Healthcare at Home: The Rowan Report

By Tim Rowan, Editor & Publisher of Home Care Technology Report

Private duty EMR company integrates with mobile education service

Home care software vendor Savvi, Inc. announced this week that it has formed a partnership with Nevvon, a home and health care technology company that both provides online education and certifies caregivers for the annual education credits they are mandated to earn.

Savii describes its technology as one that provides a holistic experience to agencies with an all-in-one agency management platform. That platform now includes easy access to Nevvon’s learning management system for caregiver education.

“Caregiver turnover is an industry-wide issue that creates financial burden and hinders quality of care,” a company news release asserted. “According to Home Care Pulse’s Benchmarking Study, agencies that provide just eight hours of ongoing training annually have a 7% lower turnover rate.” The release goes on to state that integration seamlessly addresses common retention and compliance issues: caregiver skills, training documentation, job fulfillment, and professional development, all thereby affecting quality of care.

Nevvon Co-Founder and CEO, James Cohen told us that the integration will give Savii clients direct access to the Nevvon learning management with the Savii application. “With a click on a tab embedded in Savii,” he said, “management will be able to view every employee’s completed course record, including test scores.” [Cohen provides many details about how this training system is easy to use anywhere and anytime.]

https://www.saviicare.com/

About us

©2019 by Rowan Consulting Associates, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared in Tim Rowan’s Home Care Technology Report. homecaretechreport.com One copy may be printed for personal use; further reproduction by permission only. editor@homecaretechreport.com

Marcus Evans announced that David C. Pate, MD, JD, President and Chief Executive Officer at St. Luke’s Health System, as a speaker at the National Healthcare CXO Summit that will take place on the October 20-22, 2019 at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar, San Diego.

[Educational background of Dr. Pate and various honors that he has earned are presented in this short article. In addition,, the “visionary work” of Dr. Pate and his team at St. Luke’s Health System in Houston is highlighted in this article. It’s noted that Dr. Pate and his team have focused on driving quality and safety throughout the organization, and as a consequence, St. Luke’s Health System has been recognized as a top 15 Health System by IBM Watson Health for six consecutive years. At the upcoming CXO summit, Dr. Pate’s will be presenting a session entitled: “The Future of Healthcare Systems: Moving from Fee-for-Service to Assuming Risk and Thinking about Your Competitive Responses in a Completely Different Way.”

ents.marcusevans-events.com/hccxosummitfall-2019

©2019 by Rowan Consulting Associates, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared in Tim Rowan’s Home Care Technology Report. homecaretechreport.com One copy may be printed for personal use; further reproduction by permission only. editor@homecaretechreport.com

by James Cohen

James Cohen

The United States is headed toward a severe caregiver shortage – both paid and unpaid – in the decades ahead. We keep hearing the foreboding statistics: 10,000 U.S. Baby Boomers turn 65 every day; population segment known as “the very old” is expected to double in the next 20 years and swell to 88 million by 2050; 75 percent of Americans over 65 live with multiple chronic health conditions, ranging from diabetes to dementia. The confluence of these demographics points to the need for an influx of in-home caregivers.

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[Forum is scheduled for Thursday, August 15, 2:00-3:00 pm (ET)
Registration links provided in this article include:
Listings of announcements and updates for Home Health and for Hospice providers. Updates included are HHCAHPS updates. Other updates provided are Hospice CAHPS, and Hospice Compare.
Open Door Participation Instructions are provided, and it’s noted this conference call can be accessed one hour after original call on Aug. 15 has ended, at 203-369-1850; Conference Passcode: 9375124203-and and on 3 subsequent business days.]

[In brief, the 20-year history of eSolutions is sketched as follows: From niche hospice clearinghouse to revenue cycle management and data analytics provider for hospitals, physician practices, skilled nursing facilities, home health providers and hospices. And currently: With more than 500,000 healthcare provider clients supported by 300-plus employees in five locations across the country,
clients and revenue. The company is introducing a new logo, a new message and new colors, “symbolizing its success, its passion, its focus, its momentum and its future.”]

Its new tagline, “Strengthen your revenue health,” reflects eSolutions’ strength in the industry while positioning it for the future. I

Proven results – eSolutions has more than 500,000 provider clients and a 95% client retention rate
“Since 1999, eSolutions has delivered the best revenue cycle tools for the healthcare industry. And we’re not stopping,” said Gerry McCarthy, eSolutions CEO. “Now, with a re-imagined brand, logo and message, we will continue to grow, to innovate, to excel and to succeed in a competitive marketplace while delivering best-in-class solutions and second-to-none client service that our clients and the industry have come to expect from us. Our unwavering passion for that mission will never change.”

www.esolutionsinc.com

©2019 by Rowan Consulting Associates, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared in Tim Rowan’s Home Care Technology Report. homecaretechreport.com One copy may be printed for personal use; further reproduction by permission only. editor@homecaretechreport.com

Tim Rowan, Editor and Publisher of Home Care Technology Report

VENICE, Fla. – Marrelli & Associates, Inc. has announced the availability of the “Red Book Hospice Care Planning” app. This app supports simple, comprehensive, on-the-go development of care plans to help clinicians care for hospice patients and their caregivers.

Tina Marrelli told us the key feature of the app is to make creating care plans quick and efficient while still incorporating the best evidence-based practices for optimal, individualized care.

There is an optional in-app subscription to the Red Book Hospice Care Planning content, which includes complete model care plans for many conditions and hospice disciplines, as well as individual care topics, interventions and outcomes. The subscription content is based upon chapter four, “End of Life, Palliative Care, and Hospice Care” from Marrelli’s bestselling “Handbook of Home Health Standards: Quality, Documentation, and Reimbursement” (2018, 6th edition).

“Templating and merging makes it easy to build, save and reuse content, whether your own or from Red Book, and to compose unique, multi-condition plans to fit your patients’ and families’ individualized care needs,” she added.

One reviewer put it this way. “Never before has the hospice industry seen an app to make life easier for the clinician while improving compliance like this one! Tina Marrelli simplifies the complex so attention can turn to the all-important area of patient care.”

“Red Book Hospice Care Planning” is available for iOS and Android devices and is available at the following links:

Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cpmez.cp3
Apple Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/red-book-hospice-care-planning/id1436649269
The app and its content can be licensed and adapted to existing EMR/EHR systems.

About the author
Tina M. Marrelli, RN, MSN, MA, FAAN, has masters degrees in nursing and in health care administration. Marrelli worked in varied practice settings including hospitals, nursing homes and in public health before practicing and managing in home care and hospice organizations for many years. She also worked at CMS central office. Marrelli is President of Marrelli and Associates, Inc. (www.marrelli.com) and is the Chief Clinical Officer for Innovative Caregiving Solutions LLC and e-Caregiving,

©2019 by Rowan Consulting Associates, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared in Tim Rowan’s Home Care Technology Report. homecaretechreport.com One copy may be printed for personal use; further reproduction by permission only. editor@homecaretechreport.com

By Tim Rowan, Editor & Publisher of Home Care Technology Report

Ohio is the winner of the lottery to determine which state gets to go second to try Medicare’s replacement for its abruptly canceled Pre-Claim Review experiment. Known as “Review Choice Demonstration,” Illinois Medicare home health providers — the only ones to test Pre-Claim before it was suspended following complaints about Palmetto’s uneven, unpredictable application of its own rules — made their choices in April and May. Ohio HHAs must declare their choices during the four-week period beginning August 16 and ending September 15.

[HHAs in participating states will theoretically have three payment system options, though no HHA will select choice number three, widely regarded as a thinly veiled, tongue-in-cheek threat by CMS. The 3 claim date periods are specified in this article, and comparisons to previous reviews are noted. In addition, more details are provided by CMS for Ohio HHSs to visit the Palmetto GBA provider portal for detailed explanations of their available choices and instructions on the selection process, and more details are provided about Choice selections, too

A Three-Year Review of CMS’s Pre-Claim Review Demonstrations
On April 1, 2017, CMS paused the Pre-Claim Review Demonstration for Home Health Services to consider a number of changes in response to stakeholder feedback. (See Rowan Report 4/5/17: “Pre-Claim Review Shut Down – For Now”)

On May 29, 2018, CMS first announced its intention to implement the Review Choice Demonstration for Home Health Services through a PRA notice and sought initial public comments.

On September 27, 2018, CMS published responses to initial comments and a subsequent PRA notice, and provided the public another opportunity to comment on CMS’ efforts to collect information on the revised demonstration. The second public comment period ended October 29, 2018.

Published responses and additional information on the demonstration design are available on the CMS Regulations & Guidance web page.

©2019 by Rowan Consulting Associates, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared in Tim Rowan’s Home Care Technology Report. homecaretechreport.com One copy may be printed for personal use; further reproduction by permission only. editor@homecaretechreport.com

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By Tim Rowan, Editor & Publisher of Home Care Technology Report

[Rowan reviews the book as follows: In my experience, many home health, home care, and hospice workers — at all levels, from owner to clinician to aide — are of an age where they have experienced the healthcare system as subjects as well as providers. In my own case, I struggled with end-of-life decisions with my parents in 2012 and 2017. When I share my own family’s experiences in any post-acute setting, most people listening nod in understanding.]

[Mary Jo Saavedra’s book will provide an excellent planning resource for end of life patients’ final days, Focuses at this time must include important matters such as: Paying the Bills; Insurance; Getting Help with Financial Planning and Advice; Living Options with Built-in Support, and many other topics to you and the elders for whom you are caring.]

Rowan notes that little in the book is theoretical, but is instead following this heartfelt direction:
“There has to be a better way,”she says, [and her soul-searching gave rise to a new direction for her postgraduate life.] “I would become an aging life care manager (ALCM), formerly known as a geriatric care manager. I had stumbled upon the profession through a teacher during my graduate studies, ALCMs know the magic formulae to assist you when you are in an eldercare crisis. They enable you to catch your breath and continue to walk forward on the path, together with your elder, under their wise guidance.”

>©2019 by Rowan Consulting Associates, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared in Tim Rowan’s Home Care Technology Report. homecaretechreport.com One copy may be printed for personal use; further reproduction by permission only. editor@homecaretechreport.com