“If your CEO answers your question about how to prepare for the conversion from ICD-9 to ICD-10 coding by saying, ‘I’ve already assigned that to the IT department,’ you hereby have my permission to tell him, or her, ‘Are you kidding me?’” With this, two experts, one an RN and the other a CPA offered a live audience a firm warning: get started NOW.
Previously, this series addressed issues you may have with patients, point-of-care systems and CMS. Part three turns your attention to your own clinicians. What are the consequences if their documentation skills and OASIS accuracy is lacking? They range from minor annoyances to accusations of fraud that could potentially shut your business down. Knowing your staff’s skill level is mandatory for home care and hospice owners and managers in the Medicare arena today. We’ll tell you why and we’ll tell you one thing you can do about it.
Last week, we cited research indicating patients truly are presenting for admission to home health care services after shorter hospital stays and in far worse health. We argued that Medicare-certified agency competitiveness is better supported by preventing return hospital admissions than by shaving a day off hospital lengths of stay. This week, let’s take a closer look at Computer-Assisted Clinical Documentation Systems. Over the years, certain myths have grown up around point-of-care automation. The best way to attack mythology is with facts. Here are five truths.
Two thousand eleven will be a year characterized in various ways by the home care and hospice community. “Boring” will not be one of them. The year that welcomes the first Baby Boomers to Medicare will also see: the first effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) another string of Medicare pay […]
What do these ten technologies have in common? GPS Navigation system
Personal Digital Assistant
Flip Video Camera
MP3 Player
Digital Camera
Handheld Video Game
Notebook PC
Cell Phone
Wrist Watch
TV & Stereo Remote Control
(Click article headline for answer.)
Findings by the National Institute on Aging (a part of the National Institutes of Health), indicate that 30% of Americans ages 65-74 and 47% ages 75 and older have some degree of hearing impairment. An estimated 30 million elders are completely deaf. A new product solves the problem these people often have with telephone communications.
Another insurance company has been convinced that remote patient monitoring systems can reduce hospital recidivism and lower overall patient costs. 270 Humana workers will monitor 60,000 plan members.
There are about 1,000 hip fractures every day in the United States, over 90% of which are caused by falls. Fatal fall injuries add $179 million to U.S. healthcare costs. Nonfatal fall injuries — most of which are preventable through risk analysis and treatment — cost $19 billion. One technology company founded by experts in Mechanical Engineering and Biomechanics believes it can slash those costs but it needs home care physical therapists to play a role.
During a period of rapid growth, Heritage Health Care Services expanded from seven offices to twelve. During the same period, the Ohio, Medicare certified, home care agency reduced its cadre of regional branch managers from six to three. The story of how they used technology to accomplish these efficiencies is not one you have heard […]
Proper therapy utilization in home care has been in the news lately. Moving quickly, software vendor Delta Health Technologies has signed up to sponsor another Fazzi Associates research project designed to develop guidance for home health agencies on excellence in therapy services.
