreds of home health colleagues, industry experts and the leading home heath products and service vendors will be at the ninth annual New England Home Care & Hospice Conference and Trade Show at the Sea Crest Beach Hotel in Falmouth, Massachusetts, June 5-7, 2019.
We are planning another great event on the shores of Cape Cod next June. Mark your calendars and keep up with all the conference news by subscribing to our blog, following us on Facebook or on Twitter.
The conference is designed for senior and mid-level administrative and clinical staff. The conference features multiple keynote sessions, workshops, and intensive programs. Topics are designed to meet the needs of all agencies, including Medicare-certified, private duty, and hospices. The trade show is the largest home health and hospice expo in the Northeast.