Essential Training At Your Finger Tips

<!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> Do you find yourself getting lost in nostalgia for the good old days when first-class customer service was provided simply because it was the right thing to do? Why stand by and dream when we can take action and learn from those times to make today even better? In this session, we will set a new path towards providing unparalleled customer service once again. We will discuss how professional etiquette and customer service needs to flow from the top of an organization down through the internal staff and out to our patients.  These skills will be discussed in-depth and easy-to-accomplish goals will be provided that will make your team the envy of your community.   Speaker/Course Author - John Dalton  Read more

<!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> The session will focus on understanding emergency management and what home care providers need to know to be prepared. Due to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency of the past two years, regulatory changes have been introduced that impact your agency's Comprehensive Emergency Preparedness Plan (CEMP). Lisa McClammy, Senior Clinical Education Consultant with MAC Legacy, will go over the requirements and implementation of your CEMP, which includes policies and procedures, risk assessments, communication plans, training and testing, drills, and documentation of your activities. As part of the discussion, we will also explore the "all-hazards" approach to risk assessment as it relates to emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) and recommended best practices in the interpretive guidelines. Read more

<!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> "With the implementation of the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) in 2020, providers have had to adapt to the new system's incentive to maximize efficiency while maintaining a high quality of care. In their pursuit of efficient, quality care delivery under the PDGM, the most pressing challenges providers have encountered have been adjusting to the two 30-day payment periods within each 60-day episode, as well as navigating the fluctuating LUPA (Low Utilization Payment Adjustment) thresholds of 2-6 visits per each of the two 30-day periods. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) threw another curveball at providers with the publication of the 2022 Home Health Final Rule, which calls for nationwide implementation of Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) in 2023. The HHVBP further emphasizes the importance of efficient, quality-based care delivery. In this session, we will explore utilization and LUPA trends identified in CMS claims data, strategies implemented by Sutter Care at Home and McBee to mitigate avoidable LUPA and enhance quality care delivery, and identify best practice recommendations for success under a value-based care delivery model." Read more

<!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> 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

<!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> 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

<!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--> "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