March is almost here, which means it’s almost time for one of the most important days of the year in home care: National Doctors Day. Use the day as an opportunity to recognize the physicians in your community and strengthen their relationship with your agency. Call on the doctors in your service area and spread the word about how your agency appreciates the work they do.
- Pay doctors a visit they won’t soon forget by educating them on care plan oversight and the money they could be leaving on the table by not filing for CPO. An easy way to do this is with our popular CPO kit, which includes brochures, payment calculators, billing guides and quick reference guides to help you show physicians what they could be missing. Find the kits at www.tagwebstore.com/homehealthCPOkit.php.
- Give doctors heartfelt thanks with products made especially for Doctors Day, and be sure to extend the gesture beyond only your top-referring physicians. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/doctorsday/.
- Make doctors’ lives a little easier by volunteering to host a free community education class about how to make the most of your doctor visit at a local senior center. Find a ready-made class at www.tagwebstore.com/startupkit-products.php.
While recognizing professionals this month, it’s important not to forget about another important group: social workers. March is National Professional Social Work Month, and this year’s theme is “Weaving Threads of Resilience and Advocacy.”
- Deliver thank-you cards and stickers to social workers in your agency and at local hospitals, making sure to call on those who work in your local hospital discharge offices. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/socialwork/.
- Promote the benefits of social work by distributing social worker-themed mouse pads, which contain a 25-sheet to-do list, at-a-glance calendar, reasons to refer to home health, and the benefits of social workers. Give these to discharge planners at your local hospitals. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/tablet-mousepads.php.
Mark March 26 on your calendar: American Diabetes Alert Day. According to the 2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet, 25.8 million people in the United States have diabetes – that’s 8.3 percent of the population. Among people age 65 or older, 10.9 million people, or 26.9 percent, have diabetes. Make your agency a champion for diabetes education in your community.
- Visit your local general practitioner offices and educate them on your agency’s efforts in caring for diabetic patients. Leave behind brochures or flyers about diabetes that also highlight your agency’s services. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/brochure-homehealth.php and www.tagwebstore.com/flyers.php.
- Find a local physician who specializes in diabetes care and who you are not already connected with. Take in a supply of My Glucose Monitoring Logs for the discharge nurse to give to patients after office visits. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/glucoselog.php.