Essential Training At Your Finger Tips

Happy New Year! With shrinking margins, rising inflation, and increasing payor complexities, now is the perfect time of year to think about shifting the strategic planning of your revenue cycle management into high gear! Let’s hit the track with Todd Montigney of SimiTree and start tracking the revenue for our patients even before the intake process begins, all the way through to the final payment on their accounts. Learn how to keep your eyes on the road and execute and manage all the administrative and operational functions that contribute to the capture and collection of patient revenue. Special insights and cautionary road signs to watch for will be highlighted for each step of the process, making you the champion of collecting all the revenue you are entitled to. Read More

Do you feel like you and your staff are driving around in circles? How prepared are you when trouble is at your door or quarter panel? Do you have productive and positive communication between your control tower and the pit crew? Join Maureen Albertson of Millennium Home Care and HCAF's Region 8 Board of Directors representative for insights into her experience with Hurricane Ian, which translates well to any team-building and problem-solving issue that might arise in your home care business. In Florida, it’s not a matter of “if” your agency will face an urgent situation, but “when”. Maureen will share drama-free methods to prepare your team now so that you can stay on the racecourse and actually find “calm during the storm” knowing and trusting that your team and processes are in place, and you will conquer the issue at hand. Read More

In this kickoff session, Michelle Rogers of Health First Homecare will take us around the first lap of today’s sessions. Just as the “high groove” takes a car closer to the outside wall for most of the lap, while the “low groove” takes a car closer to the apron than the outside wall, so too will Michelle start us up. She will welcome attendees and set the tone for a motivating, educating, and engaging program. Essentially waving the green flag, Michelle will provide an overview of our industry, issues, and statistics, as well as how HCAF is leading the pack for providers with these challenges and turbo-launch us into the day of learning and networking ahead. Read More

All too often, providers have that feeling of being “under intense pressure” when it comes to “survey readiness”. Just the thought of getting ready sometimes invokes a feeling of dread. What if there was a way to integrate basic best practices that will have your organization on its way to achieving a “constant survey ready” state? This session will describe practical methods that will enable your organization to integrate regulatory compliance into your daily operations. You will also learn steps to employ that will help to determine survey readiness and ways to educate your staff to effectively manage these processes.   Speaker/Course Author - Nancy Allen Read More

OASIS-E: Brief Interview for Mental Status(BIMS) & Signs and Symptoms of Delirium Training in the use of the new and changed items of the OASIS-E (Outcome and Assessment Information Set) is critical for home health clinicians. This course is designed to increase the clinician’s knowledge of accurate assessment, documentation, and administration of these new items by exploring the processes and official guidance on how to answer the new OASIS-E items with precision.  This is a 4-part series and includes an in-depth look at new items, along with use of scenarios to reinforce the learning concepts:  Part 1. Brief Interview for Mental Status (BIMS) & Signs and Symptoms of Delirium - These new items are designed to determine the patient’s cognitive ability and acute changes in mental status. This course explores the processes and OASIS-E guidance required to accurately conduct these tests. Part 2. Patient Mood Interview, High Risk Drug Classes & Special Treatments, Procedures and Programs – are new assessment items in OASIS-E. The patient mood interview expands the previously assessed PHQ-2 to PHQ-9 to identify the presence of signs and symptoms of mood distress. Additionally, CMS has formally defined medications falling within the high-risk drug classes for OASIS-E which requires the clinician to assess for identifying indications of drug use. Finally, the special treatments, procedures, and programs item will identify important medical treatments being utilized by the patient. Previously, these therapies have been inconsistently documented in various areas of the patient’s clinical record. An in-depth look at these new items, along with use of scenarios, is included.  Part 3. Pain Assessment, Nutritional Approaches & Transfer of Health Information – The new pain assessment items expand the previous OASIS pain items to focus on the effect pain has on sleep, therapy activities, and day-to-day activities. Nutritional Approaches explores various methods of nutrition used at certain OASIS timepoints. And finally, two new transfer of health measures assess the home health agency’s required delivery of information to other providers and patient to ensure care coordination at time of transfer and/or discharge.  Part 4. Social Determinates of Health (SDoH), Hearing and Vision - These new items are designed to assist in the identification of disparities in delivery of medical care. Hearing and vision are another component of the 27 new items for OASIS-E designed to assist the home health agency in establishment of an individualized plan of care.  Read More

Training in the use of the new and changed items of the OASIS-E (Outcome and Assessment Information Set) is critical for home health clinicians. This course is designed to increase the clinician’s knowledge of accurate assessment, documentation, and administration of these new items by exploring the processes and official guidance on how to answer the new OASIS-E items with precision.  This course is part 4 of a 4-part series and includes an in-depth look at new items, along with use of scenarios to reinforce the learning concepts:  Part 4. Social Determinates of Health (SDoH), Hearing and Vision - These new items are designed to assist in the identification of disparities in delivery of medical care. Hearing and vision are another component of the 27 new items for OASIS-E designed to assist the home health agency in establishment of an individualized plan of care. Speaker/Course Author - Lisa McClammy, BSN, RN, COS-C, HCS-D Read More