Home Health Blogger

Melissa Cott

Recent Posts

Parkinson's Disease: Manage 'Freezing' Episodes...Oral Care

Parkinson's disease (PD), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder primarily affecting motor function, is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder in the US following Alzheimer's disease. Men are 1.5 times more likely than women to develop Parkinson's disease.

Posted by Melissa Cott on Apr 9, 2024

Teach Patients to Manage Insomnia

Managing Insomnia Helps Other Medical Problems

Helping patients to manage insomnia helps other medical problems, most significantly...

Posted by Melissa Cott on Apr 9, 2024

7 Different Careplans for OASIS M1870: Are You Using the Right One?

There are seven (7) different careplan scenarios based on the answer to OASIS M1870 Feeding or Eating. If the patient is not independent in feeding her/himself (answer '0') , the patient should be any of the the following seven (7) careplans:

Posted by Melissa Cott on Mar 20, 2024

OASIS (M1033) Hospitalization Risks: Patient Teaching Plans

If your patient has rehospitalization risks - those that are documented on M1033 (listed below) - your careplans (i.e. the CMS485) should include goals and interventions for the identified risk.

The careplans for these risks may already be included on the CMS485 for the patient's...

Posted by Melissa Cott on Mar 4, 2024

Hip Replacement: Assessment, Patient Teaching & Recall Guide

A home health assessment of the post-operative status of a patient with hip replacement surgery focuses on the following five elements: 1. surgical wound healing, including assessing for signs of site infection2. pain control3. bed-chair transferring ability4. transferring ability to...

Posted by Melissa Cott on Feb 17, 2024

Teach Home Safety for OASIS-E B1000 Vision Deficit

Are you Careplanning for a Vision Deficit? 

Patients typically have risk factors that make clinical and rehabilitative care more complicated – confusion, non-compliance, lack of family support…and a vision deficit. These are just a few example of factors that create impediments to a...

Posted by Melissa Cott on Feb 14, 2024

Pain Management: PDGM Utilization Recommendations

A home health pain management program can be executed by either nursing or therapy. Patients requiring pain management should use a combination of medical (chronic pain medications) and non-medical intervention such as guided imagery, distraction, relaxation - among others. ...

Posted by Melissa Cott on Feb 7, 2024

Hip Replacement: 2024 PDGM Utilization Guidelines

Hip replacement recovery for many patients will take place in the home. Hip replacement patients will likely receive formal physical therapy from home health and/or outpatient physical therapy.

Posted by Melissa Cott on Feb 6, 2024