OASIS Alert

New BPIP offers tried-and-true techniques.

Getting patients' information from their previous care providers (or handing off records to the provider they'll work with next) is a challenge even the best agencies struggle with.

However, poor care transitions can lead to increased hospitalizations because patients aren't sure how to best care for themselves. And increased hospitalizations could soon lead to sanctions from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, warned Tasha Mears, senior VP of clinical operations for Amedisys in a November webinar sponsored by the Home Health Quality Improvement (HHQI) National Campaign.

Good news: The HHQI National Campaign has released the Cross Settings 1 Best Practice Intervention Package  (BPIP) to help you manage and improve care transitions, as well as better align with other health care providers to "decrease avoidable hospitalizations and improve quality of care."

The BPIP, which uses Amedisys as a case study, also offers practice tools and resources to assist in improving care transitions. It will be followed by Cross Settings 2 in January and Cross Settings 3 in April.

Resource: To access the BPIP, go to www.homehealthquality.org/hh and click on "BPIP Download." The package is free for registered users. Registration is also free.