Volume 8, Number 43 — November 29, 2019
SPECIAL REPORT - RANSOMWARE ATTACK CRIPPLES HUNDREDS OF HOME HEALTH AGENCIES AND HOSPICES
When the full story of the November 14 ransomware attack that shut down Casamba and its customers for a period of days, there will be a tendency to think of it as an unfortunate, isolated incident. Perhaps even a reaction along the lines of, "Whew! At least it wasn't me." That would only add to the unfortunateness. For this reason, we have included in this special edition, after our interview with Casamba president Billie Jo Nutter and relevant feedback from customers, a summary of a report by a cyber security expert listing the things most companies do wrong.
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The point is this. It could happen to you. One disaster recovery expert was quoted as saying the question surrounding a cyber attack is not if it will happen to your business but when. Having a recovery plan is more important today than having only a hope-based prevention plan.
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For this special edition, we relied heavily for our background research on the experts at RBC Limited, specialists in disaster prevention and recovery. If the stories in this issue scare you into action, we will have accomplished our goal. If you do not know where to begin, the professionals at RBC Limited might be a good place to start.
Our regular edition will be delivered on December 5. It will include the first in a new series of podcast interviews with industry leaders and entrepreneurs.
Casamba Reports All Customers Operational After 11/14 Ransomware Attack
Hundreds of home health and hospice providers shut down for two weeks after ransomware attack.
Casamba Clients Respectfully Disagree
After reading Casamba's updates on its ransomware attack, some software users insisted on telling a different story.
Top Cybersecurity Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Cybersecurity is increasingly important as more and more attacks happen all the time, leaving organizations scrambling for solutions. Is your company guilty of any of these cardinal mistakes?
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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 35,805,000 Baby Boomers have become Medicare eligible. |
Last Week's Most-Read Stories:
HHAs Eschew HIE, Even When It's Free
Alayacare Forecasts What 2020 Will Bring for Home Care
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WEBINAR: Documentation: How to Fight Auditors
A 90-minute Lunch & Learn Audio Conference by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. Health Care Attorney
Date: May 5
Time: 1:00 - 2:30 EDT
Encore date: May 12; On-demand recording available 24/7
Information and RegistrationHome health agencies and hospices are plagued by audits! The United Program Integrity Contractors (UPICs) are hard at work. RAC auditors are now back on the job, too. Plus, there are ADRs, scrutiny from the OIG, and more! What should providers do to avoid being in the crosshairs or to get out of the line of fire?
The answer, of course, is documentation. For home health agencies, auditors regard whether patients are homebound and whether care provided was reasonable and necessary as “low-hanging fruit.” Hospices are likely to face denials related to whether patients are terminally ill.
Home health agencies should continuously document regarding homebound status. Hospices must focus documentation on whether patients continued to be eligible for the hospice benefit. Both types of providers should “tell the story” of patients’ conditions so that care is clearly reasonable and necessary.
If providers are targeted by auditors, they should carefully review and make additions and changes consistent with applicable standards before submitting records.
Attend this presentation to learn exactly how to document to minimize denials.
Webinar Series: Sales Training, Home Health and Hospice
Presented by: Healthcare Strategica, LLC
Featuring: Michael Ferris
1 - 8-week Hospice & Palliative Care Sales Training Course2 - 8-week Home Health Sales Training
Rowan Report subscribers: Register with this link to receive $100 discount.
We have taken our best of class industry specific sales training bootcamps and are offering them via Webinar to enable you to continue to train your sales team in today's world of limited travel and social distancing.
The Hospice and Palliative Care course will be offered live every Tuesday starting May 19 through July 7, 2020.
The Home Health course will be offered live every Tuesday starting May 21 through July 9, 2020.
Each class will have participation exercises, homework assignments, quizzes and question and answer opportunities.
Each participant will receive their own course materials and individual coaching and feedback. At the conclusion of the course each student will receive a certificate of completion, an invitation to join the exclusive Sales Mastery Group* and opportunity to join the 52-week Sales Training Excellence Course.*
* Only available to Sales Professionals that have successfully completed the 8-week Sales Training Course – additional fees may apply.
Each session will be offered on-demand and if unable to attend the live webinar, you will be able to view the recording and participate in exercises, questions, coaching and quizzes. If you start after the first webinar date, you will be provided with access to those classes missed so that you can get caught up or you may elect to attend via the recorded sessions.
FREE WEBINAR: How Technology Enhances Home Care in an Increasingly Remote World *
Sponsored by: Care Connect
Moderator: Tim Rowan
Panelists: Mike Gelman, President COO, CareConnect; Jim Rolla, SVP, VNSYNY Partners in Care; Steve Pellito, SVP, Provider Sales, Sandata
Date: November 12
Time: 1:00 pm EDT
FREE WEBINAR: Cybersecurity in Healthcare: Assess Threats & Reduce Your Risk
Presented by: Netsmart
Featuring: Randy Pargman, Binary Defense senior director of threat hunting and counterintelligence; Sharon Hicks, MBA, MSW, OPEN MINDS senior associate; and Mike Murray, Netsmart director of Plexus Technologies,
Date: December 9
Time: 1:00 EST
Healthcare organizations are often at risk of cyberattacks due to a lack of dedicated IT and reliance on traditional reactive approaches. To learn how to protect your data, register now to join Randy Pargman, as they map the risk landscape and provide guidance for safeguarding your organization.
Key takeaways:
• Cyber threats in healthcare
• Impacts of a data breach
• Best practices for securing your data
FREE WEBINAR: Can you collect Cash faster?Sponsored by: Savii
Date: Tuesday, January 12
Time: 2:00 pm EST
With small margins in home care it has prompted the question, “Can we collect cash faster?” And what would this do for an agency? One thing we know is margins are small and have become more challenging than ever to for agencies to profit. This doesn’t mean it impossible for agencies to survive; it means a focus on collecting cash faster will be ever so important.
Agency leaders will first need to develop a timeline cadence of when to address claims based on when they were submitted for payment. In addition it will be pertinent to understand their own agency metrics such as DSO (Daily Sales Outstanding) and how they compare to industry standards.
On this webinar you will walk away with how to develop a timeline and your own DSO dashboard for benchmarking. All of these topics will weave into strategic steps to take toward collecting cash flow faster.
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: 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.
FREE WEBINAR: Tech Titans Join Forces to Tackle Post Acute Care Challenges
Sponsored by: KanTime
Featuring: Terra Vicario (Moderator) CMO, Viventium; Malka Trump, Director of Compliance, Viventium; Kristen Duell, EVP, KanTime; Kim Spence, RN, Customer Success Division Leader, KanTime; James Cohen, CEO & Co-Founder, Nevvon
Date: Thursday, April 22
Time: 11:00 am PDT, 2:00 pm EDT
experts from companies with solutions for talent/retention and compliance issues, along with the continued challenges that COVID-19 has presented to our industry,
Homecare 100 *
Presented by: Lincoln Healthcare Leadership
Date: June 27-30, 2021
Venue: JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort, FL
Registration Information
2021 Home Care and Hospice Conference and Expo *
National Association for Home Care and Hospice
Date: October 3-5
Venue: New OrleansSadly, this conference has had to be postponed, due to the hurricane in New Orleans and COVID situation in Louisiana.
FREE WEBINAR: Vaccine Hesitancy: How Training Can Help
Presented by: Nevvon, Flex For Checks, & Dr. Ian Smith
Date: Monday, October 11
Time: 10:00 AM Pacific; 1:00 PM Eastern
Information and Registration
Featuring:
- Dr. Ian Smith, MD, host of TV's "The Doctors," and NY Times bestselling author
- Burgess Harrision, Executive Director, National Minority Health Association
- James Cohen, CEO, Nevvon Inc.
Who should attend? Caregiver agencies looking for creative ways to alleviate vaccine hesitancy and get more workers and patients protected from the COVID-19 virus.
Agenda:
Learn how training caregivers on vaccines can ensure better compliance, reduce hesitancy and lead to better outcomes. We will share first-hand experience of how the Flex For Checks program has been leading the way in vaccinating caregivers through an amazing and potentially lucrative incentive program.
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 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.
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."
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.