Home Health & Hospice Week

Disease management, telemedicine were on home care providers' minds.

If you weren't able to attend the National Association for Home Care & Hospice's 23rd annual meeting in Phoenix last week, you missed a major event.

The nearly 2,500 attendees gathered for the meeting demonstrated the recovery of the home health industry from the decimation following the Balanced Budget Act, NAHC cheered. But the rate at which new agencies are trying to enter the market puts the industry at risk for another crackdown, some speakers suggested.

Eli noted these highlights of the meeting: Success can bring problems. Success means providers need to focus on "being as ethical as possible," advised William Dombi, NAHC's vice president for law. It's up to the industry to police itself and weed out the "bad apples," rather than waiting for the HHS Office of Inspector General to act, Dombi urged. Professional judgment has a new name. One of the most frequently heard phrases in the educational sessions was "critical thinking." On topics from OASIS to diagnosis coding to outcomes, presenters urged providers to engage their critical thinking skills to improve accuracy and effectiveness. Change can be good. Disease management and pay for performance are looming on the horizon. A majority of home care patients have one or more of the diseases that are the focus of Medicare DM projects, and these patients are generally less profitable to care for, explained Amanda Twiss from Seattle-based benchmarking company Outcome Concept Systems.

Agencies that adopt DM and pay for performance principles will be likely to see better outcomes and improved profitability, even if DM and P4P never be-come part of Medicare home care, she said. Contact your congressional representatives. The folks who represent you in Washington want to be part of the solution, stressed speaker Edward M. Kennedy, Jr. Visit with them, tell them how policies affect your community and urge them to call you if they have questions about how to vote on something affecting home care, he suggested. And don't be surprised if they want to have their picture taken with a home care nurse. Telemedicine is a growing concern. NAHC plans to continue its efforts to have telemedicine recognized as a patient visit and many more providers seem interested in exploring the options. Many of the more than 250 vendors were demonstrating various telemedicine systems to eager providers. Several educational sessions also addressed technology and telemedicine. Cost reports are crucial. The NAHC financial managers forum presented data gathered from the organization's database of nearly 20,000 cost reports from all types of agencies throughout the country. Forum members analyze the data to provide information for NAHC to use in lobbying for the industry.

Association members repeatedly urged providers to submit accurate [...]