Hospital Home Health Archives – August 1, 2005
August 1, 2005
View Archives Issues
-
How do you rate? Benchmark study identifies frequency, causes of falls
Medication changes and pain cause more falls than environment Although home health agencies have focused upon falls in the home for many years, their importance was brought into the spotlight when the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations included that category in the 2005 National Safety Patient Goals. -
Don’t forget IT factors in disaster planning
Address loss of power, server, communications Your disaster plan is complete. You know who is responsible for every aspect of contacting patients, contacting employees, arranging transportation, documenting evacuation plans, providing medications and supplies during the emergency, and keeping track of patient records. You are ready for weather-related emergencies, power outages, and transportation difficulties. -
Make no assumptions, include details in plan
Utilize non-IT people to review and test plan The devil is in the details when designing an information technology (IT) recovery plan as part of your disaster planning process, explains Rajesh Shetye, MS, MBA, executive vice president of information services for VNA Healthcare Partners of Ohio in Cleveland. Plans fall apart for simple reasons, he says. -
Keep physician pacts moored in safe harbors
By Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. Burtonsville, MD Marketing strategies utilized by post-acute providers are generating fierce competition for referrals. As a result, providers are appropriately committing more and more resources to marketing strategies. -
Pain experts provide guidelines for care
One hospice reduces 100% of pain in 48 hours Hospices may be the leaders in pain management, but most could improve their efforts by following best practice guidelines and initiating a quality improvement process, several pain experts say. -
Pain management project includes pathway for care
Pain expert describes how it works A quality improvement team that focused on ways clinicians could better manage patients pain developed a one-page clinical pathway that clearly shows what needs to be done. -
Enhance staff education on managing pain
Hospice offers tips for stellar program The Hospice of the Western Reserve of Cleveland makes pain management education a top priority, and the efforts have resulted in faster and more effective pain control for patients, officials say. -
Home health/day-care demo project announced
Up to 15,000 Medicare beneficiaries will be able to receive adult day-care services while receiving home health services as part of a demonstration project announced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).