Volume 11, Number 10 — February  2, 2022

Dear Healthcare at Home Colleague,

The news is on the highly technical side this week, with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT sending us two detailed announcements and an EHR vendor adding a third. We balance the parts that may be most interesting to your CIO or IT Director by adding a practical analysis for home health owners and directors of nursing, plus a heartwarming story about hospice that will touch everyone, even those who do not work directly in hospice. Let me explain.

Recruiting and Retaining Nurses

Darcey Trescone's research this month took her in the direction of our primary 2022 focus, the staffing shortage. After consulting some experts and the literature on the subject, she offers a detailed summary of what people at every level of healthcare have learned about increasing RN job satisfaction. Hers will be the first headline below, "Nursing Autonomy and Shared Governance Improve Job Satisfaction."

Ready, Aim, FHIR

ONC is trying to make the complicated easier to understand and deploy. We have reprinted for you an announcement about new HL7 and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT says will help providers achieve interoperability "without special effort."

The same federal office is asking for your input about proposed Electronic Prior Authorization Standards. See our reprint of the ONC announcement. The request your feedback by March 25.

Hospice Patient Changes Driver's Life

You may have read this already, but we just had to share it with you. A story circulating on social media tells the story in first person about a taxi driver's encounter with a woman on her way to check in to a hospice house. We have long held hospice workers in high esteem. This driver, whether his story is real or apocryphal, learned why we feel that way.

Worth the Trip

It is still too early to tell which 2022 conferences will be in-person and which will still have to be conducted virtually, but we are keeping our fingers crossed that we will get to see some of you face to face this year. In the meantime, I am on my way to Homecare 100 in Scottsdale this weekend, assuming my local airport is able to plow away all this snow. I hope to see you Sunday through Wednesday.

If you missed any part of my 2021 series, "Meet the CEO," here are the YouTube links to those video interviews:

Jim Bland, Seniors Home Services, November

Ashley Wharton, Savii, March

Adrian Schauer, AlayaCare, February

Navin Gupta, MatrixCare, January

Have a great week. Keep making a difference!

Nursing Autonomy and Shared Governance Improve Job Satisfaction
The secret to retaining good nurses is not limited to paying well. Darcey Trescone outlines what the experts say about how a Professional Practice Model empowers both recruiting and retention.

ONC Seeks Public Comment on Electronic Prior Authorization Standards
ONC wants to know if providers think Prior Authorization improves or rations care.

ONC Clarifies CURES Act Language re: Easier FHIR Implementation
Using APIs "Without Special Effort"
Latest announcement from ONC for software developers gives interoperability a giant step forward with new, easier FHIR rules from ONC.

Netsmart myUnity® Achieves Industry First 100% ONC Health IT Certification
Netsmart's myUnity EHR earns ONC's Health IT certification.

You Never Know Who Might Be A Real Hospice Worker
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here, we might as well dance. We found this story in the public domain and just had to share it with you. Is it true? Does that matter?

Vendor Watch: Telehealth News
— UCI Health Partners with Biofourmis for Hospital at Home and Post-Acute Remote Patient Monitoring