Essential Training At Your Finger Tips

Many private duty agencies strive to provide holistic care in order to meet their clients’ total needs. But all too often the financial aspect of care is ignored or overlooked by home care agencies. The sheer amount of money that is required to pay for care is stressful enough; families struggle with not only how to find the funds, but also how to manage the payment process. Since most clients do not have sufficient assets to pay for all of their care out of pocket, many turn to third party sources. But those programs, even when identified, are still complex.   Clients with third party benefits represent a valuable and growing revenue opportunity if agencies know how to attract and service them. Become an inspiration to seniors and their families. Go above and beyond typical home care services and provide the financial assistance that is often ignored by the industry. Differentiating your agency by providing much-needed financial advocacy is an innovative way of attracting and retaining clients. Key questions agencies should ask themselves include: • Do we address the financial care of the client? • What are we doing to help clients and families navigate third party benefits? • Are my financial policies making life even harder for the family? • Am I pushing the burden of third party billing onto clients’ families? • Do my competitors offer assistance with third party benefits? Course instructor - Matt Capell Read more

As a home care agency owner, you should be working on the business, not in the business. Oftentimes owners get pulled into administrative tasks and day-to-day operations when they should be focused on high-level strategy aimed at profitable revenue growth. Knowing what business functions to outsource and when is a crucial component of running a profitable business. In order to leverage your team’s core competencies, you must outsource extraneous functions to companies that deliver the expertise your business needs. Outsourcing can engender cost- and time-savings and enable lean teams to achieve operational efficiencies. Read more

The first session will address the regulatory changes that will require amended policies, procedures, and forms by the July 13, 2017 effective date, with special focus on the following major new provisions: quality assessment and performance improvement plan, policies, and procedures; infection control plan, policies, and procedures; patient rights requirements; and, written patient instructions. Read more

February's Topic: State Regulatory Update - the Latest News from AHCA Course instructors - Kristen Wheeler, Kirk Arthur Read more

You cannot afford to miss this opportunity and the very existence of your organization depends on your ability to calculate your particular risk when confronted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Zone Program Integrity Contractor (ZPIC) audits, Pre-Claim Review Demonstration, and Value-Based Purchasing programs. This session will provide you an in-depth analysis of your agency’s “specific” CASPER data which will give you a good indication of the danger you are in when the Medicare “powers that be” come knocking at your door. You will not only understand your vulnerability but you will also be able to identify weaknesses in your processes and practice management that are putting your agency in peril. Seeing what CMS sees is paramount to your adoption of new systems that will not only keep you off the CMS target list, but these tried and true steps can greatly improve your quality of care and bring you greater financial success than you have ever known before. Participants MUST attend the webinar prepared with two copies of their CASPER report titled Agency Patient Related Characteristics report in the three column version, and a couple of yellow highlighters. Course Instructor - Michael McGowan Read more

CMS recently proposed two groundbreaking demonstration pilot programs aimed at reducing fraudulent and abusive practices occurring among Home Health agencies providing services to Medicare beneficiaries. A proposed FRAUD MEASUREMENT pilot would establish a baseline estimate of probable fraud in payments for Home Health care services in the fee-for-service Medicare program. In addition, a proposed PRIOR AUTHORIZATION pilot process would require the submission of a pre-authorization request for an approval determination that would be applied before processing a Home Health claim. These programs focus on areas of Home Health production and delivery for PPS compliance and integrity. The Fraud Measurement Program collects info from Home Health agencies, referring physicians and Medicare beneficiaries, along with a historical billing summary of the agencies involved, to estimate the percentage of fraudulent payments. For the Prior Authorization proposal, a Home Health referral prompts the submission of an authorization request to proceed with approved programming. For further insight into how these programs will change Home Health delivery, this progressive presentation will outline the how’s and why’s of the new programs, and identify areas of your care you will want to review as you prepare for these new fraud-fighting models. Course Instructor - Arnie Cisneros Read more