By Tim Rowan, Editor & Publisher of Home Care Technology Report A new predictive analytics system has brought better patient outcomes and stronger revenue growth to nine branches of 30-state Encompass Home Health and Hospice. The results were so significant, management is set to expand use of the tool to all 225-branches. One of a Medicare HHAs […]
The 2016 final rule establishing a new hospice payment system is now law. We asked a 20-year hospice veteran nurse exactly what it means to providers.
by Laura Mitchell We have a huge frequent flyer problem in America. No- not a problem – a crisis. And I don’t mean the frequent flyers who get to skip ahead in lines and get free drinks, I mean the frequent flyers that cycle through our hospital emergency rooms, the discharged patients who get readmitted […]
by Liz Seegert The Federal Long Term Care Commission is about to issue a report on the deepening care crisis facing the nation’s aging population. Recently, several major organizations – including AARP and the National Council on Aging – have supported a greater role for home and community-based services, including home health care. Not […]
Some see them as partners, some as payers, some as reluctant, recalcitrant payers. A recent survey of Managed Care Organizations, however, reveals that many of them also believe in multi-pronged approaches as patients leave the hospital, including nursing, social services and home-health visits, often offering some of these services on their own.Many of the MAOs […]
Kelea Nardini, RN, Director of Parkview Home Care in Pueblo, Colorado, raves about her new patient education system and cites it as the most important tools that has helped drop Parkview’s 60-day hospital readmission rate down to 13.2%, nearly 4 full points under the national average, and simultaneously driven their HH-CAHPS scores above the […]
The School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has reported on a study that showed that regular telephone contact with a nurse substantially reduced hospital re-admissions for high-risk patients. The findings also determined that health care costs were decreased by approximately $1,225 for each patient enrolled in the program, when […]
A range of products displayed and/or discussed at the recent National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) annual conference is discussed in this article. They include new and expanded visit tracking mechanisms from CareWatch, one of home healthcare’s and hospice’s first telephony service providers. Much detail is provided on use of its EVV Security […]
In a recent 6-month period, the Community Health Innovation Network (CHIN) saved payers $569,000 by preventing avoidable readmissions. Director and founder Janet Wheble’s announcement of that kind of result typically draws resounding applause, especially when delivered to a gathering of executives from Las Vegas’ thirteen hospitals and the health plans that benefit from their […]
A randomized control study of 3,988 high-risk gastrointestinal, heart or lower respiratory patients found that prioritized, telephonic outreach by case managers following hospital discharge reduced future readmissions by 22 percent. The results of the study, conducted by health insurance provider Cigna (NYSE:CI), are published in the December 2012 issue of the independent, peer-reviewed American […]
