Hospital Home Health 2004-10-01

Your agency can become the local home health care employer of choice

This is the first of a two-part series covering strategies home health agencies can use to successfully recruit and retain qualified employees. This month, we look at how a home health agency can establish itself as the employer of choice within its community. Next month, we will examine how hiring the right supervisor or manager can greatly help with successful retention of employees.

The deadline for new ICD-9 codes is Oct. 1

There is no grace period for the new ICD-9 codes that go into effect Oct. 1, 2004, so home health managers and coders need to make sure they understand the effect of some of the new codes.

JCAHO list on look-alike/sound-alike drugs released

Home health agencies must choose at least 10 of the look-alike and sound-alike drug names to place on their watch list of medications that can be easily confused to meet the 2005 National Patient Safety Goal that focuses upon reducing medication errors.

Guest Column: Follow your own rules for staff background checks

All screening procedures undoubtedly ensure an applicants satisfaction of licensing and other technical qualifications required for providing medical care. However, part of the rules also should include reviewing a prospective employees suitability for the unsupervised nature of home health care service.

Case managers can be physician’s eyes in home

At Integrated Home Care, nurse case managers provide hands-on care as well as handling the traditional case management duties, such as evaluating patients, developing a customized plan of care, coordinating with other members of the health care team, and arranging services such as social work or dietitian services.

LegalEase: Managing pressure ulcer risks in the terminally ill

Agencies generally are familiar with liability based upon substandard wound care. Based upon the possibility that terminally ill patients may develop a type of pressure ulcer called a Kennedy Terminal Ulcer, providers must take steps to minimize claims of substandard wound care.

News Briefs

A study of inhalation drug therapy services provided to Medicare beneficiaries in their homes finds the new 2005 Medicare reimbursement formula paid on average sales price would underreimburse the actual cost of providing two key drug therapies by $68.10 per monthly supply.

Hospital Home Health Archives – October 1, 2004

October 1, 2004