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brought to you by the Home Health Quality Improvement (HHQI) National Campaign
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CMS Delays New Home Health CoP
- CoP requirements that were due to begin July 13, 2017 are delayed until January 13, 2018.
- Includes all QAPI requirements except for the phase-in for the performance improvement projects which is delayed until July 13, 2018 (original date was January 13, 2018)
- CMS is also grandfathering in all administrators employed by HHAs prior to the effective date of the January 2017 HHA CoPs final rule, meaning that those administrators employed by an HHA prior to July 13, 2017 would not have to meet the new personnel requirements. It has been proposed to replace the July 13, 2017 effective date at ยง484.115(a) (1) and (2) with the proposed effective date of January 13, 2018.
- CMS now has a new mailbox for CoP questions: NewHHACoPs@cms.hhs.gov
- CMS is working on writing the Interpretive Guidance for Surveyors for HHAs which will be released in December 2017.
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 July 2017 HHQI Agency of the Month
Home health agencies that are active in the HHQI National Campaign and closest to the
national, r
isk-adjusted ACH 20th percentile and/or the national, risk-adjusted Oral Medication Improvement 80th percentile (or better) are eligible for random selection as HHQI Agency of the Month.
Be in the spotlight.
Nominate your agency today
, and if you are selected, your organization will be prominently featured here in HHQI Inside Edition -- which reaches more than 14,000 subscribers -- and on the HHQI website. Your achievement will also be shared via HHQI's social media channels.
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Remember choosing your courses for an upcoming semester? You likely solicited input from your peers to help you make your selections. With that in mind, we've put together a list of the top 10 most popular courses in HHQI University and insight from a current student to help you select your first course or your next course.
All HHQI University courses are free and self-paced; you can stop them at any point and pick up right where you left off at a later time. All courses include free continuing education credits for nurses, and those marked with an asterisk in the list below also include Physical Therapy CCUs. All certificates are available immediately.
Click on the links below to learn more about the 10 most popular courses in HHQI University:
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Save the Dates
'Third Thursdays' Event Schedule
Home health professionals are busy. Now, there's an understatement. In order to make the most of your limited time, HHQI's three primary online Networking events -- LiveChat, Cardiovascular Learning & Action Network (CardioLAN) webinars, and Underserved Populations (UP) webinars -- will
each be held quarterly.
Events will rotate to always begin at
2pm (ET) on the third Thursday of the month.
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APRIL 20
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JULY 20
(see details below)
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OCTOBER 19 |
LiveChats
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MAY 18
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AUGUST 17
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NOVEMBER 16 |
| CardioLAN Webinars |
JULY 12
(see details below)
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SEPTEMBER 21 |
DECEMBER 21 |
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Quarterly CardioLAN Webinar | July 12, 2017 | 2-3pm ET
Partnering with Patients to Make Non-Compliance a Thing of the Past: 5 Conversational Skills Can Make This Happen!
Due to a power outage during the original live broadcast on June 15, this event has been rescheduled.
"If only my patient would follow my instructions."
Does that statement sound familiar? Improving adherence strategies is a struggle most healthcare providers face daily. During this webinar presented by the Home Health Quality Improvement National Campaign (HHQI), Ms. Melinda Huffman from The National Society of Health Coaches will describe engaging skills to improve adherence strategies which will lead to improved outcomes & patient satisfaction. Opportunities to practice these skills will be provided during the webinar. Learn more.
GUEST EXPERT
Melinda Huffman, BSN, MSN, CCNS, CHC
National Society of Health Coaches
For 12 years, Ms. Huffman has been a best-selling author and has written about health coaching, patient engagement, establishing patient/provider partnerships, disease management, and health outcomes management. She currently fills the role of Continuing Education, Presenter, Administrator, and Faculty for The National Society of Health Coaches; and formerly was the Continuing Education Coordinator for Amedisys, Inc. (Corporate).
FREE CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDIT
This activity has been approved by the Alabama State Nurses Association (ASNA) for 1.25 hours of nursing continuing education (CE). ASNA is an accredited approver of the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation (ANCC). To receive CE credit, participants must watch the 60-minute webinar and complete an additional 15 minutes of related coursework in HHQI University.
Step-by-step instructions will be discussed at the end of the webinar.
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Quarterly UP Network Webinar | July 20, 2017 | 2-3pm ET
Meals on Wheels: Delivering Health, Independence & Food
 This educational webinar presented by the Home Health Quality Improvement National Campaign (HHQI) will discuss emerging research on the homebound older adult population, healthcare usage trends, as well as ways in which Meals on Wheels America and member programs are working innovatively to support homebound older adults and address key social determinants of health. Learn more.
GUEST EXPERT
Ucheoma Onyinyechi Akobundu
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BS, RD, MS, PhD
Director of Project Mgmt & Impact
Meals on Wheels America
FREE CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDIT
This activity is pending approval of 1.5 hours of continuing education (CE) credit from the Alabama State Nurses Association, an accredited approver of nursing continuing education through the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation (ANCC). Additionally, 1.5 hours of CE credit for social workers is pending approval by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). To receive CE credit, participants must watch the 60-minute webinar and complete an additional 30 minutes of related coursework in HHQI University. Step-by-step instructions will be discussed at the end of the webinar.
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QIO News: Senior Independence
In recognition of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) anniversary on July 26,
the July 2017 issue of QIO News
explores how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
and the
Quality Improvement Organization
Program are working to improve the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries with disabilities and to help all older adults age in place.
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New DTC-Focused 'Blueprint for Excellence' Module Released
VNAA's Blueprint for Excellence is a free quality improvement and workforce training resource for home health, hospice, and palliative care providers. It advances the use of best practices by gathering into one virtual location curriculum and training tools, as well as the relevant research supporting those tools. The Blueprint and its best practices demonstrate the value of home health, hospice, and palliative care--both in lowering the overall cost of care and in improving care outcomes.
The Blueprint's newest module, "
Best Practices to Improve Discharge to Community," focuses on the Discharge to Community (DTC) performance measure, adopted under the IMPACT Act, which requires agencies anticipate and plan to prevent hospital readmissions after discharge following home health care. Additionally, the 2017 Conditions of Participation for Home Health emphasize comprehensive, patient-centered discharge planning. As a response to these needs, VNAA and the Alliance for Home Health Quality and Innovation convened a work group to develop best practices surrounding patient discharge to community from home health.
Learn more about the new Discharge to Community module of VNAA's Blueprint for Excellence and how to utilize these best practices to increase your organization's quality of care through an
on-demand, informational webinar.
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Home Health Facts & Figures by State
The Alliance for Home Health Quality and Innovation ("the Alliance") recently released the 2017 "Home Health Patients & Workforce" one-pagers for each state plus
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Sample One-Pager |
Each one-pager includes data on total Medicare home health beneficiaries, chronic conditions, home health employees, and the economic impact of home health care in each state.
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Get Ready: New Medicare Cards Coming April 2018
Medicare is taking steps to remove Social Security numbers from Medicare cards. Through this initiative the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will prevent fraud, fight identity theft and protect essential program funding and the private healthcare and financial information of our Medicare beneficiaries.
CMS will issue new Medicare cards with a new unique, randomly-assigned number called a Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) to replace the existing Social Security-based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) both on the cards and in various CMS systems we use now. Medicare beneficiaries will begin receiving new cards in April 2018, and all Medicare cards will be replaced by April 2019.
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Upcoming Industry Webinars, Courses & Other Events
DATE & TIME
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EVENT NAME/REGISTRATION
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HOSTED/PRESENTED BY
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July 12, 2017
2pm ET
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Minority Mental Health Month Twitter Chat; follow
the hashtag #MinorityMH and use it in your tweets to participate in the conversation!
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National Institute on Monority Helath and Health Disparities |
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July 12, 2017
3-4:30pm ET
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What Can Chronic Care Management Do For You?
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Telligen, the Quality Innovation Network National Coordinating Center (QIN NCC) |
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July 19, 2017
9am-5pm ET
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Community-Based Health Literacy Interventions: A Workshop |
NASEM Health and Medicine |
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July 26, 2017
1pm ET
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ElevatingHOME |
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August 3, 2017
1-2pm CT
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TMF Health Quality Institute |
| On-demand |
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Johns Hopkins University |
| On-demand |
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Centers for Technical Assistance and Training in Emory's Rollins School of Public Health
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| On-demand |
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Centers for Disease Control & Prevention |
| On-demand |
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Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
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| On-demand |
free registration required
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Medscape
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On-demand
(CEs expire 9/2/17) |
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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On-demand
thru July 23, 2017
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Pharmacotherapy for Adults with Alcohol-Use Disorders in Outpatient Settings: A Monograph* |
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
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| On-demand |
Open School*
More than 30 online courses in quality, safety, leadership, the Triple Aim, and patient-centered care
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Institute for Healthcare Improvement |
On-demand
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Open Door Forums audio podcasts
If you missed the original live event, you can listen to the recording here
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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
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| On-demand |
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CDC-NDEP |
*Continuing education credit is included, available, or pending.
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Current & Upcoming Health-Related Observances
Each month, the healthcare industry puts the spotlight on a variety of health & wellness issues that impact home health patients and professionals. Follow the links below for more information and resources to get involved and help spread awareness. You can also follow HHQI on
Facebook
,
Twitter
and
LinkedIn
for ongoing related content.
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#MinorityMH
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Medicare's Anniversary (July 31)
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Key Dates: Home Health Compare & Star Reports
| Preview reports available in CASPER |
4/6/17 |
| Quality of Patient Care Star Rating suppression request deadline |
4/21/17 |
| Deadline for submitting missing or corrected data |
5/12/17 |
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Home Health Compare updated
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July 2017
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Please Note:
There will be no refresh in October 2017 to accommodate provisions of the IMPACT Act.
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| This material was prepared by Quality Insights, the Medicare Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization supporting the Home Health Quality Improvement National Campaign, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The views presented do not necessarily reflect CMS policy. Publication number 11SOW-WV-HH-MMD-070717 |
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