Total Medical Solutions Discharges Home Health Care Comp Patients Earlier Than Doctor Orders

Thirty percent of the home health care workers' compensation cases managed by Total Medical Solutions (TMS) were discharged prior to the "order-end date," the last date the physician had anticipated that services would be required.


The figure comes from an internal review of 250 cases with an intake date between March 1 and July 15, 2009. Of the early discharges, 27 involving RN or LPN services were discharged an average of nine days early. Twenty four of the cases involved physical therapy and were discharged an average of 10 days early and 10 cases involved home health care aides and nine involved intravenous or infusion services.


"With home health care adding hundreds of dollars a day to a claim, earlier discharge represents significant savings for our clients," said Cara Barde, president of TMS.


TMS has a policy of having staff in patients' homes within 24 hours of the receipt of doctors' orders. "We start treatment early and provide the level of professional expertise these complex cases require," she added.


Getting the right equipment, right treatment and right people into the home at the right time facilitates faster recovery and shorter length of home health care services, according to Barde. TMS attributes much of its success to having staff who have a great deal of experience in managing complex workers' compensation home health care cases. "Our rehabilitation technicians and other staff have comprehensive knowledge of very specialized, assistive technologies and how to best use them in treatment plans for workers' compensation patients," Barde said. "Whether it's wound vac, lift chairs, or finding the most economical and medically expedient way to schedule nurses and nurse's aides, TMS customizes programs to each patient and to that patient's home environment."


Source
Total Medical Solutions

Project Lifesaver Program Helps Law Enforcement Locate At-Risk Citizens Across The USA

It all started because of failure, a missing person who couldn't be located in time. It was
and still is a story that happens monthly, if not weekly all across our nation.


For families and caregivers exploring options of how to protect a loved one who wanders
away from the safety of their home due to Alzheimer's, Dementia, Autism, Intellectual
Disabilities or other wandering conditions, there is hope.


Started in 1999, the organization began from the ranks of a Search and Rescue group affiliated
with the Chesapeake Sheriff's Office in Chesapeake, Virginia, known as the 43rd Virginia
Search and Rescue Organization.


Currently, there are over 735 agencies (Law Enforcement, EMS, Fire and more) in 43
states, District of Columbia and Canada participating in the Project Lifesaver® program
Bringing Loved Ones Home®.


Since Project Lifesaver International is a non-profit (501
(c) (3)) organization, funding is a result of private and corporate donations and grants. Donations
are used directly for programs, rescues and educational expenses.


To date, Project Lifesaver has had 1,732 national search and rescue of a Project Lifesaver
client maintaining a 100% recovery rate and zero fatalities. The average national find time
of a client on the Project Lifesaver Program is less than thirty-minutes.


People who are enrolled in the Project Lifesaver Program wear a personalized wristband
that emits a tracking signal. When caregivers notify the local Project Lifesaver agency that
the person is missing, a search and rescue team responds to the wanderer's area and starts
searching with a mobile locater tracking system. Search times have been reduced from
hours and days to just minutes, the average rescue time if notified is less than 30-minutes.


Before Project Lifesaver, searches across the country were averaging 9 hours and costing
taxpayers approximately $1,500 per hour. Many searches actually took days, with hundreds
of responders, resulting in much higher costs and many with tragic endings.


One
search in Chesapeake in 1979 cost the city $342,000 and was unsuccessful. The basic cost
to start this program in an agency is less than $8,000, finding someone alive is priceless.


For more information on Project Lifesaver or a participating agency near you, call 1-877-
580-LIFE or visit projectlifesaver.

Medicare Payment Advisory Commission Approves Recommendations For Nursing Homes, Primary Care

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission on Wednesday voted to approve several recommendations to Congress focused on Medicare reimbursements for skilled nursing facilities and primary care, CQ HealthBeat reports (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 4/10).

The commission recommended amending the Medicare payment system for skilled nursing facilities to add a "separate nontherapy ancillary component" that includes prescription drugs and intravenous therapy. MedPAC also recommended revising the therapy component of the system to base reimbursements on "predicted patient care needs" and implementing a provision for "outlier payments" for unusual financial losses. In addition, the commission recommended a proposal under which HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt would require skilled nursing facilities to report diagnosis information, dates of services on claims filed and "services they furnish separately" on patient assessments. Facilities with the highest profits would receive the largest payment cuts, while those losing money would receive the largest increases (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 3/11).

The commission also recommended an increase in payments to physicians designated by Leavitt as primary care-focused practitioners in an attempt to address a growing shortage of such physicians, CQ HealthBeat reports.

In addition, MedPAC considered a recommendation to establish a pilot program that would provide Medicare beneficiaries with a "medical home" to oversee their care. Under the proposal, physicians would be required to establish their capability to provide primary care; coordinate preventive, maintenance and acute health care services; employ health care information technology for active medical support; conduct care management; provide access and communication to patients at all times; and keep updated records of patients' advance directives, including the types of treatments they should receive if they are incapacitated.

MedPAC in June will formally present the recommendations in a report to Congress (CQ HealthBeat, 4/9).


Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.