Volume 10, Number 41 — October 20, 2021
Dear Healthcare at Home Colleague,
We heard some exciting news about the HRSA grant we have been telling you about. Nearly 12,000 individuals have registered so far to receive a cash reward for each COVID shot they verify through grant administrator National Minority Health Administration. Those folks receiving the shot were signed up by one of nearly 5,000 home care workers, who also get a cash reward for every shot they encourage. Those workers are employed by one of the more than 1,600 participating home care agencies, who also get a cash reward for every single shot arranged through their staff.
That is not yet the best of the news though! The NMHA still has millions more grant dollars to share with you and your staff. 1,600 sounds like a lot but there is plenty of room for more home care agencies to participate. With state and federal vaccination mandates for healthcare workers looming, this is a great opportunity to add a spoonful of sugar to the medicine. Go to FlexForChecks.com and register your home care agency or hospice. The instructions will then guide you through sharing your registration number with your staff so they can sign up and get a related number. Then they are off to the races, or perhaps the better analogy is that they will be off to the bank! Are you struggling with recruiting staff? As soon as word gets around that your people are making bonus money, just watch the applications appear.
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Look to our "CMS News" column for details on two huge federal announcements. The Public Health Emergency has been extended, and the deadline to apply for "Relief Fund Phase 4" forgivable loans is coming up next week.
If you deal at all with patients or clients who experience loneliness, depression, dementia or any mental health issue, take a look at the successful approach taken by Griswold Home Care. We interviewed Griswold VP Christina Sommerfield, who taught us about mental health in the elderly and how much home care can do to help.
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One employee made one little mistake by clicking on a phishing email lure and the resulting cascade of events led to a class action lawsuit – representing potentially 450,000 plaintiffs – against a healthcare organization. Read our summary of the news articles in "Does Your Organization Take Cyber Attacks Seriously Enough?" It should serve as a familiar warning: It could happen to you!
This week's Vendor Watch column includes both good and bad news. Axis Care told us about their EVV expansion to 23 states, with more to come. HRS released enhancements to its signature product, Patient Direct. However, a large New England ACO has contracted with a remote patient monitoring company to enable them to provide in-home care in lieu of a hospital admission. It sounds good until you read the details. The ACO is only using physicians to monitor patients, no HHA or home care is invited to play.
Live conferences, already rare these days, are winding down as the holiday season approaches. The Pennsylvania association will hold its annual meeting November 10-12. Scroll down for the details of two conferences in North and South Carolina. After that, we look forward to the next Homecare 100, February 6-9 in Scottsdale, AZ. Information and registration is already available at the Lincoln Healthcare Leadership web site.
Have a great week. Keep making a difference!
CMS News: One Deadline Looms, Another Extended
— National Public Health Emergency extended
— Relief Fund Phase 4 application period ends October 26
Griswold Home Care Monitors, Treats Mental Health in Seniors
Using an assessment tool, followed by careful patient/caregiver matching, national agency is lowering suicide rate among elderly.
Does Your Organization Take Cyber Attacks Sufficiently Seriously?
A timeline of what led to a potentially crippling lawsuit when one healthcare organization's hardware security and training measures were not enough.
Vendor Watch
— AxisCare expands integrated EVV to 23 states with more to come
— Integra Community Care Network partners with Biofourmis to deliver personalized care at home, HHAs not invited
— HRS upgrades PatientDirect
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During the 3rd Quarter of 2021, web sites of the above advertisers were visited by home care and hospice executives and staff 6532 times. To inquire about placing your message here, contact: Kristin@rowanresources.com As of this date, approximately 43,406,000 Baby Boomers have become Medicare eligible. |
Last Week's Most-Read Stories:
Caregiver Retention: Registered Nurses and Nurse Aides/Assistants
Direct Care Workers in the United States: Key Facts
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FREE WEBINAR: Targeted Probe & Educate: Where Do You Stand?
Presented by: Healthcare Synergy
Featuring: Michael Tidd, COS-C, HCS-D, HealthCare Synergy Clinical ManagerDate: Wednesday, November 3
Time: 11:00 am PDT / 2:00 pm EDT
Overview:
Targeted Probe and Educate is a CMS initiative to seek a better understanding of agencies practices in order to protect the Medicare funds. Agencies self-identify themselves and request reviews by their actions and the data they provide to CMS. Are you aware of the signals you might be sending and how to protect yourself?
Objectives:
Speaker:
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.
AHHC 2021 Leadership Conference
Presented by: Association for Home & Hospice Care of North Carolina
Date: November 8-9
Location: Holiday Inn Resort, Wrightsville Beach, NC
FREE WEBINAR: Admit more Patients & Stop Nursing Burnout!
Presented by: OperaCare
Date: November 10
Time: 1:00 pm EST; 10:00 PST
The nursing shortage is getting much worse and will most likely impact your business if it has not already.
During this event we will demonstrate how to complete an entire OASIS in approx. 60 minutes or less. This includes ICD-10 coding, entry and revision of medication’s, all the OASIS items, and Quality Assurance while the nurse is with the patient in the home.
The result: Eliminating 100% of after-hours documentation, increasing clinical productivity, and reducing your labor costs.
The Benefit: The ability to significantly increase your recruitment and retention efforts by providing your clinicians with a sane and humane work life balance.
Important Final Rule Discoveries Every Agency Needs to Know: Examining HH PPS for CY2022
Presented by: HealthRevPartners
Featuring: John Reisinger, CPA
DATE: November 18
TIME: 2:00 - 3:00 EST
VENUE: Online
FEE: NONE
One of the major changes in CMS’ final rule for the Home Health Prospective Payment System announced is this — ???2022 will be a "pre-implementation year for the HHVBP, which was originally scheduled to begin in January.
Learn exactly what you need to do in 2022 for HHVBP.
Additionally, we will cover these final rule changes and more:
- Individual payment rate changes ranging from:
- An increase of 35.7%, to
- A decrease of 34.6%
- 2022 will be the last year of the Rural Add-on
- Significant changes with all 432 Case-Mix Weights
And, do you know how much your Medicare revenues are projected to change?
There will be a 3.2% increase ($570 million) in home health spending for CY2022.
*The Rowan Report will see you there.
FREE WEBINARS: "Best of Home Care Heroes" Series
Sponsored by: Ankota
Featuring: Steve "The Hurricane" Weiss, Ophelia Cole, Barbara Gaines, Cheryl Hammons, others
Dates: Ongoing
- How Home Care Thrives in the Post-COVID World (with Steve "the Hurricane" Weiss)
- ADDED THIS WEEK: "Finishing 2021 STRONG!" Wednesday, September 15, 3-4pm EST.
Register HereContact Ankota directly about two special offers: a free trial of a staffed, live-chat solution for your website, and a discount to Steve Weiss' "Mililonaire Bootcamp."
FREE WEBINAR: New, Science-Based Methodology Reduces Cost of Recruitment and Retention
Presented by: The Rowan Report
Featuring: Eric Becker, CEO, MiliMatch
Date: Thursday, March 18
Time: 3:00 pm EST; Noon PST
Recorded version available.
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.
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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Home Care Technology Report is published by Rowan Consulting Associations, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. Request reprint permission by writing to editor@homecaretechreport.com.
HCTR is free to subscribers and supported by its generous advertisers. To inquire about presenting your message to our 12,000 subscribers, write to Kristin in our ad sales department, Kristin@RowanResources.com.