Home Health CoPs: Emergency Preparedness Checklist
In January 2018 Medicare made multiple changes to the language of the condition regarding Emergency Preparedness §484.102. Medicare also created an exception to emergency preparedness testing and drills: if the HHA experiences an emergency - that requires activation of the emergency...
Home Health EMR: Everyone Needs to Sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement
If you have nursing, therapy and administrative staff accessing an electronic EMR system you need have to make sure each employee signs an EMR Confidentiality Form - also known as a Non-Disclosure Form. A confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement is absolutely necessary for an...
Infection Control Teaching for Home Health Patients
Given the current focus on COVID-19, other infectious processes commonly experienced by home health patients - pneumonia, UTI’s, hepatitis, and wound infections - still pose significant challenges to patients and home health clinicians.
3 Reasons Your Re-Admission Rates are Too High
As certified HHAs already know, Medicare is tracking your hospital admission rates. Hospital re-admission rates are tracked for all providers...hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation, dialysis facilities... because a hospital admission may suggest a breakdown in patient care....
The 12 Best In-Services for Home Health Aides
As you know, Medicare's requirements for home health aide in-services are the following (Standard §484.80(d); Tag G774):"§484.80(d) Standard: In-service training. A home health aide must receive at least 12 hours of in-service training during each 12-month period. In-service...
Does Your Infection Surveillance Include These 4 Criteria?
Home health care treatments frequently include invasive devices and procedures to treat patients. Infections can occur from the these procedures/devices, such as catheters, wound care and ventilators.
Can Your Governing Body Answer These 10 Questions?
Medicare's Conditions of Participation (CoP) requires a Home Health Governing Body that must oversee hundreds of policies and procedures to monitor and regulate infection control, quality assurance, fiscal performance and accounting, emergency preparedness, employee credentials and...
Telehealth for COVID and ALL Home Health Patients
The Medicare system is under an ‘Emergency Declaration’ due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. This means that certain home health regulations have been relaxed and some requirements have been changed to prevent the interruption in home health care. All temporary changes to home health...
