Home Healthcare Wire
Proper wound care documentation offers numerous benefits for Private Duty Nursing home care agencies and their patients, including enhanced communication and accurate billing and reimbursement processes. Implementing strategies to streamline information management can significantly improve efficiency and ensure the highest quality of care for patients of Private Duty Nursing agencies.
Private Duty Nursing Home Care Agencies should leverage technology and intelligent automation to improve scheduling efficiency. Improving scheduling efficiency will have a positive impact on many aspects of operations. A Home Care Agency Management software platform with efficient scheduling tools will improve the operational efficiency of Private Duty Nursing Home Care Agencies.
Private Duty Nursing is different from your traditional home health as it requires skilled care for medically fragile patients. The care is typically provided in longer shifts from 8 to 12 hours and for a limited number of patients over a longer period of time. In the Private Duty Nursing field, the nurse or LPN gets to know the patient as a person and can really become quite attached to their patient. The care provided can be in multiple settings such as the patient's home, school, or even a group home setting.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can play a crucial role in helping home care agencies to meet these challenges, continue to grow, and improve the bottom line. KPIs can help agencies measure current performance, identify areas for improvement, set operational goals, and ensure the goals are met. Understanding KPIs and selecting appropriate ones for the organization will help agencies improve operational efficiency and meet their growth goals.
In 2015-2016, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) revoked the ability of Home Care Employers to invoke the companionship services clause to not pay overtime.
This change has significantly increased the number of employees with overtime protection. Private Duty Home Care agencies providing skilled and non-medical services will need to monitor employee overtime and minimize it during scheduling.
Clinicians are the most valuable resources for Home Health Care Agencies. Home Healthcare Agencies must empower their clinical and back-office personnel with the right software platform and tools to provide the information needed at the point of care to improve the productivity and satisfaction of clinicians.
Patients receiving Private Duty Nursing care usually have complex medical conditions with many medications and treatments to be administered during the shift. Accurate, timely administration and documentation of medication and treatment administration is essential to patient safety and positive outcome.
This blog will discuss some essential features a Home Care Software should have to efficiently manage, administer, and document medications and treatments while providing continuous care at a patient's home.
To meet the needs of individuals who prefer long-term care services in their home or community, states have the ability to create Medicaid Waiver programs tailored to their specific requirements. However, this flexibility has resulted in varying regulatory frameworks for authorizing and managing services. Home Care Agencies that provide HCBS services must manage a high volume of schedules, deal with frequent employee turnover, and navigate constant schedule changes. Effective scheduling is crucial for HCBS Home Care Agencies to optimize staff utilization, reduce scheduling errors and non-billable services, lower payroll costs, increase patient and employee satisfaction, and improve the agency's overall performance.
Reimbursement cuts and additional regulatory changes, such as HHVBP, EVV, etc., will continue to create different challenges for Home Health Care Agencies. Reimbursement cuts and regulatory changes are often concentrated in one line of service. CMS has proposed a cumulative $18 Billion cut to Home Health reimbursements over the next decade. While Home Health Care Agencies are finally coming out of the woes posed by COVID-19, potential reimbursement cuts, along with the HHVBP model, have created additional challenges for Home Health agencies. These cuts will have a much higher impact on the agencies providing only Medicare Certified Home Health Services.
This blog highlights the payer diversification strategies to mitigate the impact of reimbursement cuts by diversifying the payer mix & services.
Millions of patients receive home care every year. Providing quality patient care is critical for home care agencies for patient satisfaction and growth while complying with regulatory requirements. Improving the quality and effectiveness of patient care is a collaborative effort of the entire organization - requiring both caregivers and administrative personnel to collaborate.
Private Duty Nursing patients usually have many medications, with one or more controlled substances (Narcotics), to be administered during the shift. Medication management is one of a Private Duty Nurse's most essential responsibilities while working with patients with chronic complex medical conditions. Private Duty Home Care agencies should have a corporate policy to monitor narcotic counts and the safe handling of narcotics. Effective Narcotics Monitoring Program will maintain compliance with regulations, prevent the diversion of drugs and medication errors, and maintain accountability.
This blog will discuss the benefits of the Narcotics Monitoring Program and the best practices for implementing the program in Private Duty Nursing Home Care agencies.
Home healthcare professionals and workers are some of the most dedicated, patient, and empathetic people. They provide care to patients under demanding conditions to age in place at their homes. However, demanding workloads and low wages have led many workers to leave home healthcare due to burnout. Providing the right balance between work and life will play a significant role in recruiting and retaining home care workers.
Achieving a healthy work-life balance is crucial for home healthcare professionals. The job demands can be physically and emotionally taxing, and home care workers must take care of themselves to provide the best possible care to their patients. To help home healthcare professionals strike a balance between their professional and personal responsibilities, it is crucial to establish clear guidelines and boundaries. This blog will discuss some of the guidelines that home healthcare professionals can follow to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Home Care Agencies providing Home and Community-Based Services face many challenges in implementing EVV solutions to meet CURES Act requirements. Home Care Agencies should take a holistic approach in finding the right home care software partner to implement EVV rather the settling for the solutions provided by the state or managed care providers. Taking an integrated approach will improve operational efficiency and the agency's bottom line.
This blog will review the key factors Home Care Agencies should consider in selecting the right home care software to implement EVV in their agencies.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a new rule that would make major changes to the way that home care workers are compensated under Medicaid. While home-based care stakeholders recognize that the proposal could lead to some improvements, many are critical of what they view as a one-size-fits-all approach to strengthening home- and community-based services (HCBS).
A group of lawmakers has introduced legislation that not only focuses on improving conditions for professional caregivers, but family caregivers as well.
Hershey Lodge, Hershey, PA - May 14-16
Westin Mission Hills Resort, Rancho Mirage, CA - May 23 - 24
Omni Orlando at Championsgate, Orlando, FL - July 31 - August 2
CareVoyant is a leading provider of cloud-based integrated enterprise-scale home health care software that can support all home-based services under ONE Software, ONE Patient, and ONE Employee, making it a Single System of Record. We support all home based services, including Home Care, Private Duty Nursing, Private Duty Non-Medical, Home and Community Based Services (HCBS), Home Health, Pediatric Home Care, and Outpatient Therapy at Home.
CareVoyant functions – Intake, Authorization Management, Scheduling, Clinical with Mobile options, eMAR/eTAR, Electronic Visit Verification (EVV), Billing/AR, Secure Messaging, Notification, Reporting, and Dashboards – streamline workflow, meet regulatory requirements, improve quality of care, optimize reimbursement, improve operational efficiency and agency bottom line.
For more information, please visit CareVoyant.com or call us at 1-888-463-6797.
