2019 Private Care Guides to Help Families Find Home Care

Now in its 13th edition, the Guide to Private Home Care Services has connected tens of thousands of families with the home care agencies that best meet their needs. While our Resource Directory is intended for professionals who make regular referrals, the Private Care Guides are designed for consumers and are always available at no charge. Choose from among three regional editions:

(Click one of the thumbnails to place your free order).

The Guides contains county-by-county cross-references, as well as short essays about:

  • What home care is;
  • How to pay for it;
  • How to choose an agency, and;
  • What the advantages are of working with an agency over other options.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

New Emergency Prep 4-Part Webinar Series

Agencies continue to struggle with the development of a disaster preparedness plan that will not only be in compliance, but realistic in an event. Areas of weaknesses in the process have been identified by CMS and accrediting bodies. On top of that, there were changes made to regulations at the end of 2018 and appeared in the 2019 interpretive guidelines. This series of one-hour webinars will provide in-depth knowledge of the requirements that home health and hospice organizations are subject to, with specific focus on: an overview of the regulations, starting the agency-specific plan, building the plan, development of policies and procedures, communication, and testing and training.

Program Goals: Through attendance in this web series, participants will increase their understanding of the newly updated federal emergency preparedness requirements that are part of the home health and hospice
Conditions of Participation (CoPs) and become knowledgeable in how to apply the federal requirements for disaster preparedness in their own specific agencies. Enhance disaster plan development for all community based agencies.

Following is the planned content and schedule for the live webinar sessions; for those who are unable to attend the live sessions, recorded sessions will be available.
Please note there is limited seating in the live sessions so please register early.

Part 1: OVERVIEW OF THE REGULATIONS – June 4, 2019, 1:00-2:00 pm EDT
Including Lessons Learned, Home Health and Hospice’s Role in an Event, All-Hazards Approach, Regulatory changes since 2018 and survey findings from the first year under the disaster preparedness CoPs.
Part 2: STARTING AND BUILDING THE PLAN, – June 11, 2019, 1:00-2:00pm EDT
Including Four Phases of Emergency Management, Incident Command System, and Hazard Vulnerability Assessment , Infection control and prevention, Continuity of Operations (Defining Essential Function, Succession Planning, Human Resources, Alternate Location, Defining Patient Populations, and Data Management)
Part 3: DEVELOPMENT OF POLICIES AND PROCEDURES – June 18, 2019, 1:00-2:00 pm EDT
Patient Classification Systems, Transportation Classifications, Surge Capacity, HIPAA/IT, Tracking Patients and Staff, and Roles and Definitions., Organizing the plan.
Part 4: COMMUNICATION/TESTING AND TRAINING – June 25, 2019, 1:00-2:00 pm EDT
Health Care Coalitions; Specific Hospice Requirements; MOUs; Government Emergency Telecommunications System; Collaborative Relationships with Local, State, Federal, and Indian Tribe Nations; Annual/Orientation Requirements, Documentation of Training, Types of Exercises (Tabletop, Functional, Full-scale), After Action Report, Revising and Updating the Plan

REGISTER AT:
https://www.rbclimited.com/product/edp-4-part-series/

DISCOUNT CODE: RBCEDP

Good for all community-based, home care, hospice & Medicare certified home health agencies

Report on the Massachusetts Serious Illness Coalition

The MA Serious Illness Coalition pushes to bring awareness and focus on end-of-life issues.

“It is my goal that every nursing school in MA embrace that a nursing student must see a dying patient with the same fervor that they embrace that every nurse must see a baby being born.”
— Susan Lysaght Hurley, PhD, RN
Director of Research, Care Dimensions, Inc

Last week, the Massachusetts Serious Illness Coalition hosted its annual meeting welcoming more than 100 attendees to the JFK Library in Boston. The message from the Coalition’s leadership – as articulated by Blue Cross Blue Shield MA President and CEO – is that “the momentum is building.” From the Coalition’s beginnings less than five years ago, Dreyfus has focused on a long-term strategy to achieve the Coalition’s six goals. These include the ideas that everyone in Massachusetts 18 years or older has a designated health care decision-maker and that all Massachusetts clinicians have appropriate training to communicate comfortably with patients around advanced care planning and serious illness. Dreyfus has likened the work to that done in years past on smoking and on car seats, where steady force and public messaging achieved near-universal changes in public thinking.

The progress on clinician education – from a provider association perspective – is perhaps the most engaging and encouraging news. Dr Atul Gwande, as eloquent as ever, declared that the work to date has shown that: “People have priorities in life beyond just surviving, but you must ask them. Suffering happens when care doesn’t match our priorities.”

In addition to a public education campaign about engaging in advanced care planning conversations, Dr. Gwande announced that the Coalition is in talks with all four Massachusetts medical schools about a cooperative effort to require training of med students in serious illness communication as a graduation requirement.

But it was Dr, Hurley’s remarks that struck home for the home health and hospice agencies in the Coalition. In addition to the above comment, Dr. Hurley spoke of being a young nurse “totally unprepared as to how to talk to the dying.” Along with her subcommittee co-chair Anne Marie Barron of Simmons College, she is working on recommendations on core competencies for nursing education related to serious illness care. These are to be presented in the near future to the Massachusetts Association of Colleges of Nursing. What a great achievement that would be!

For those following the Coalition’s work, these may also be of interest:

  1. End Games, an Academy Award-nominated short documentary on hospice and palliative care executive produced by Shoshana Ungerleider, MD. It premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2018 and was acquired by Netflix.

2. The Coalition’s public message research and draft public facing marketing approaches.

Commendable progress!

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Lunch & Learn Series Continues with Discussion on Connecting Care for Patients

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.

Registration is just $40/Person!

Get “Woke” on Sepsis

Several new resources are available to members to help them combat one of the most dangerous health conditions in the Commonwealth: Sepsis.

Massachusetts Sepsis ConsortiumSepsis: 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.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

New PDGM Educational Material Now Available!

In a partnership with the National Association for Home Care, we are pleased to extend to you a special NAHC discount on several PDGM educational offerings. As a member of HCA of MA, you will receive the NAHC member rate* when you purchase any or all of the following:  1) the PDGM: Strategies for Success in 2020 and Beyond video;  2) the individual webinars;  3) seven-part Webinar Series;  or 4) the package,  which includes both the PDGM Video and the PDGM Webinar Series – at an unbeatable price!

Registration includes giving your entire team access to these materials. Each individual can access them separately or you can use them for a group education.  It’s  up to you!

Click on the links below to get started!

For one low price, you and your entire team will have access to these materials, access them separately or as a group, it’s up to you!

Click on the links below to get started!

PDGM Video

We’ve developed an intensive, in-depth, online training that will prepare you and your entire Medicare home health agency to transition smoothly and successfully to PDGM in 2020 and beyond. If you weren’t able to attend one of the 12 National Summits across the country, don’t worry. PDGM: Strategies for Success in 2020 and Beyond features the same top PDGM experts who educated thousands at our National Summits, and you can learn their insights without leaving your home or office. Even better, for one low price all of your staff can receive the training they need. Purchase the video

Webinar Series

These webinars will be recorded for access anytime and anywhere.  For descriptions and objectives, click here

PROMO CODE FOR INDIVIDUAL WEBINARS: PDGM-Ind-MA01

Date & Time Title Presenter
May 2, 2019
2:00-3:00 PM ET		 PDGM Practical Overview Sue Payne REGISTER
May 9, 2019
2:00-3:00 PM ET		 PDGM Operations Impact: Referral Source & Intake Maria Warren REGISTER
May 21, 2019
2:00-3:00 PM ET		 PDGM Operations Impact: 30 Day Periods, LUPAs, Supplies Diane Link REGISTER
June 6, 2019
2:00-3:00 PM ET		 PDGM: Coding / Documentation Review / Revenue Cycle Melinda Gaboury REGISTER
July 11, 2019
2:00-3:00 PM ET		 PDGM: Interdisciplinary Considerations Karen Vance REGISTER
August 15, 2019
2:00-3:00 PM ET		 PDGM: Electronic Medical Record Readiness Matt Garcia REGISTER
August 16, 2019
2:00-3:00 PM ET		 Clinical Management of PDGM Risks Karen Vance REGISTER

Registration

PRODUCT State Association Member Price w/ Code Register
Single PDGM Webinar (1 of 7) $99 use links above
PDGM Webinar Series (all 7) $199 PURCHASE
PDGM Video (5.5 hrs) $199 PURCHASE
PDGM Video (5.5 hrs) and PDGM Webinar Series
 $349 PURCHASE

PROMO CODES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Individual Webinar Code – PDGM-Ind-MA01

PDGM Webinar Series (all 7 webinars) Code – PDGM-MA01

PDGM Video Code  –  PDGM-MA01

Combo – PDGM Video and Webinar Series (all 7 webinars) Code – PDGM-Combo-MA01

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

A New Version of OASIS is Coming!

Is your staff just getting used to completing OASIS-D?  Surprise,   CMS recently announced there will be a new version for 2020!

It was a surprise to many when CMS declared during the April 3rd, Open Door Forum, that effective January 1, 2020 there would be a new version of OASIS. I know I was thinking at first that the presenter misread the effective date, but apparently this update is needed to support the Patient Driven Grouping Model (PDGM).  One more thing for HHA to deal with. But, HCA of MA will be here for you.  (See link at end to out Fall 2019 OASIS training.)  

Thankfully though, after reviewing the  CMS Memorandum,   I realize that there are only a few minor changes.

Quick synopsis:   Two items will be added to the Follow-Up assessment:  M1033-Risk for Hospitalization and M1800-Grooming. These items should pose no problem since staff is familiar with answering these items at SOC/ROC. Surprisingly, the other change involves the “option” to no longer answer 23 items!  Rather than leaving the items blank,  the clinician will be required, however,  to respond by using the equal sign (=).

Here are the “optional” items for your convenience.

Start of Care/Resumption of Care (SOC/ROC)

• M1910 Fall risk Assessment

Transfer (TRN) and Discharge (DC)

• M2401a Intervention Synopsis: Diabetic Foot Care

• M1051 Pneumococcal Vaccine

• M1056 Reason Pneumococcal Vaccine not received

Follow-Up (FU)

• M1021 Primary Diagnosis

• M1023 Other Diagnoses

• M1030 Therapies

• M1200 Vision

• M1242 Frequency of Pain Interfering with Activity

• M1311 Current Number of Unhealed Pressure Ulcers at Each Stage

• M1322 Current Number of Stage 1 Pressure Injuries

• M1324 Stage of Most Problematic Unhealed Pressure Ulcer that is Stageable

• M1330 Does this patient have a Stasis Ulcer

• M1332 Current Number of Stasis Ulcers that are Observable

• M1334 Status of Most Problematic Stasis Ulcer that is Observable

• M1340 Does this patient have a Surgical Wound

• M1342 Status of the Most Problematic Surgical Wound that is Observable

• M1400 Short of Breath

• M1610 Urinary Incontinence or Urinary Catheter Presence

• M1620 Bowel Incontinence Frequency

• M1630 Ostomy for Bowel Elimination

• M2030 Management of Injectable Medications

• M2200 Therapy Need

HCA of MA next Blueprint for OASIS Accuracy will be held on November 4th and 5th. Option to take the certification exam will be on the 6th.

You can register for the course here.

Blog post by:  Colleen Bayard.

Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) System Resource Page Now Available for HCA Members!

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.

The current schedule is as follows:

March 19th – Agency Workforce Management (Recording Available)

April 9th – HHAeXchange (Recording Available)

April 23rd – CellTrak

May 14th – Homecare GPS

June 11th – HomeCareIT

July 9th – Sandata

August 13th – 4Tellus

September 10th – ClearCare

REGISTER ONLINE

*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!

REGISTER HERE

Access the EVV Resource page at: http://www.thinkhomecare.org/EVV

HCA and Northeastern University Partner on Nurse Symposium in June

These days, it seems like every week a new report is published sounding the alarm of a rapidly aging population across the United States and a shortage of workers prepared to care for this barreling silver tsunami. So much of the media coverage and research is focused on the paraprofessional workforce.

See for example, these reports/publications:

However, the Home Care Alliance member surveys indicate that the problem is broader than just a shortage of home health aides. The availability of a trained nursing workforce to meet a growing home-based health care delivery system is also emerging as an issue. Compounding challenges are impacting our ability as an industry to attract nursing students into home and community-based settings after nursing school.  That is why, on June 7th the Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts and Northeastern’s School of Nursing are hosting a symposium on the very topic of building a home care nursing workforce at Northeastern University from 9AM – 3PM.

The event, titled: Nursing Call to Action: Building a Nursing Workforce to Deliver Complex Care at Home, will bring together more than 25 nursing schools and 25 home health providers for a day-long session. The program will kick-start a dialogue brainstorming new approaches for preparing and exposing Massachusetts nursing students for an increasingly intensive health delivery system in the home.

This event will look past the issue of reimbursement rates or ever-changing reforms at CMS, and instead will focus on four key areas:

  1. Identifying knowledge and skills gaps for LPN/RN new-grads and what changes can be made to address the gaps and develop competencies in executing highly complex services
  2. Elevating the visibility to nursing schools of the growing demand for home-based services and the need to expose students to possible careers in home care nursing
  3. Identifying strategies on recruitment as new-grads and experienced nurses prepare for possible careers in home care nursing
  4. Identifying barriers and strategies to get home health agencies more involved in clinical placements for nursing students

If you would like more information on this event, please reach out to Jake Krilovich. Please note: There is limited space for this event!

Full Brochure for 2019 NEHCC Now Available

The full program and schedule for the 2019 New England Home Care and Hospice Conference & Trade Show is now available.

The full conference program and schedule for the 2019 New England Home Care and Hospice Conference & Trade Show is now available for download.

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.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.