Home Care, Hospice and Healthcare Reform: Technologies for Coping with Change

All I Ever Wanted to do was Care for Patients! Medicare rate cuts, growing paperwork burden, nitpicking auditors, P4P, ACOs, hospice eligibility details, OASIS-C, and that H.E.A.T. Stirke Force with it's gun and subpoenas. When do I have time to take blood pressure, dress wounds, teach nutrition, consult with physicians and hold a terminal person's hand? If you find yourself singing "Hold me down, turning me 'round, filling me up with their rules," just remember that the chorus of that song is "I have to admit it's getting better, a little better all the time."

Complication or Late-Effect?

General coding guidelines state that once the acute phase of an illness or injury is over, the acute code cannot be coded in homecare. Once the acute phase is over, the patient may be left with deficits, residuals, or complications. How you code these will depend on whether the problem is considered a late-effect or a complication. Residuals are called late-effects and can be coded indefinitely. These late-effects are seen most often in patients after a CVA or TIA but can also be noted in patients after burns, fractures, or head and spinal injuries. General guidelines for late-effects state that there are no time restrictions for using a late-effect code. Complications have no time limits either, but can often be reversed with treatment. In this session we will discuss how to identify and code late-effects and complications.

Making Sense of the Face-to-Face Regulation

Join us as we help make sense of the 2011 Face-to-Face Regulation that goes into effect January 1, 2011. This regulation will require policy changes and may very well affect the ability to accept certain patients if the regulation is not followed. With very little time left, this is your chance to get answers to the question you may still have.

Telehealth from Start to Finish

The presentation is designed to take some of the guess work out of starting a telehealth program. Faye will guide you from vendor selection in the beginning to measuring their outcomes in the end. At the end of this activity, you will have knowledge of statistical data reguarding the impact of telehealth in the home care setting; be able to determine if telehealth is right for your agency and patient population; have the knowledge to select the vendor that fits your agency; be able to set realistic goals for your telehealth program; tell the difference between a "sucessful agency" and one that "has a telehealth program"; know how to prperly implement a telehealth program; select patients appropriete for telehealth; and, evaluate their goals and outcomes.