Hospital Home Health articles from January 2005

Hospital Home Health archives from January 2005

Your agency has one year to prepare for JCAHO annual self-assessments: Joint Commission to require annual PPRs beginning in 2006.(periodic performance review standards of the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)
January 1, 2005... Many home health managers initially were apprehensive about periodic performance reviews (PPR), the self-evaluation required by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations at the midpoint of an accreditation cycle....

Small changes for HHAs in new labor standards: salary/bonus ratio important; check state laws.(home health agencies)
January 1, 2005... Changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that passed in 2004 still may be under fire from opponents, but experts interviewed by Hospital Home Health say home health managers should not wait for any rollback of the rules. "The changes...

Parents' skills crucial for pediatric patients: sicker patients increase value of assessment.
January 1, 2005... Home care agencies providing care to pediatric patients must pay careful attention to the competency of the parent caregiver to make sure that he or she is ready for the challenge of caring for a child on a ventilator or a feeding tube. ...

Physicians' and patients' right to freedom of choice.(Legal ease: understanding laws, rules, regulations)
January 1, 2005... Providers increasingly are concerned that physicians may violate their patients right to freedom of choice of providers. First, it is important to note that long-term care, home health, home medical equipment, and hospice services are...

Threat of pandemic makes draft plan a page turner: practical, ethical questions dog vaccine, antivirals.(planning for influenza pandemic)
January 1, 2005... The danger of the next influenza pandemic has become so crystal clear and ever present that the recently released federal pandemic influenza plan is considered something of a page turner among the normally dry reading requirements for health...

Counseling, support aid Alzheimer's caregivers: relieving harmful stress and depression is the goal.
January 1, 2005... A combination of counseling and support services may reduce the risk of depression in people caring for a spouse with Alzheimer's disease, a new study says. The study, published in the May 2004 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry,...

Home health policy trends for 2005 evaluated.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... The American Association for Homecare in Alexandria, VA has identified eight of the key health care policy trends that will affect home health agencies and home health consumers. The trends are: 1. Greater consumer choice for Medicare...

CMS corrections to wage index published.(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued a number of technical corrections to the hospital wage index table that was included in the final home health Prospective Payment System (PPS) notice, which was published in the Oct. 22,...

CE questions.(continuing education on home care)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... 9. How will unrestricted access to the on-line periodic performance tool from the Joint Commission help home health agencies, according to Linda J. Doyle, RN, MHA, director of Atmore Community Hospital Home Health? A. Consumers will be...