Unique, Grant-Funded Training Opportunity for Central Mass. Home Care Workers

Registration is OPEN NOW for the first Community Health Worker (CHW) Registered Apprenticeship Program established in Massachusetts and one of only a few in the nation.

The Center for Health Impact TM (formerly known as Central MA AHEC) in Worcester, Massachusetts is delighted to report that the Fairlawn Foundation Fund of the Greater Worcester Community Foundation has awarded funds to establish the creation of a Community Health Worker (CHW) Registered Apprenticeship Program in Central Massachusetts.

Apprenticeship is a flexible training system that benefits both employers and workers through its structured on-the-job learning and job-related classroom instruction. (Learn more about Apprenticeship USA at: https://www.doleta.gov/OA/apprenticeship.cfm.)

The 150-hour course, anticipated to start on April 5th, 2016 (pending enrollment/subject to change) will be offered free of charge to qualified applicants in Central Massachusetts by the Center for Health Impact TM Outreach Worker Training Institute (OWTI) in Worcester. Participants will earn a certificate of course completion aligned with the requirements established by the Massachusetts Board of Certification of CHWs.

To qualify, an individual must be employed or about to be employed with an employer who will:

  • Provide them 2200 hours of on-the-job paid apprenticeship learning and supervision in one calendar year
  • Reward the apprentice for skills gained by an increase in pay within one calendar year
  • Authorize the apprentice to attend the 150-Hour course (120 hours of class time; 30 hours of homework).

Benefits for employers:

  • Access to free CHW core competency training for employees
  • Access to incentives as an employer working with the CHW Registered Apprenticeship Program
  • Well trained and job proficient employees who meet employers’ specific needs
  • Enhanced employee retention
  • Improved service delivery

For questions, or to request the registration package for the Community Health Worker (CHW) Registered Apprenticeship 150-Hour Certificate Course, please contact: Tatyana Gorodetsky,  at tatyana@centerforhealthimpact.org or by phone at: 508-556-1332.

MassHealth Hosting One Care Outreach Events

This Spring, MassHealth is hosting several One Care outreach events to let individuals who may be eligible for One Care know about the benefits of the program.

One Care Presentations as well as Drop-In Events will be held throughout Suffolk and Worcester County between the dates of March 25th and April 13th. This is a great opportunity to learn more about One Care, particularly for clients who may have received notices indicating that they are being automatically assigned to a One Care plan. More information about One Care can also be found at: www.mass.gov/masshealth/onecare.

Please share this with individuals you serve who may be eligible for One Care and feel free to forward to colleagues and other providers.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Another Successful Blueprint for OASIS Training & Exam

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The Home Care Alliance of MA would like to thank the over 85 participants who took to the 2-day intensive Blueprint for OASIS training as well as a special congratulations to the 54 participants that took the OASIS COS-C certification exam last week on Wednesday, March 16th in Milford, MA.

Although OASIS is a high demand training, especially with the benefits to Value Based Purchasing, there is still a large cost associated with putting the training on. HCA would like to hold another training in the fall for members, around roughly November, however, we need to know if members would be interested in attending. With that, whether you are interested or not, the association would greatly appreciate it if you could take this very quick survey with your thoughts.

http://www.thinkhomecare.org/surveys/?id=OASIS

Your feedback is very valuable to us!

For any questions please feel free to contact Megan Fournier at mfournier@thinkhomecare.org or 617-482-8830.

MassHealth Releases Prior Authorization Presentation

The first in a series of education sessions administered by MassHealth on their newly implemented prior authorization process occurred on March 16th and the slides have been made available.

After a basic overview of home health regulations, the prior authorization portion begins on slide 20 with helpful information and links as well as the contact information for the MassHealth Prior Authorization Unit (PAU). With a limited number of spots for this webinar, the Home Care Alliance is continuing to work with MassHealth on offering additional sessions.

The Alliance continues to take questions from agencies and is actively and constantly in contact with MassHealth to address ongoing issues.

Next week, MassHealth will be offering separate one-hour sessions on utilizing the Provider Online Service Center, or POSC.

During this training, MassHealth will provide step-by-step instruction on how to submit a prior authorization via the POSC, including how to inquire on and view prior authorization decisions, as well as other POSC techniques.

As space is limited, agencies are encouraged to register soon, if they have not already.

The sessions will be held at UMass Medical School (333 South St, Shrewsbury, MA 01545) on the following dates.

  • Wednesday, March 23, 2016  1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
  • Friday, March 25, 2016 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
  • Friday, March 25, 2016 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Register here for POSC Training

The official Public Notice of the regulatory change requiring prior authorization was published last Friday. The notice include an invitation for public comment, with all comments due by April 1, 2016. Agencies are encouraged to submit constructive comments.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org

Health Care Innovation Grant Opportunity Released by HPC

After months of planning, the state’s Health Policy Commission has released the RFP for their Health Care Innovation Investment Program (HCII).

An initial round of $5 million will be distributed to applicants that partner with other organizations to propose innovative, multi-stakeholder payment and care delivery models with an emerging evidence base of cost savings. Among the focus areas are post-acute care, end-of-life care, behavioral health integration and social determinants of health.

Since this is being administered by the HPC, aside from the benefit of getting a grant any successful applicants will have the added benefit of having their project be high-profile and also a higher likelihood of influencing policy for others.

The HPC has posted the following schedule for due dates and information sessions:

  • Information Sessions:  

    March 16, 2016 – 10:45 AM, HPC Offices

    March 25, 2016 – 10:45 AM – Webinar (Register Here)

  • Letter Of Intent Due Date: April 8, 2016 by 3:00 PM EDT
  • Proposal Due Date: May 13, 2016 by 3:00 PM EDT
  • Anticipated Awardee Announcements: July 2016
  • Anticipated Period of Performance: October 2016 to September 2018

The Home Care Alliance strongly encourages both home health care and private pay home care agencies to apply. More information is available on the HPC’s HCII webpage and any questions or guidance on the program can be directed to James Fuccione at the Alliance.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

New MassHealth Rules on New Prior Authorization Process

In response to concerns about growth in home health utilization over the past two years, MassHealth has used their emergency regulation authority to introduce a home health prior authorization requirement as of March 1. According to MassHealth staff, the visit count for determining the need for prior authorization will start on March 1. Prior authorization is required for services in excess of the following thresholds:

  • Intermittent skilled nursing visits after 30 visits in a 90-day period;
  • Home health aide services after 240 units (60 hours) in a 90-day period;
  • Physical therapy after 20 visits in a 12-month period (this is unchanged from previous requirement;
  • Occupational therapy after 20 visits in a 12-month period;
  • Speech-language therapy after 35 visits in a 12-month period;
  • Home Health Aide services supportive of physical, occupational, or speech-language therapy after 20 physical, 20 occupational, or 35 speech-language therapy visits.

MassHealth has published numerous instructional documents, the links of which can be found below .  Links to the PA request forms and guidelines are also within the bulletin.

Bulletin:

http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/gov/laws-regs/masshealth/provider-library/provider-bulletins/home-health-agency-provider-bulletins.html

Transmittal Letter

http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/gov/laws-regs/masshealth/provider-library/transmittal-letters/home-health-agency-transmittal-letters.html

Home Health Medical Necessity Guideline:

http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/provider/insurance/masshealth/clinical-treatment/medical-necessity-determination/download-a-printer-friendly-version-of-the.html

HHA-2 and PA-HHA-SN forms (will be under Home Health Agency):

http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/gov/laws-regs/masshealth/provider-library/masshealth-provider-forms.html

It is expected that PAs will be processed through the MassHealth Provider Online Service Center (POSC).  All of the job aides and training links related to this can be found here:

http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/gov/newsroom/masshealth/providers/mmis-posc/trainingget-trained.html

HCA of MA continues to work with MassHealth to clarify agency questions and concerns around documentation and PA processing.  A list of Q & As should be available shortly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MHA, ONL & HCA Publish Latest Quality Measures for Hospitals, Home Health Agencies

The Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA), Organization of Nurse Leaders of MA, RI, NH & CT (ONL) and Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts have publicly posted the latest available key national care quality performance measures for both hospitals and home healthcare agencies in Massachusetts. Data from Medicare’s Hospital Compare and Home Health Compare are now available on the PatientCareLink website for 77 Bay State hospitals and 89 Bay State home health agencies.Patientcarelink logo

Reported measures for hospitals include best practices for heart attack or chest pain, heart failure, pneumonia care, influenza prevention, surgical care improvement, stroke care and blood clot prevention and treatment. For home care agencies, the reported measures include timely initiation of care, patient/family medication education, depression assessment, and more.

To view the updated reports, visit www.patientcarelink.org and click on the “Healthcare Provider Data” tab and then either the “Hospital Data” or “Home Health Agency Data” link, then “Individual Hospital Performance Measures” or “Select an Agency.”

The home health agency reports now incorporate data for the period June 2014 – July 2015 for all measures, and the hospital reports cover April 2014 – March 2015. In addition to each facility’s individual performance, the PCL pages also provide a comparison to state and U.S. “peer” facility averages.

“Providing high quality, safe patient care is a top priority for Massachusetts hospitals,” said Pat Noga, PhD, RN, Vice President of Clinical Affairs for MHA. “Our hospitals are also committed to publicly posting important quality and staffing information to provide patients and caregivers alike additional confidence in their care.”

Patricia Kelleher, Executive Director of the Home Care Alliance of MA, added that the partnership between hospitals and home health agencies on PCL furthers positive working relationships along the entire continuum of care, which can only improve patient safety and quality overall.

“Choosing in-home services can be a daunting task and that’s why we’re proud that PatientCare Link (PCL) website allows patients and their families to find high-quality care in the home setting that fits their needs,” Kelleher said. “PCL includes Medicare-approved agencies that meet certain federal health and safety requirements, and provides patients, caregivers, and families the tool to easily access home health agency quality data to take control of their care and their health.”

Massachusetts was the first state to voluntarily make hospital staffing and nursing-sensitive quality information public starting in 2006. Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts joined the PCL quality and patient safety transparency effort in 2013. The PatientCareLink website is a great resource and gives patients an open and transparent view of the hospitals providing them care.

Hospitals and home care agencies welcome transparency about their performance when performance measures are grounded in good science and are designed to make fair comparisons across institutions. Publicly reported performance data can offer several benefits, including:

  • Offering useful information for making decisions about where to obtain healthcare
  • Helping healthcare professionals and institutions improve the care they deliver; and
  • Providing extra motivation to improve performance.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Prior Authorization Demo Proposed by CMS

Piling on top of existing pilots and demonstrations, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have released another proposed program that would establish Medicare prior authorizations and a fraud measurement pilot.

Massachusetts is one of five states – along with Florida, Texas, Illinois and Michigan – selected for the prior authorization demonstration. There are no details on what the authorizations would entail in the proposed demonstration aside from CMS stating that it would be similar to “Prior Authorization of Power Mobility Device (PMD) Demonstration, which was implemented by CMS in 2012.” The rule continues that “this demonstration would also follow and adopt prior authorization processes that currently exist in other health care programs such as TRICARE, certain state Medicaid programs, and in private insurance.”

CMS’ reasoning for implementing such a program a belief that it will help assist in “developing improved procedures for the identification, investigation, and prosecution of Medicare fraud occurring among HHAs providing services to Medicare beneficiaries.”

According to CMS, Medicare contractors will request the information from home health agency providers submitting claims for payment from the Medicare program in advance to determine appropriate payment.

The second piece of the CMS’ proposal is titled the “Medicare Probable Fraud Measurement Pilot.” The pilot would establish a baseline estimate of probable fraud in Medicare fee-for-service payments for home health care.

CMS purports that this would be accomplished using, at least in part, a summary of the service history of the HHA, the referring provider, and the beneficiary to estimate the percentage of total payments that are associated with probable fraud and the percentage of all claims that are associated with probable fraud for Medicare fee-for-service home health.

HCA is currently working to get more details on this demonstration so as to devise an advocacy strategy.

Comments on the proposed demonstration are due by April 5th and details are available here on the Federal Register.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Leadership Summit: Mission Possible Theme Song Released

For those of you that attended the 2016 Northeast Home Health Leadership Summit, you know that the closing keynote, Angus Clark with Song Division, worked with everyone to create a theme song for the conference.

Angus used this engaging session to utilize the songwriting process to demonstrate the qualities your people need to cultivate collectively to innovate, succeed and create as a cohesive unit. The practical takeaways that could be immediately applied in the workplace included:

  • A refresher on active listening
  • The experience of a safe, fun environment where people can express ideas to solve workplace challenges without fear of criticism
  • A ‘yes’ mentality where the focus is on the solution, not the problem
  • And Collectively achieving something together that the group previously didn’t think was possible (writing an original song), improving group cohesiveness and productivity back in the workplace.

Without further ado, the official recording of the original theme song: Mission Possible

To see the live version done at the conference see below:

We are healthcare in the home.

You don’t have to be alone.

Together we’re unstoppable.

It’s ALL… Mission Possible!

2016 NEHCC Registration Now Open!

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It’s that time of the year again when the New England Home Care & Hospice Conference and Trade Show comes around. Representing more than 375 agencies, the six home care associations of New England are pleased to announce that the 2016 NEHCC will return to Foxwoods Resort & Casino for its 6th annual conference, this time at the the Grand Pequot Tower from May 16-18, 2016.

The line-up will cover keynote speakers such as:

  • Dan Marshall, Author of “Home is Burning: A Memoir”
  • Ellen Breslin, Senior Consultant, Health Management Consultants
  • Andrew Reed, President and CEO, Multi-View Incorporated
  • Peter Ross, CEO and Co-Founder of Senior Helpers

There will also be 10 break-out sessions as well as, new this year, 5 intensives that cover topics on hospice, private duty, HR/nursing, leadership and reform and more!

A special pre-conference training will also be available on Monday, May 16th with Amy Matthews on “Meeting the Dementia Challenge in Home Care”.

Registration is now open and can be done by clicking HERE

For more information on the conference you can go to the website at www.NEHCC.com. New information on speakers will be posted soon! Check regularly for the most up to date information! Hope to see you there