What's New? The Weblog
Another VNA Celebrates 100 Years of Service!
In Pioneer Valley in western Massachusetts, residents have had VNA services for 100 years and still going strong. Read more about this great agency and some of their patients as they celebrate a huge milestone in home health care.
As the population ages and medicine and technology advances, we all know that home health care and hospice is going to BOOM. With heartwarming stories like this one, we have much to aspire to in providing long term quality care to all of our patients. Many THANKS to all who help home health and hospice the BEST place to be cared for!!!
Help Celebrate Nurses Week.... Call Your Legislators
HAPPY NURSES WEEK!!!!!
Long overdue is the right for Advance Practice nurses to order home health care for their patients. Currently there is legislation in the House (HR4993) and Senate (S2814) to allow NPs, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Nurse Midwifes, and other health professionals to sign orders for care for their patients.
In honor of Nurses Week, take time to do something to promote your profession by calling or emailing your Congressmen and asking them to co-sponsor and support these bills.
FREE Seminar on OASIS C
The Home Care Information Network (HCIN) and MED PASS have partnered with coding expert Lisa Selman-Holman to offer a FREE 2-Part 90-minute seminar on OASIS C. In just over 60 days this new OASIS tool begins. Are you ready? Check out some of the most important changes coming with this FREE seminar.
Educational Materials Available
I spent a large portion of the summer working on some products for SupportForNurses.com. The new e-Toolkit, may be of interest to staff educators. It covers many of the mandates from Medicare regarding DO NOT PAY lists and reimbursement issues. While these may not directly affect home health, they do indirectly as a continuum of care. This can be especially true of patients with deubs. Where did they develop? Accurate documentation and communication is essential to reimbursement and will affect your staff. How useful is the Transfer OASIS to the hospital staff? And why should you follow through on faxing it to them?
The toolkit is designed so that it can be presented in modules and therefore those modules that aren't as relevant can be skipped over or just the highlights pointed out. Check it out. There are also some great e-booklets that may also be of use to your nurses. The links can be found on TheNursingSIteBlog.
A New Blog... AboutAgingParents.com
I just launched my newest blog AboutAgingParents.com which is for and about caregivers caring for their aging relatives or friends. Please check it out and give me your feedback, ideas and share your own experiences with our readers.
FREE Caregiving Telesummit
I am participating in a Free Telesummit for Caregivers called Beyond Coping Telesummit which will be available online from Aug 3-14.
My presentation on How Home Health Care Can Assist is on
Saturday Aug. 8 at Noon.
Here's more information:
TELESUMMIT SCHEDULE AND FRE.E REGISTRATION
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WHEN: Aug 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 2009
EXPERTS: Tonia Boterf, Denise Brown, Barbara Freisner, Andrew
Mayoras, Danielle Miller, Kathy Quan, Hueina Su, Shelley Webb, Brian
Willie, and Jason Young
To learn more about this virtual event, its speakers and how to register, visit:
Once you register, all the details about attending the calls will be emailed to you.
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CAN'T ATTEND AT THE SCHEDULED CALL TIME?
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That's not a problem because all the calls will be recorded and
each will be available for 24 hours after it is completed. You'll also
be able to RElisten in case there was something you wanted to hear
again.
We also understand that you may want to listen several times or
have the information available for family and friends to listen, so
besides recording the calls, we are also going to turn them into MP3
audio recordings, CDs and transcripts. You'll be able to purchase them
at a very affordable price at the time of registration.
But again, the sessions themsleves are all FR.E.E to attend.
Won't you join us? Tell your patients and caregivers about this terrific program.
Here's the link to register:
More Stats... Home Health Care is a Growing Business
Just in case you didn't know this, or need some statistics.... home health care is growing. Here's an article from the Milwaukee Business Journal.
AARP Supports Long Term Support Legislation
AARP is asking the public to join them in supporting long term support and services at home legislation as part of the health care reform process. This legislation would help to reduce costs of long term care in nursing facilities and help the elderly and disabled in their own homes....someting we in home health care work to do everyday!!!
Read more...
Happy National Nurses Day and Nurses Week May 6-12
©2009 TheNursingSite.com All Rights Reserved...... order your own Print Your Own Kit and get .pdf files by email today!
Nursing Shortage in Home Health Care
From Nursezone.com.... studies show that home health is suffering the biggest shortage of nurses right now (duh!) and that by 2016 home health nursing will surpass hospital nursing with the greatest growth in employment for nurses. Well is this news to anyone in home health???!!! We know that we have the BEST employment opportunities for nurses who can deal with the autonomy and the challenges.
Home Health Care Nurse Promotion Act of 2009
H.R. 1928 was introduced into the House of Representatives by Rep. Steve Kagen (D-WI) and Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) and is supported by by Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA), Mary Bono-Mack (R-CA) John Yarmuth (D-KY) and Madeleine Bordallo (Guam). If passed, the bill offers home health agencies who serve a disproportionate number of under insured and uninsured, the opportunity to recruit nurses with expertise in areas such as geriatric care and also offer new nurses student loan forgiveness for committing to work in community-based home health care for 2-3 years. This will help home health agencies improve the quality of care for all patients they serve.
In an article on Medical News Today, the VNAA was quoted in supporting and applauding this effort.
Please take time to write your Representative today to support this bill.
Interesting NY Times Article
Here's something interesting to ponder for the future in home health care....
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/health/03health.html?_r=1
What's your take on this??? Join our Yahoo group (mailing list) and post your comment on the site.
Home Care Webcast Starts Today
Home Care Information Network is offering a FREE Webcast, The Home Health Brave New World, beginning on March 23, 2009. The 60 minute online webcast will be available for 30 days beginning March 23, 2009 at 8:00 Am EST. This broadcast covers the critical changes expected to be implemented in 2010 including OASIS C, expanded Home Care Compare Indicators, ICD-10-CM and Pay for Performance. Register NOW.