Volume 10, Number 8 — January 27, 2021
Dear Healthcare at Home Colleague,
Only one topic today in this special edition of Home Care Tech: The Rowan Report. In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the renewed effort by the federal government to battle it, some shocking statistics have emerged that deserve the attention of all healthcare providers.
According to a report from The Human Rights Watch, coronavirus is hitting low-income communities harder than others. They cite the prevalence of service jobs that cannot be done from home, often crowded, multi-general living conditions, and less access to insurance:
"While the virus infects people regardless of wealth, the poor will be most affected due to longstanding segregation by income and race, reduced economic mobility, and the high cost of medical care. Low-income communities are more likely to be exposed to the virus, have higher mortality rates, and suffer economically. In times of economic crisis, these vulnerabilities will be more pronounced for marginal groups – identified by race, gender, and immigration status:
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You are in healthcare. You probably already know most of these things:
This brief list should be understood as the tip of the iceberg. I want to introduce you to the national association focused on the entire problem.
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The National Minority Health Association was formed to reduce healthcare inequality through education and advocacy. Recently, it attracted the attention of the White House Healthcare Task Force. Executive Director Burgess Harrison spoke with us about how the in-home care sector can help.
NMHA was founded in 1988 by Dr. David L. Dalton, with the mission to establish Offices of Minority Health in all 50 states. That mission has been accomplished. Today, the NMHA is working at making those offices obsolete by eliminating the healthcare disparity gap. According to E.D. Burgess, "To achieve this, we are deploying new programs that utilize patient centered, value based care, and pathways to help lower costs and improve outcomes for minority and under-served communities."
Among those programs, Harrison told us, is the "Health Equity Action League." "HEAL is for healthcare companies. Those who join will accept the guiding principles and ask themselves, 'What did we do to further health equity?' Every home health, hospice, and home care agency should be a part of HEAL; every software company should participate.:
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
NMHA asks every business in America to adopt its Guiding Principles and join their fight to eliminate the minority healthcare gap.
Step One is to join as a member NMHA. Step Two is to agree to the NMHA Guiding Principles and implement them. There are also sponsorships available on different price levels to fit with the size of your organization.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES: Acknowledge — Create — Transform
Acknowledge that, even in the wealthiest of countries is a well proven process, backed up by more then 600 peer reviewed case studies. Activation is a term used to describe a person’s capability and willingness to take charge of their own health care.worldwide, there are significant disparities, biases, stereotypes, and inequalities in the healthcare of minority communities. These disparities often lead to less than optimal outcomes.
Create pathways for healthcare equality to provide a means for change.
Transform the health care system to be more inclusive, less costly, and more accessible.
Read more about the guiding principles by clicking on the headline below.
Lastly, NMHA recently launched "Operation Healthy You™," an effort to help reduce the disparity between how minorities and under-served populations manage chronic diseases as compared to how more affluent and better-insured populations manage the same disease states.
A lynchpin of this effort is an exciting tool NMHA is promoting and that you can use. The "Patient Activation Measure" is a well proven method for determining a person’s activation level, backed up by more then 600 peer reviewed case studies. Activation is a term used to describe a person's capability and willingness to take charge of their own health care. Click on the headline below for a complete description of PAM and links to evidence of its efficacy.
"Every software company should participate," Harrison urged. "They can help support the collection of PAM scores by building its 10-question survey into their systems, thus supporting the secure and anonymous transfer of data to a new research repository currently being developed. Our industry can be a leader...and should be."
As I mentioned at the top, this is an important enough topic that I feel justified in focusing this week's entire issue to it. We will be back to our regular breaking news and analysis next week.
NMHA Guiding Principles
Get to know The National Minority Health Association.
What is the Patient Activation Measure?
The National Minority Health Association has thrown its weight behind a measurement tool that can help healthcare providers slash costs.
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During the 4th Quarter of 2020, web sites of the above advertisers were visited by home care and hospice executives and staff 4319 times. To inquire about placing your message here, contact: Kristin@rowanresources.com As of this date, approximately 40,480,000 Baby Boomers have become Medicare eligible. |
Last Week's Most-Read Stories:
Payers Livid About CMS Final Rule
Four Home Care Agencies Solve Expensive "Bad Hire" Problem
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FREE WEBINAR: The Rise of Hospital at Home: A Roundtable Discussion
Sponsored by: AlayaCare
Featuring: Dr. Bruce Leff, Hospital at Home Pioneer & Professor, John Hopkins School of Medicine; Adrian Schauer, Founder and CEO
AlayaCare; Joel Theisen, Founder and CEO, Lifesprk; Brady Murphy, VP Sales & Marketing, AlayaCareDate: Wednesday, January 27
Time: 1:00 EST
Information and RegistrationAgenda
Across the U.S., the Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative from CMS is taking off amid the pandemic with at least 80 approved participants to date. As hospital-at-home models become more popular and more beneficial to both patients and health care organizations, those that have recognized the perks of home-based care prior to the COVID-19 crisis may have the upper hand.
Join us on Wednesday, Jan 27th at 1:00 pm EST for a roundtable discussion with industry experts such as Dr. Bruce Leff, Hospital at Home Pioneer and Professor at John Hopkins School of Medicine who deserves his reputation as a founding father of this virtual hospital concept, to learn about the hospital-at-home model and its impact on the home care industry.
FREE WEBINAR: 6 New COVID-19 ICD-10 Codes to Learn Webinar
Presented by: Healthcare Synergy
Featuring: Michael Tidd, HealthCare Synergy Clinical ManagerDate: Thursday, February 4
Time: 11:00 - 11:30 PST
COVID-19 has resulted in multiple waivers along with changes to programs and treatments to patients. April 1 had an unexpected release of a new diagnosis code for the COVID-19 disease. October 1 had additional diagnosis codes for agencies to learn and use. January 1, 2021 brings six additional diagnosis codes that CMS released the week of Thanksgiving. These will not be listed in your existing diagnosis coding manuals until a new manual is released later in August.
Objectives:
Michael Tidd has over 19 years of experience in the Home Care Industry and is a frequent speaker at HealthCare Synergy Workshops and Webinars. He is a Software Developer, LVN and Certified in ICD-9/10 Coding and OASIS (COS-C, HCS-D). As the Clinical Manager for HealthCare Synergy, he directs the Outsourced Management Services, assists in directing the development of the Healthcare Assistant Web Edition, oversees the Clinical Documentation Auditing provided to clients and directs the Clinical Form Development for the Healthcare Assistant Web Edition. Michael continues to educate agencies in the ongoing regulations that CMS produces, the proper application of the Medicare Conditions of Participation and completing timely, accurate and defendable clinical documentation to survive in the current Medicare Reimbursement Model.
FREE Webinar: Practical Application of Information Blocking and Interoperability Rules for Post-Acute Care Providers
Sponsored by: Complia Health and Kno2
Date: February 18
Time: 1:00 ESTJoin healthcare technology experts Alan Swenson, VP of Interoperability at Kno2, and Melissa Turner, Director of Integration at Complia Health, on Thursday, February 18th at 1pm Eastern to learn about information blocking and what it means for your post-acute care organization today and looking ahead to the future.
Virtual Conference: Winter Leadership Summit
Presented by: National Association for Home Care and Hospice
Date: February 23, 2021
FREE WEBINAR: New, Science-Based Methodology Reduces Cost of Recruitment and Retention
Presented by: MiliMatch
Featuring: Eric Becker, CEO
Date: Thursday, February 25
Time: 3:00 pm EST; Noon PST
Information and Registration
Agenda:
Every time a home care agency hires and trains a new caregiver, it invests about $4,500, which is wasted if that new hire does not work out, often before working a first shift. MiliMatch CEO Eric Becker will explain the company's patented product/service, based on the science of Applied Cognitive Linguistics, which has been proven to help home care agencies avoid those costly bad hires.
FREE WEBINAR: The Future Home Health Patient: An Exclusive Conversation with Encompass Health’s Bud Langham
Sponsored by: Synzi
Date: February 25
Learn how Encompass Health is planning for post-pandemic patient care and evolving its use of virtual care to improve patient outcomes. During this upcoming session, Bud Langham, PT, MBA (Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Encompass Health - Home Health and Hospice) will discuss what the future home health patient looks like post-COVID and how Encompass Health is preparing for the shift in care delivery.
Time: 12:00 PM EST
FREE WEBINARS: Virtual Seminar Series
"Building the Bridge to Hospice" and "How to Increase Referrals"
Sponsored by: WellSky
Featuring: Cindy Campbell, Jody Holmes-Dion, Bob Parker, Melanie Stover
Dates: March 2, 16, 30; April 6
Time: 1:00 - 2:30 ESTRegister for one or both webinars
Building the bridge to hospice: Leveraging connections between home health, palliative, and hospice care
Presented by consultants Cindy Campbell and Jody Holmes-Dion of WellSky and Bob Parker of Intrepid USA
CE credit offered – approved for up to 1.25 contact hours
Tuesday, March 2 | Tuesday, March 30Turn up the volume! How to increase referrals in a value-driven market
Presented by Cindy Campbell and sales and marketing expert Melanie Stover of Home Care Sales
Tuesday, March 16 | Tuesday, April 6
Homecare 100 *
Presented by: Lincoln Healthcare Leadership
Date: June 27-30, 2021
Venue: JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort, FL
https://www.homecare100.com/
*The Rowan Report will see you there.
Your state or national association meeting or webinar not listed? Send the details to Conferences@RowanResources.com using this format:
Conference Title
Sponsoring Association
Date(s)
Hotel or Conference Center, City, State
URL
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