Hospital Home Health articles from January 2003

Hospital Home Health archives from January 2003

Think your agency is prepared? GAO report changes face of state surveys: surveyors focus on problems, cite more deficiencies.(General Accounting Office)
January 1, 2003... It started out as a normal planned survey at Visiting Nurse Health System (VNHS) in Atlanta. However, during the six weeks between the original survey in June and the resurvey, a complaint came in, changing the focus of the resurvey. The...

Constant communication vital for resurvey success: agency stayed in touch and improved the process.
January 1, 2003... While most home health agencies think of emergency preparedness plans to address business operations during a natural disaster or terrorist attack, the Visiting Nurse Health System (VNHS) in Atlanta discovered that a good emergency plan also is...

CDC's hand-hygiene rules work for home health: hand washing, staff education cut infection rates.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
January 1, 2003... Your employees face different challenges than hospital-based personnel face, so they can't be expected to follow every guideline and process used in a hospital, right? Wrong, say infection control experts interviewed by Hospital Home Health....

Hand-washing guidelines allow alcohol-based rubs: new rules is a departure for the CDC.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The biggest change in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) recently approved hand-washing guidelines is the approval of alcohol-based hand rubs as an accepted method of cleaning hands between patients. This is a departure...

Catheter strategy sticks it to infection rates: guidelines also stress proper staff education.
January 1, 2003... Because intravenous therapy is handled by home care personnel, Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) guidelines on prevention of intravenous catheter infections especially is applicable to home care, suggests...

HIPAA Q&A.(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act )
January 1, 2003... [Editor's note: This is the first in a series of periodic columns that will address specific questions related to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) implementation. If you have questions, please send them to Sheryl...

Turn one-time gifts into long-term pledges: planned fundraising campaigns add support.
January 1, 2003... Your budget is shrinking. Reimbursement is dropping. Expenses are rising. How can you meet the growing need for funds? Fundraising campaigns are one way, but home health agencies typically don't run capital campaigns for one-time needs,...

Get pre-authorizations from MCOs with OIG's help. (Legal ease: understanding laws, rules, regulations).(managed care organizations, Office of the Inspector General )
January 1, 2003... Home care providers still are struggling to obtain authorizations from managed care organizations (MCOs) for medically necessary and appropriate care. MCOs may bear the risk of any legal liability associated with failure to provide...

Medicare tests program for smoking cessation.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Medicare beneficiaries living in seven states chosen to pilot a Medicare stop-smoking program will have access to smoking-cessation strategies not normally covered by Medicare. Beneficiaries who are older than 65 and living in Alabama,...

CMS proposes tracking hospital referrals to HHAs.(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, home health agencies)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued a proposed rule to collect information on hospital referrals to home health agencies and other entities with which the hospital has a financial interest. Once collected, the...

CE questions.
January 1, 2003... 13. What did Visiting Nurse Health System of Atlanta do to make sure a deadline for correcting deficiencies that jeopardized their Medicare status could be met? A. appealed the surveyor's findings B. stopped taking new admissions to...