Home Visit Handbook

Home Visit Handbook: Structure, Assessments and Protocols for Medically Complex Patients


Visiting medically complex patients at home can shed light on health-related issues that might go undetected during an office visit, reducing the likelihood of unplanned admissions or emergency department visits by these patients.

The challenge is making sure that the home visit is structured in a way to identify potential problems that could lead to readmission and engages the patient in their plan of care.

The Home Visit Handbook: Structure, Assessments and Protocols for Medically Complex Patients outlines an innovative home visit pilot for Medicaid and dually eligible patients that reduced unplanned hospital admission days by 71 percent in three months and provides key performance benchmarks on home visit activity in the healthcare industry.

Order your copy today at:
http://store.hin.com/product.asp?itemid=4095

In the Home Visit Handbook: Structure, Assessments and Protocols for Medically Complex Patients, contributing authors Pam Aldridge, manager of care management at Durham Regional Hospital, Larry Greenblatt, M.D., medical director for the chronic care program at Durham Community Health Network for Duke University Medical Center, and Jessica Simo, program manager with Durham Community Health Network for the Duke Division of Community Health, describe the financial and clinical impacts of adding face-to-face interactions to a telephonic outpatient care management program, including:

  • Substantially shortening hospital length of stay;
  • Reducing number of unplanned admissions;
  • Improving compliance with care plan;
  • Reducing total cost of care;
  • Reducing cost of hospitalization; and
  • Decreasing utilization in the outpatient setting, including a 95 percent decrease in clinic utilization and 60 percent decrease in ED utilization.

PLUS This 25-page resource provides industry benchmarks on home visits reported by 87 healthcare organizations in response to HIN's May 2010 Industry Survey on Care Transitions Management, including:

  • Who's Conducting Home Visits
  • Home Visit Frequency
  • Who Conducts the Home Visit
  • Top Tasks During a Home Visit

This resource will equip healthcare organizations with the data they need to make more efficient use of home visits, which are afforded further study in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The healthcare legislation includes funding for the Independence at Home pilot, which in coming years will test the feasibility of allowing chronically ill Medicare beneficiaries to receive primary care at home.

Learn more online at:
http://store.hin.com/product.asp?itemid=4095

Sincerely,

Melanie Matthews
Executive Vice President
The Healthcare Intelligence Network
[email protected]

P.S. -- You may also be interested in these home visit resources: