Next week is National Nurses week. It is a time to celebrate the dedication, caring and overall contributions of those who choose nursing as their profession.
The Home Care Alliance would like to share your nursing human interest stories next week across our various social media platforms, whether it’s a shout out to a team or a staff member.
Email Megan Fournier at mfournier@thinkhomecare.org to tell us why you love home care & hospice nurses – OR – share our post below and comment why!
Now in its 12th edition, the Guides to Private Home Care Services have connected tens of thousands of families with the home care agencies that can help them care for their families and loved ones.
Need a primer on what home care can do? Don’t know how to pay for it? Don’t know how to select an agency, whom to trust, or what agencies are available in your are? This free directory answers all of your questions.
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Looking for something more comprehensive? the Resource Directory is intended for professionals and others who make regular referrals to home care, the Private Care Guides are designed for consumers and are always available at no charge.
Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.
Join us for our first annual Quality & Compliance Conference being held on Thursday, March 29th in Worcester, MA. This conference has been created due to the overwhelming new regulations that agencies need to understand to remain compliant.
After surveying members, HCA determined some of the most important topics that will be discussed during this full day conference.
Members are able to register for the LOW price of $50/person.
5 Nursing CEUs will be awarded!
The agenda is as follows:
There is something for everyone at the 2018 New England Home Care & Hospice Conference and Trade Show. See below just some of the topics that may be suited for you!
Clinical Directors
Quality
Private Duty
CEO
We have carved out an entire CEO track for you to enhance your skills and knowledge as well as engage with panelists, and peers.
Therapy
Human Resources
Finance
Hospice & Palliative Care
There are even more break-out sessions to learn from and 5 keynotes not even mentioned! Be sure to take a look at the full brochure to learn about ALL sessions being offered at this years conference!
Go to http://www.NEHCC.com for more information and to register today!
This is the one, indispensable book that anyone making referrals must have. It’s the bible for home care in Massachusetts. — Gina Martin, RN, CCM
Thousands of copies of the the Alliance’s home care referral directory have already been shipped to every case manager, hospital, COA, state legislator, and GCMs in Massachusetts.
Need an copy? They’re available for purchase on our website, with free shipping (as always).
Alternatively, you can also use the Digital Edition of the directory, as well as our online Find an Agency search.
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Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.
HCA prides itself in providing the most current, important, and in demand educational topics for our members. To do this, we sometimes partner with sister state associations who are willing to offer their programs at member rates. Below you will find some upcoming webinars that are being made available to all HCA of MA members!
Operational Lessons Learned from a Disaster Plan That Didn’t Work
March 7: 1:00-2:30PM
This case study will help your agency better prepare for the unthinkable. Hear the experience of an agency that worked with local and regional groups to develop a comprehensive disaster plan only to discover IT DIDN’T WORK!! Emergency preparedness will be a top priority in upcoming surveys. Failure to comply can result in serious financial penalties, or even loss of your agency’s license. Take the steps necessary to create a plan that works.
The Aide’s Role in Confidentiality and HIPAA
March 8: 3:00-4:00PM
This workshop will focus on assisting your In-Home Aides in understanding HIPAA and confidentiality guidelines. This workshop will offer practical tips to ensure that the para-professional adheres to the required privacy standards. Also included: the impact of social media such as Facebook, My Space, YouTube and cell phones, text messages, etc.
Re-Imagining the Plan of Care: A Pyramid Model
March 22: 1:00-2:30PM
There are many ways to build a plan of care – but how do you know that the one you are using is effective, comprehensive and will support strong clinical care in the home?
The “Pyramid of Care” uses the comprehensive OASIS assessment you already have as the foundation. Explore the process of identifying critical areas that become the goals of the plan of care, and transform these into skilled interventions. This process will be easy for your clinicians to grasp and implement, will enable them to clearly support skill in each visit, and achieve measurable improvement in the outcome goals attached to each plan.
Understand PT & OT Functional Tests: Selecting & Interpreting the Best Assessment Tools
April 5: 1:00-2:30PM
There are so many assessment tool options available to home care, but so little time to research them all! Home care physical therapist and educator Ernest Roy has taken the deep dive to provide webinar participants with an evidenced-based review of tests suitable for field use by Physical and Occupational Therapists. Roy will focus on data norms for specific populations, as well as highlight minimal clinically important differences as well as specificity and sensitivity. Utilize the data you collect from intake to discharge, and improve your functional testing efficacy.
The Aide’s Role in Assisting a Patient with Chronic Pain
April 12: 3:00-4:00PM
Our world is aging. The elder population may falsely believe that because they are aging that pain is a normal part of living and is therefore not reported or managed. Since the majority of our patients seen in the home are elderly, this webinar will provide an overview of symptoms the aide may observe and the aide’s role in providing care to those patients experiencing pain.
Yesterday, on this blog we announced our latest podcast, featuring a conversation with Barbra Citarella on Emergency Preparedness in our industry. See post below for the links to listen and find the referenced resources. Today, I thought it fun to stray a bit from the home care topics normally covered here to reflect a bit on the whole notion of podcasting. Hope you enjoy. — Pat Kelleher
In 1978, a little known and now little remembered musical group the Buggles put out the song “Video Killed the Radio Star,” a self-explanatory lyric that about the perceived loss of imagination inherent in the move to turn music into pictures (i.e., videos). The song — for all you trivia buffs — was the first video aired on August 1, 1981 at 12:01 on a little upstart channel known as MTV.
Well, in 2018, audio is back and in a big way. The phenomenon known as “podcasting” is exploding, with walkers, long-distance travelers, and insomniacs finding there’s a lot out there to listen to no matter your taste, politics, or hobbies. Surprisingly, healthcare seems one of the least fertile areas – hard to make regulatory updates engaging!
If you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, be forewarned: There is a lot of junk out there from so-called subject matter experts who quickly reveal a paucity of knowledge on their chosen topic and aren’t quite as clever as they think they are. If you aren’t yet a “podhead,” to get started, it’s often good to look to some of the “OGs” – the originals that paved the way with content and high-production quality, such as This American Life and the TED Radio Hour. For techie type stuff, Reply All is good fun and, for those who like language and word play, the British import The Allusionist is on many “best of” lists. Note: these links are all websites, but all of these can be found on iTunes or the podcast app on your smart phone.
At HCA of MA, we have just gotten started podcasting, and interesting guests are welcome! If you have a home care story to tell, email me: pkelleher@thinkhomecare.org and we will have you on!
We also welcome hearing in comments what are some of your favorite health care or non-health care podcast series or episodes. Here are links to a few of mine – two are stories that, like all great stories, are of loss and love. One is on technology’s infiltration in our lives. All three are infinitely listenable. They are:
Happy Listening!
Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.
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m the pre-conference programs, to national keynote speakers and the largest trade show in the region, there is just so much to take in at the 8th annual New England Home Care & Hospice Conference and Trade Show. Be part of the action, or take the scenic route to networking, learning and relaxing. There truly is something for everyone. Join us!
See our detailed brochure and register today. Keep up with all the conference news by subscribing to our blog, following us on Facebook or on Twitter.
Pat Kelleher talks emergency and disaster preparedness with Barbara Citarella, president of RBC Limited Healthcare & Management Consultants.
For the fifth episode of Talking Home Care, Pat Kelleher talks emergency and disaster preparedness with Barbara Citarella, president of RBC Limited Healthcare & Management Consultants. Topics include:
You may listen to the podcast by clicking the play button above, downloading it directly, or subscribing through iTunes or Google Play. (Length: 32’45”; Size: 17 MB).
Host: Patricia Kelleher is the Executive Director of the Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts.
Guest: Barbara Citarella is the president and founder of RBC Limited Healthcare and Management Consultants, a national leader in the home health and hospice industry in addition to disaster planning. As the only recognized expert in the area of home care and hospice disaster planning, she specializes in emergency disaster planning, bioterrorism, health care development and operations. She provides education to law enforcement and government agencies, health care providers, private sector, first responders, national and state associations in all aspects of disaster preparedness.
Don’t want to miss the next episode of Talking Home Care? Subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, or enter the following in your podcast app: https://thinkhomecare.wordpress.com/category/talking-home-care-podcast/feed/
Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.
As has been announced by MassHealth in numerous webinars, bulletins and most recently member mailings, effective March 1, 2018 MassHealth will begin enrolling the majority on their non dual, under 65 years of age eligible members into one of three types of Accountable Care Organizations, or one of two Managed Care Organizations . As outlined in this provider bulletin, there are 12 different Accountable Care Plan Partnerships, and three Primary Care ACO Plans.
Member should all have been noticed about which plan they have been assigned as of November 2017, and their enrollments are all effective March 1, 2018. Members will have between March 1 and May 31 2018 to switch plans. After June 1 they will remain in a fixed enrollment until Feb 2019.
MassHealth is hosting series of important webinars and live trainings for providers between Jan and March, see dates and sites in the same Provider Bulletin.
It is imperative that agencies serving MassHealth patients attend one of these trainings. At these training Masshealth we will covering issues around eligibility verification and how to establish if a patient’s insurer has changed, as well as what plans are required to do to ensure continuity of care for patients who may be switching plans. Most of training information will also be posted to the Delivery Reform Provider resource website.
All patients who are switching to an ACO or an MCO should have received written notice already. These patients are being directed to www.masshealthchoices.com if they need to verify plan information or want to switch their plans.
The large number of patients facing a change in the management of their care promises to cause confusion especially for home health patients for whom continuity of service is particularly critical. HCA of MA asks members to keep HCA informed about the transition process.
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