Home Health & Hospice Week

The media blitz for home health outcomes may leave your agency unscathed - but that doesn't mean you're off the hook.

The newspaper ads you'll see by the time you read this will contain only the 35 to 50 largest HHAs for a state or area, reported Ann Howard of the American Association for Homecare in an April 29 briefing on the May 1 launch of the home health quality initiative. Some of the eight pilot states will have only one ad for the whole state, leaving "many, many" agencies off the public scrutiny list, Howard noted.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services expects to run about 35 ads on May 2, the day after it holds a press conference about the project that compares patient outcomes between agencies, Howard related in the teleconference coordinated by the American Health Quality Association. AHQA is the trade association for Quality Improvement Organizations that provide HHQI training.

Being left off the list could be a relief or a slight, depending on the situation, experts note. If your outcomes don't compare favorably to your peers, it will be a blessing not to have that pointed out in a newspaper. But if your outcomes are strong and you're left off the list, you'll miss out on free publicity and praise for your organization.

Whether or not they make the paper, HHAs with poor outcomes shouldn't resign themselves to suffering from it. "Maybe your results don't look that great," acknowledges consultant Maureen Yadgood with Andover, MA-based Yadgood & Associates. "Get your marketing folks out there" to reaffirm your ties with referral sources and teach folks what the outcomes mean - and don't mean, Yadgood urges. One unfavorable outcome comparison doesn't mean your agency fails to furnish quality care.

Indeed, the HHA, consumer and QIO reps in the briefing emphasized that patient outcome comparison is just one tool to use when choosing between agencies.

Regardless of their scores, agencies should seize the opportunity the HHQI launch will provide, with dozens of major newspapers exploring home care services. The wave of publicity, which HHAs can ride to their own advantage, will help the public learn about the benefits of home care, Bob Wardwell with the Visiting Nurse Associations of America said in the briefing.

Meanwhile, beneficiaries without Internet access to the Home Health Compare Web site, which compares all 11 patient outcomes chosen for the HHQI project, can get the information from 1-800-MEDICARE, said Ruta Kadonoff of the American Association of Homes & Services for the Aging.

Local Area Agencies on Aging and senior organizations can also likely help beneficiaries access the comparison information, added Brian Lindberg with the Consumer Coalition for Quality Health Care, a consumer rights group. Reaching frail, elderly seniors who aren't exactly Internet savvy is a challenge of this program, Lindberg noted.

Finally, CMS expects to have fixed the problems listing agencies' administrative data on the Home Health Compare Web site by the time it launches, association reps reported (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XII, No. 15, Outcomes).

Editor's Note: Home Health Compare will launch at www.medicare.gov.