Essential Training At Your Finger Tips

The growth of internet-based marketing has caused some home care providers to lose sight of the need to personalize their marketing efforts. Patients/clients receiving care at home are so accustomed to receiving high-level service, and they want to maintain a personal relationship with the agency providing the care. Home care agencies need to adopt marketing strategies at the grassroots level, and this presentation explains how to leverage community-based initiatives that will plant the seed for future growth. The best part is that grassroots programs are usually free or very inexpensive, you only have to invest your time! Read more

Explore why strategic process improvements are essential during times of change. With the impacts of the pandemic on your organization’s culture, morale, recruitment, retention, and financial outcomes - all combined with the everchanging healthcare regulatory and reimbursement landscape - the future can look daunting. The impacts of the national roll out of value-based purchasing (VBP), the sustained growth of Medicare Advantage (MA), the reduction of Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS), and the recent addition of the Value-based Insurance Deign Model (VBID) can be tamed through the effective use of the strategic process improvements. In this session you will get perspectives on how the strategic process works, how it can prepare you for these changes and the ones to come, but, most of all, how to roll these initiatives out to your staff to assure your agency thrives given the stresses of the operating environment today along with the rise of these transformational reimbursement models. Read more

"Despite the COVID-19 public health emergency and the full resumption of the Medicare Review Choice Demonstration (RCD), medical review activities have been fully resumed. The triggering of a medical review poses an additional challenge to agency operations. Aside from the RCD, multiple Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and commercial insurance reviewers examine medical records for accuracy, including those that are newly billed and reopened claims. It is common for home health agencies to focus on survey compliance rather than reviewing their medical records from a compliance and payment perspective. Medical reviews, audits, or probes can pose great difficulties if you are selected to undergo one of these processes. Compliant clinical records are the key to success, whether it is through the RCD, the Unified Program Integrity Contractor (UPIC), the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC), the Supplemental Medical Review Contractor (SMRC), or Comprehensive Error Rate Testing (CERT). The required rules and regulations should be incorporated into the content at the time of creation, not later. The presentation begins by outlining key coverage requirements from Medicare regulations and what they actually require. It then provides examples of how to reflect these in the home health record to address known denial reasons. These include both nursing and therapy medical necessity requirements. In linking what is actually needed with known denial reasons, it shows how proper documentation can prevent negative outcomes. This also applies to the RCD when the full record is not reviewed in pre-claim review or when it is reviewed under an Additional Documentation Request (ADR) option. This session provides a solid foundation for educating your staff to prevent future denials and audits. Your current staff can learn how to chart correctly, while new staff can learn from the actual regulations to start off right. The topics covered in this session can also be applied to Medicare Advantage medical reviews that are not subject to the RCD." Read more

With the onset of the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) during the pandemic era, many home health providers have failed to address the operational changes required to manage rehab under the new value-based model. As a result of the PDGM removing rehab visits from the payment calculation, many agencies have struggled with changes required to manage rehab content and outcomes. Recent work with multiple home health providers since the onset of the PDGM has revealed the connection between PDGM-compliant rehab programs, 5-Star Ratings, and optimal reimbursement. During this four-part webinar series, attendees will learn how Medicare positioned rehab management at the center of the PDGM despite removing per/visit therapy payments. Discover how to utilize the FIL (Functional Impairment Level) successfully to deliver value-based rehab programs based on the content modifications required for PDGM outcome success. In that manner, providers can develop the OASIS accuracy necessary for optimal reimbursement, while simultaneously establishing the care pathways required for 5-Star Ratings, single-digit readmissions, and optimal fiscal margins. This exciting series breaks down the Medicare approach to the PDGM’s development to assure an understanding of rehab changes and how to achieve compliance with your therapy staff and programs. Beginning with a 10,000-foot view of the hidden value opportunities in the PDGM’s rehab regulations, home health administrators, managers and supervisors will gain insight into how to rewire therapy for new levels of success. In subsequent presentations, the development of PDGM-compliant rehab plans of care (POCs) and visit content can assure a value-based therapy episode. Finally, required rehab content necessary for skill, and denials occurring under the PDGM will round out where we are today in terms of qualified therapy expectations. The series concludes with a summary of the PDGM’s rehab POC development and in-episode delivery from admission to discharge, with a nod to future IMPACT Act reforms that will modify rehab even more. Don’t miss the exciting and informative series to optimize your rehab programs for PDGM success.   Speaker/Course Author - Arnie Cisneros, PT  Read more

With the onset of the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) during the pandemic era, many home health providers have failed to address the operational changes required to manage rehab under the new value-based model. As a result of the PDGM removing rehab visits from the payment calculation, many agencies have struggled with changes required to manage rehab content and outcomes. Recent work with multiple home health providers since the onset of the PDGM has revealed the connection between PDGM-compliant rehab programs, 5-Star Ratings, and optimal reimbursement. During this four-part webinar series, attendees will learn how Medicare positioned rehab management at the center of the PDGM despite removing per/visit therapy payments. Discover how to utilize the FIL (Functional Impairment Level) successfully to deliver value-based rehab programs based on the content modifications required for PDGM outcome success. In that manner, providers can develop the OASIS accuracy necessary for optimal reimbursement, while simultaneously establishing the care pathways required for 5-Star Ratings, single-digit readmissions, and optimal fiscal margins. This exciting series breaks down the Medicare approach to the PDGM’s development to assure an understanding of rehab changes and how to achieve compliance with your therapy staff and programs. Beginning with a 10,000-foot view of the hidden value opportunities in the PDGM’s rehab regulations, home health administrators, managers and supervisors will gain insight into how to rewire therapy for new levels of success. In subsequent presentations, the development of PDGM-compliant rehab plans of care (POCs) and visit content can assure a value-based therapy episode. Finally, required rehab content necessary for skill, and denials occurring under the PDGM will round out where we are today in terms of qualified therapy expectations. The series concludes with a summary of the PDGM’s rehab POC development and in-episode delivery from admission to discharge, with a nod to future IMPACT Act reforms that will modify rehab even more. Don’t miss the exciting and informative series to optimize your rehab programs for PDGM success.   Speaker/Course Author - Arnie Cisneros, PT  Read more

Medicare-certified home health agencies are required to take part in the Home Health Quality Reporting Program (HH QRP) by collecting and reporting both the Outcomes and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) patient quality of care results, as well as the Home Health Care Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers (HHCAHPS) patient survey results. With the implementation of OASIS-E on January 1, 2023, the Transfer of Health Information to the Patient Post-Acute Care (PAC) measure will be collected. The session will discuss this new quality measure and provide an overview of current measures. It will include information on when and how measures will be collected and reported, as well as which measures are slated for retirement. Attend this session to learn the latest HH QRP information and best practice strategies that will help you position your agency for success. Read more