Hospital Home Health articles from November 2003

Hospital Home Health archives from November 2003

Not going to take it anymore: one agency's fight to appeal unfair survey: years of effort win right for Indiana agencies to obtain objective review.
November 1, 2003... Surveys can be stressful enough, but how would you react to a complaint-based state survey during which the surveyor never asked for information from the physician or home care nurse involved? What if the erroneous information resulted in a...

Telemedicine offers regular patient monitoring: education, proper technology needed for success.
November 1, 2003... Telehealth is not a new concept to the home health patients of the Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) of Houston. Some form of telehealth has been in place for many years to help patients monitor themselves. But as technology has changed, so has...

Put yourself in MD's shoes before asking for referrals: develop concise message to describe your services.
November 1, 2003... Will that new supply of coffee mugs, calendars, note pads, and pens engraved with your agency's name and phone number make physicians or their nurses refer to your agency? Probably not, according to experts interviewed by Hospital Home Health....

Good managers are secret to retaining experienced nurses: being supportive, approachable, and fair are vital traits.(2003 Salary Survey Results)
November 1, 2003... Home health agency managers have looked at every aspect of their new employee recruitment programs to identify how to best attract good nurses. Competitive salaries, ongoing educational opportunities, and a strong benefits package are a...

HHAs take note: OIG looks at joint ventures.(LegalEase: understanding laws, rules, regulations)
November 1, 2003... The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a Special Advisory Bulletin on contractual joint ventures on April 30, 2003. This bulletin addresses contractual arrangements for the...

CMS starts plan to boost compliant claims.(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has implemented a contingency plan to accept noncompliant electronic transactions. This plan will ensure continued processing of claims from thousands of providers who were not able to meet the...

Study: more than half of HHAs not ready for HIPAA.(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
November 1, 2003... As of May 2003, only 43% of home health agencies responding to the Alexandria, VA-based American Association for Homecare's (AAHomecare) 2003 Financial Performance Survey Report indicated that they were in compliance for the Health Insurance...

CMS begins effort to stop wheelchair benefit abuse.(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)
November 1, 2003... The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced an initiative to substantially curb abuse of the Medicare program by unscrupulous providers of power wheelchairs and other power mobility products who prey on Medicare beneficiaries....

CE questions.(continuing education)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... After reading each issue of Hospital Home Health, the reader will be able to do the following: * Identify particular clinical, ethical, legal, or social issues pertinent to home health care. * Describe how those issues affect nurses,...