HHQI e-Bulletin: A Monthly Update of the Home Health Quality Improvement Organization

April 2007 e-Bulletin

Participating Home Health Agencies

The current number of home health agencies participating in the National Campaign is now over 4,765.

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Best Practice Intervention Package: Emergency Care Planning

The format of this package is similar to the Hospitalization Risk Assessment package, with a leadership section (offering two leadership tracks) and with care provider tracks (nursing, therapy, medical social worker and home health aides). Agencies can use the entire package or just certain parts. Here are some suggestions for how to use the tracks:

Leadership

Incorporating action items check list into leadership or quality improvement monthly meetings to facilitate brainstorming on strategies for improvement in reducing ACH
Use the sample My Emergency Plan tool as either a modifiable template or as a guide to evaluate your existing tool
Share some of the connection pages with specific staff (e.g. physician, hospital and managed care pages with intake department).

Care Provider

Break track into pieces for team or staff meetings
Use as monthly staff education
Use the 60-minute home health aide track for the required monthly aide education
Encourage self study.

Free CNEs for Registered Nurses

1.25 CNEs will be provided for all RNs completing the nursing track
Complete the evaluation/post-test online, and the certificate will be e-mailed to the RN.

Fast Track

An Emergency Care Planning fast track is available for agencies that are looking for simplicity. This track provides a one-page document with a sample tool that can easily be incorporated into staff education.

Emergency Care Planning WebEx

A 15-minute WebEx with an introduction and highlights of new resources is available. The WebEx is a great way to get a quick overview of the package and select some individual pieces to utilize.

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Previous Best Practice Intervention Package

Last month's Best Practice Intervention Package (BPIP) focused on hospitalization risk assessment.

Hospitalization Risk Assessment Audio CD
The Home Health Quality Improvement Organization Support Center (HHQIOSC), Quality Insights of Pennsylvania, is currently sending all participating HHAs a CD with the hospitalization risk assessment clinician audio recording. The HHQIOSC will also be providing each participating home health agency with an audio CD every quarter throughout the campaign. The audio recordings will be the same as the downloadable clinician audio files posted on the Web site. The first in a series of four audio CDs is included. This CD is provided to the agency as a courtesy to assist agencies in promoting best practices among clinical staff. Below is the schedule for audio CD distribution along with the calendar month and topic that will be included.

Audio CD Distribution Schedule

Distribution Month	Quarterly Audio CD Contents
March 2007	March – Hospitalization Risk Assessment
June 2007	April – Emergency Care Planning May – Medication Management June – Phone Monitoring & Frontloading Visits
September 2007	July – Teletriage August – Telemonitoring September – Immunizations
December 2007	October – Physician Relationships November – Fall Prevention December – Patient Self Management

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The HHQI Web site is updated weekly with additional information, tools and resources. Bookmark the Web site and visit it weekly. The Quick Links on the home page facilitates easy travel to frequent and important sites.

The HHQI Web site has had more than 275,000 unique Web hits.

Hospitalization Risk Assessment BPIP Survey

Summary of Results
The first BPIP survey on hospitalization risk assessment was available on the HHQI Web site from March 8 through March 15, 2007. Additionally, primary and secondary contacts for all home health agencies participating in the campaign were sent an e-mail with a link to access the survey.

The survey results are helpful to the HHQI campaign team to understand which parts of the package are most helpful to home health agencies and what problems and/or barriers prevent implementation of the packages.

The BPIP survey results are now available. Thanks to everyone who completed the survey. The next survey will be available April 12 through April 19, 2007 and will focus on the Emergency Care Planning BPIP.

Home Health Agency of the Month

Saint Joseph Home Care Services
Lexington, Kentucky

"Our entire staff is committed to working on the HHQI National Campaign, including leadership, clinical, and clerical staff." - Casey Hamblen, RN, QA leader/supervisor

Campaign Registration Report

Interactive Map
A link to a new interactive map is located from the home page in the Quick Links section. Click on Campaign Registration Report and roll your mouse over a state to view that state's percentage of participating home health agencies. How is your state doing?

Home Health Agency Page

Change of Registration Information
Your agency will need to complete a change of information form if your registration information needs to be revised. The form is located on the For Home Health Agencies page in the upper right column.

Please note that an agency address cannot be changed with this form. The home health agency address displayed on the Find Campaign Participants in Your Area link is the address associated with the unique Medicare Provider Number on Home Health Compare. That address can only be modified through your state OSCAR/ASPEN coordinator. To locate your state coordinator, visit Home Health Compare. Click on the Resources tab, then OSCAR/ASPEN.

Champions Page

Campaign Supporter Flyer
A campaign supporter flyer and suggestions for its use are now on the Web site. To locate the flyer, select Champion in the left column and then Campaign Supporters in the left column. Click on Use this flyer found in the middle of the page.

Use this flyer to spread the word about how anyone can become a supporter of the HHQI Campaign. Registering as a supporter guarantees online receipt of the most current campaign news including release of best practice intervention packages, success stories and contact hours information.

OCCB

OASIS Accuracy Support Packet for Acute Care Hospitalization (publication date 1/07)
OASIS Certificate & Competency Board (OCCB) has developed the OASIS support packet for all home health agencies. This document is available as a free resource on the campaign Web site. The packet assists home health agency managers and staff with understanding the acute care hospitalization OASIS measure. It includes all current CMS OASIS questions and answers that impact the acute care hospitalization measure. Many home health agency quality improvement coordinators and staff educators report this document is extremely helpful for understanding and improving their insight for the acute care hospitalization measure.

To locate this packet, select For Home Health Agencies in the right column and then Resources in the right column. A link is available in the upper right corner of the page.

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The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) is the nation's largest trade association representing the interests and concerns of home care agencies, hospices, and home care aide organizations. Mary St. Pierre, Vice President for Regulatory Affairs for NAHC, is a member of the HHQIOSC Steering Committee as well as a Champion for the HHQI National Campaign.

NAHC pledged to support the campaign by educating its member agencies about the national campaign and the accompanying educational materials. To do this, Mary makes use of her organization's daily e-newsletter, NAHC Report; Caring Magazine; and the NAHC listserv.

Mary encourages all agencies to step forward and take this challenge. "It is time for home health to shine," she says.

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View the March 2007 Tips of the Week.

View the February 2007 Tips of the Week.

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View the March 2007 e-Bulletin

View the February 2007 e-Bulletin.

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If you have technical problems with the e-Bulletin, please e-mail Russell Hartman.

This material was prepared by Quality Insights of Pennsylvania, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization Support Center for Home Health, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents presented do not necessarily reflect CMS policy. Publication number 8SOW-PA-HHQ07.408. App. 4/2/07.