Category: Publications

2015 Private Care Guides Now Available

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Three editions, for your convenience.

Every day, home care agencies help tens of thousands of Bay Staters live safely – and better – at home. Though health insurance and public programs like Medicare often pay for home care following hospitalizations or during acute illnesses, they do not typically cover chronic or supportive home care services. Private duty home care agencies, however, specialize in these situations.

In order to help connect agencies who provide private home care with the families who need their services, the Alliance is pleased to announce the publication of the 2015 editions of the Guide to Private Home Care Services, which will begin shipping next week.

As like last year, the Guide is split into three regional editions:

The county-by-county cross-references help you easily find local care, and the short essays inside will give you all the information you need to make the best decision for those you love.

All members will receive copies in the mail over the next few weeks. Additional copies are available for order through the links above, and — as always — at no charge for orders of 50 or fewer. Anyone needing a more detailed directory of home care agencies might consider our 2015 Resource Directory, which includes a detailed town-by-town index of 187 agencies from every corner of the state.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Deborah Wilson Shares Experience Treating Ebola Patients

debbiewilson055Deborah Wilson, a nurse with the Berkshire VNA, this week shared her story of treating Ebola patients in Liberia.  The HCA members attending the “Hot Topics” breakfast on “infection Control Best Practices” were mesmerized by her words and pictures.

In the best community health tradition, Wilson talked of challenges that were clinical and treatment related as well as educational.

“Death is a powerful motivator,” She said of village chiefs who were initially skeptical of community health workers who they feared were bringing Ebola in, not treating it.  Most eventually let educators in, she said, but not before six education workers were stoned to death in Guinea.

Wilson talked of work on the 120 bed ward, which consisted of patients lying on a concrete floor.  The devastation across families was so great, she said, because families often contracted disease by washing the dead bodies of loved ones. “Just after death is when a body can be most contagious,” she said.

Her stories and pictures capture the challenges associated with the life-saving Personal Protective Equipment they wore.  Clinicians were often only able to work in the ward for an hour at a time before clothing was soaked through and goggles were too fogged to see.

But Wilson noted that the community health initiative was effective:  the death rate while she was there went from over 80% to 60%.

Her amazing pictures are HERE!

Some of the great articles written from her experience are HERE!

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HCA’s 2014 Clinician of the Year Begins a New Tradition

2014 Clinician of the Year is our Resource Guide Cover Girl!

In what will be a new Home Care Association of MA tradition, our 2015 Home Health Resource Directory features on the cover our 2014 Clinician of the Year.  She is  Pauline Knight, RN, Hospice Nurse, Circle Home, Inc., Lowell.  Pauline was recognized last April at our Annual Innovations and Star Awards ceremony. Nominations are open for this year’s awards.   Maybe your nurse or therapist could be make our 2016 cover.  For nomination and event information, go here.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

HCAs Home Health & Hospice Emergency Prep Workbook Now Available

HCA’s new Home Health Care & Hospice Emergency Preparedness Workbook, co-published with RBC Limited, is now available!

The workbook incorporates all of the Emergency Preparedness requirements in the proposed new regulations recently developed by CMS, and includes a number of sample policies and tools to make compliance easier.

Barbara Citarella of RBC Limited will conduct a series of two webinars on August 27 and September 3 to discuss the proposed regulations and orient home health and hospice providers to the new manual.

You can purchase the Workbook and register for the webinars here.

Webinars will be held on the following dates:

Part I August 27, 2014
10:00 – 11:30 AM

Part II September 3, 2014
10:00 – 11:30 AM

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

2014 Private Care Guides Are Here!

The Alliance is pleased to announce the publication of the 2014 edition of the Guide to Private Home Care Services, which will begin shipping next week.

The new edition... is three editions!
The new edition… is three editions!

New this year, the Guide has been split into three regional editions:

  • Boston & Northeastern Massachusetts (covering Essex, Middlesex, and Suffolks, as well as the city of Brookline);
  • South-of-Boston, Cape, and Islands (covering Norfolk, Bristol, Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes, and Nantucket counties); and
  • Central & Western Massachusetts (covering Worcester, Franklin, Hampshire, and Berkshire counties);

The new system greatly streamlines the user experience, showing customers and families agencies who provide service where it’s needed without overwhelming them with information.  The county-by-county cross-references have also been revamped, and our popular “The Agency Advantage” essay (explaining the benefits of working with an agency instead of a direct hire) is now prominently featured on the rear cover.

Copies will begin shipping next week.  Additional copies will be available for order on our website shortly.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Your Care, Your Choice – Now In Spanish!

Earlier this year, the Alliance published two brochures regarding patient choice after a hospitalization or stay in other medical facilities.

We’re pleased to announce the publication of a Spanish translation of the patient-orientated version, “Your Care, Your Choice,” which reminds patients of their right to choose their own providers, and empowers them to report facilities that attempt to violate these rights.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Government Shutdown Delays Quarterly OASIS Q&As

Due to the government shutdown, the CMS OASIS Quarterly Q&As will not be released on October 16, 2013 as previously expected. As soon as the government reopens for business, the Q&A release will be rescheduled and the HCA will post the results in our Update

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

In Choosing A Healthcare Provider, It’s “Your Care, Your Choice”

Last week, the Alliance published its “Keeping It Legal” brochure to educate health care providers about lawful referral practices.

This week, we’re following up with a companion guide on the subject, designed for patients and families titled “Your Care, Your Choice,” which reminds patients of their right to choose their own providers, and empowers them to report facilities that attempt to violate these rights.

To download the brochure, click the down arrow button immediately above this text.  Please feel free to distribute it to everyone who can benefit from it.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Revised Publication Available for Reporting Fraudulent Home Care Referral Practices

In an effort to help home health agencies educate their partners in the provider community about lawful referral practices, the Home Care Alliance has revised and updated the first in a publication series called “Keeping It Legal.”

The document below is intended for distribution to hospitals, physicians, skilled nursing facilities and other sources that refer patients for Medicare-certified home health services. The Alliance has updated contact information for oversight entities so that providers, patients or the families of patients can accurately report fraudulent activity if they wish to do so. The document also lays out some of the basic examples of wrongful activity that should be reported.

With the help of HCA members and those they work with and work for, the Alliance hopes that this document will be passed along and posted prominently in an effort to promote home health services that are high-quality and ethical.

 

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Presentation: Cost Effective Home Care in Massachusetts

As more health care providers are held collaboratively accountable for patient outcomes and costs, it’s important for other parts of the system to understand the capabilities of home care and how these capabilities intersect with  success in containing health care costs while improving quality.

To tell home care’s  story, a subcommittee the Alliance’s Board of Directors developed a PowerPoint slide show of some home care facts and figures.  This slide show is now available to all to use and adapt as needed (3MB download), and may be previewed below:

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.