Home Care Tech Report

Thanks to all who joined our survey asking about post-COVID plans to keep people working at home. We will keep it open one more week and publish the results in our August 12 issue. Click here. You can complete it in less than 5 minutes.

You should have received the announcement that our Home Care Technology Buyer's Guide opened this week. Quite a number has tried it out alreadyso far. This free service will continue to evolve and improve so be sure to come back from time to time and see how we are making it easy for you to streamline your software selection process.

Home Care
Have you installed Google Analytics on your web site? Guest author Roger McManus, MBA, continues his series of tips to improve your online reputation with a step-by-step primer on installing and understand this free tool. Click below on "Google Analytics: Grab a Geek and Get on Board."

Home Health
In this week's "CMS News" column, we reprint two announcement about regulatory changes. The ABN deadline has been extended because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and home health star ratings have been republished because of an error in the June 25 version.

We interviewed a startup tech company this week that has developed a communications system to help your patients get their prescriptions for Home Medical Equipment delivered within two days. Delays have been known to cause severe consequences, up to and including hospital readmissions. their service could make you look good and they charge the payer, not you. Read about Tomorrow Health in "Startup Tech Company Seeks to Improve DME Relationships"

Everybody
In Part 3 of our series about Extraordinary Women in Home Care, meet Raizy Weiss, the COO of Preferred Home Care of New York.

Lastly, don't miss the three announcement in this week's Vendor Watch column. eSolutions and Homecare Homebase are working together. Netsmart talks about the rush of hospices recently contracting for its software. And telehealth company Aloe Health is bending over backward with a 50% discount on its new monitoring system to help providers that have COVID patients.

Upcoming Events

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
Register

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
Information and Registration
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
Information and Registration
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, AlayaCare
Date: Wednesday, January 27
Time: 1:00 EST

Information and Registration
Agenda
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 EST
Information and Registration
Join 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
Register

2021, in many ways, is a continuation of challenges from 2020 and more! During this webinar, experts from companies with solutions for talent/retention and compliance issues, along with the continued challenges that COVID-19 has presented to our industry, will cover rules, regulations, and programs you need to stay on top of so your company can thrive amidst the pandemic.

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 Orleans
Sadly, 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 Manager
Date: Wednesday, November 3
Time: 11:00 am PDT / 2:00 pm EDT
Register

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:

Describe items CMS uses to locate agencies with irregular practices
Verbalize MAC rates needed to pass a Targeted Probe and Educate
Discuss actions required after a denial, and what occurs if an agency fails Targeted Probe and Educate.

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
Information and Registration

FREE WEBINAR: Admit more Patients & Stop Nursing Burnout!
Presented by: OperaCare
Date: November 10
Time: 1:00 pm EST; 10:00 PST
Information and Registration

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

Register Here
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 Here
Put the Client First and Match the right Caregiver (with Ophelia Cole and Barbara Gaines)
Captivate Website Visitors in 8 Seconds or Less
New Source of Revenue Helping Veterans (with guest Cheryl Hammons)
Contact 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.

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Upcoming Events