Volume 10, Number 41 — June 23, 2021
Dear Healthcare at Home Colleague,
In our continuing quest to find solutions to your primary challenge, staffing, we offer two pieces of good news in this week's issue. I urge you to pay close attention to both of them, one of which will require a small investment, the other which will pay you and your staff to participate.
What you need to do to deal with your staffing challenge is address both recruiting and retention, which are inextricably linked. Our first solution is to pay more than what unemployment pays, and we found something that will help until the federal unemployment supplements expire. Please direct your attention first to this week's lead item, "HHS Awards $125 Million in Workforce Grants to Bolster Vaccinations." We put you in touch with a national association that won one of these grants and is using it to pay home health and home care providers, clinicians, caregivers, and patients every time one of their patients gets a COVID shot. What does this have to do with recruiting and retention? Think about the power of word of mouth. If you participate, word will get around about your significant bonuses and you may start seeing more applicants. If nothing else, your agency and your people can bring in some well-needed cash.
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If staffing has you puzzled, maybe an outside expert is the answer. If so, take a close look at this week's entry from guest author and healthcare recruiting veteran Szilvia Toth. She explains, out of her decade of experience, what works and what does not in your efforts to fill your open positions with competent, dedicated people. Read about the importance of branding, reputation, communication, and data.
Care Coordination: Darcey Trescone interviewed FirstLight Home Care and communications technology vendor Dina this week and brings her insights into their joint effort to improve patient outcomes and reduce hospital readmissions. Click on Darcey's article below.
Vendor Watch: Quite a lot of vendor news this week. AlayaCare has raised another round of funding, this time $225 million. Health Recovery Solutions announced a $70 million investment in its remote patient monitoring company. eCaring™ acquired Home Care IT™. Homecare Homebase named Swift Medical as its preferred wound care technology partner. And home care veteran Brad Caldwell has been named COO for Careficient.
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CMS News: Two announcements this week were worth reprinting for you from notices we received. One is the official statement regarding the Supreme Court's recent 7-2 decision in support of the Affordable Care Act. The other is their update on the record number of Americans enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP.
Upcoming: As we have been telling you, I ame attending Homecare 100 this week, so our next issue will be dated July 7. In the meantime, we will be posting frequent, brief video updates on our Facebook page. Go to facebook.com/homecaretech and 'like' us. Then return from time to time, Monday through Wednesday, to see if we have captured important technology news for you.
Let me take one more line to renew my gratitude to our sponsors. These companies make it possible for us to bring you this free service. Show your appreciation by clicking on their graphic ads. They may be offering just what you are looking for.
Have a great week. Keep making a difference!
HHS Awards $125 Million in Workforce Grants to Bolster Vaccinations
Home Care, Home Health agencies encouraging COVID vaccinations to receive payments from grantee.
Winning the War for Workers Against the Odds
Guest author and healthcare recruiting consultant Szilvia Toth explains how the right technology can be a game-changer for a home care and home health agency's recruiting and retention challenges.
FirstLight Home Care Partners with Dina in Care Coordination
Leading national non-medical home care provider to implement care coordination tool.
CMS Statement on SCOTUS June 16 ACA Decision
Official statement from CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure on U.S. Supreme Court decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act in California v. Texas.
AlayaCare Raises $225 Million
CAD Series D funding "to accelerate digital transformation of Home Health Care."
CMS News: Record Medicaid and CHIP Enrollment
During the 12-month period that includes the onset of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP exceeded 80 million.
Vendor Watch
— eCaring™ acquires Home Care IT™
— Homecare Homebase names preferred wound care technology partner
— Careficient names Brad Caldwell COO
— HRS lands $70 million investment.
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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 42,097,000 Baby Boomers have become Medicare eligible. |
Last Week's Most-Read Stories:
Contaminated "Affiliations" Predicted to Shutter Hundreds of HHAs
Humana Acquires Another Home Care Provider
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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 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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