November is National Diabetes Month

Each November, we take time to recognize National Diabetes Month. It’s the perfect time to help raise awareness of how your agency can help those with this disease and honor those who deal with it on a daily basis.

Diabetes is a serious disease that affects millions of Americans young and old alike, and a condition that home health and hospice caregivers deal with frequently. Diabetes affects the body’s ability to make or process insulin-requiring blood sugar levels to be checked continually.  Uncontrolled diabetes can cause eye, kidney and nerve damage, as well as double the risk for heart disease and stroke.

Controlling diabetes is an area where home health can contribute a great deal. Team nurses monitor patients’ vitals and blood sugar levels closely for improved disease management.  Better glucose regulation increases quality of life for older adults afflicted with diabetes.

Stay at the top of your referral network’s list this fall with an ample supply of our customized diabetes flyers and brochures for their patients. These marketing materials are designed to educate your patient community while promoting your agency and services.

There are several types of diabetes, which are listed below:

• Prediabetes is the condition when the blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be considered diabetes. The CDC estimates that 84 million Americans have this condition.

• Type 1 diabetes is the condition where the pancreas can no longer produce insulin. About 5% of diagnosed diabetics have Type 1.

• Type 2 diabetes is the condition where the pancreases cannot produce enough insulin or the body can not properly process it. This is the most common type of diabetes affecting 95% of those diagnosed.

• Gestational diabetes is an insulin deficiency condition that affects between 2% and 10% of pregnant women every year. Having this condition can increase the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes late in life.

Whether you know what type of diabetes you have or are trying to figure it out, our pain and symptom catalogs are a nice tool to keep track of it all. A preview of this product can be seen on our web store: https://www.tagwebstore.com/painsymptomlog.php

We offer a variety of materials specifically related to diabetes that you can always find on our web store: https://www.tagwebstore.com/diabetes.php

Marketing your Home Health CMS Compare Scores (Part II - Preventing Harm)

Increase your physician referrals by marketing your CMS Home Health Compare scores. There is an excellent home health marketing tool available through CMS that many agencies are not utilizing. CMS’s Home Health Compare site provides potential patients and referring physicians a published track record of how your agency’s performance stacks up to the competition. Physicians want to refer patients to proven home health agencies, so naturally promoting your above average compare scores is an excellent way to boost referrals.

The five quality measure questions under the patient care category:

• Managing daily activities

• Managing pain and treating symptoms

• Preventing harm

• Preventing unplanned hospital care

• Payment and value of care

Your agency may not excel in all measures, but you can highlight areas where you do excel and work on the areas where your team is falling behind the state and national averages.

Let’s look at the preventing harm questions, and what a low score in this home care basic might be an indication of:

1.    How often the home health team began their patients’ care in a timely manner? This question generally rates a high score by most patients surveyed. A score less than 94% could be an indication that patients are waiting extended periods of time for their home health nurse, or that the actual nursing visit is too brief; both indicate overscheduling and/or understaffing. (National Average 94.8%)

2.    How often the home health team taught patients (or their family caregivers) about their drugs? A less than 98% score to this question indicates a review of best practices on medication education and the amount of time staff nurses are spending on the subject. (National Average 98.4%) https://journals.lww.com/nursing/Fulltext/2018/05000/Improving_patient_medication_education.16.aspx

3.    How often patients got better at taking their drugs correctly by mouth? National scores on this question are lower. This task can be complicated as some patients may have a progressive condition that inhibits swallowing, such as esophageal or oropharyngeal dysphagia. Speech therapists can work with patients who struggle with oral medication. If your agency does not offer speech therapy, you may want to consider doing so to improve your score on this question. (National Average 68.5%) https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dysphagia/symptoms-causes/syc-20372028

4.    How often the home health team checked patients’ risk of falling? A less than 99% score on this question could indicate an insufficiency in OT staffing, or overscheduling of therapists and/or nursing staff. (National Average 99.6%)

5.    How often the home health team checked patients for depression? A less than 97% score on this question could indicate the need for more social work involvement between care teams. (National Average 97.5%) https://journals.lww.com/homehealthcarenurseonline/FullText/2016/07000/Depression_in_Home_Based_Care__The_Role_of_the.3.aspx

6.    How often the home health team made sure that their patients have received a flu shot for the current flu season? National Average scores are a little lower on this question as many people have strong opinions about immunizations. However, this score can be boosted by making sure to question the patient in the presence of a family member or caregiver, and by educating them about the vaccine. (National Average 78.6%) https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/misconceptions.htm

7.    How often the home health team made sure that their patients had received a pneumococcal vaccine (pneumonia shot)? The national average fares a bit better for the pneumonia vaccine score. Patients often refuse the vaccine because they believe they have had it or they don’t need it. This score can be boosted by making sure to question the patient in the presence of a family member or caregiver, and by educating them about the vaccine. (National Average 81.7%) https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/pneumo/public/index.html

8.    For patients with diabetes, how often the home health team got doctor’s orders, gave foot care, and taught patients about foot care? These are routine tasks that home health nurses should include in their care of a diabetic patient. A less than 97% score on this question could indicate overscheduling of nursing staff and/or adequate training. (National Average 97.9%) https://www.netprintmanager.com/public/edit_print.asp?idCart=6392001000726124597963

9.    How often physician-recommended actions to address medication issues were completed timely? A less than 92% score on this question indicates the need to review best practices regarding staff communication and accessibility to current patient information. Consider introducing Transition Care Management to your referring physicians. TCM will likely improve communication, bridge gaps in care, and improve HHC scores.  (National Average 92.9%) https://www.tagwebstore.com/transitional-care-management.php

Reviewing your agency’s scores should be a routine part of your continuous improvement program. Superior patient care and satisfaction are both firm foundations to build your business on. Your above average scores can translate to referrals, and we offer a referral building tool to highlight them. Visit https://tagwebstore.com/ or call us at 866-232-6477 for more information

Diabetes and the Link to Heart Disease

Living with diabetes poses many challenges, not the least of which is the increased risk of having a heart attack.

Over time, high levels of blood sugar can damage the circulatory system and the nerves that control the heart muscle. This puts people with diabetes at a high risk for heart disease. In fact, the younger a person is at the onset of diabetes the more likely they are to experience some degree of cardiovascular disease.

Conditions common to diabetes such as high blood sugar, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol can also lead to nerve damage throughout the body. This is especially dangerous for those with heart disease as they can experience a heart attack without feeling any chest pain. These silent heart attacks present only mild symptoms such as heartburn, indigestion, fatigue, or muscle aches. The subtly of these symptoms can cause people to delay seeking medical attention, which can result in serious heart damage or death.

Home health nurses provide diabetic patients an additional line of defense against a silent heart attack. The frequency of their evaluations creates a patient familiarity that enables them to recognize silent heart attack symptoms. Many agencies also incorporate telemonitoring technology* to closely monitor high risk patients.

Tips on how your agency can get involved with National Diabetes Month this November:

• Include telemonitoring information in your November marketing. Highlight the benefits of it for patients who need continuous blood sugar levels, blood pressure, heart activity and respiratory monitoring.

• Post on your social media outlets about factors that can increase risk for heart disease:

https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/diabetes/why-diabetes-matters/cardiovascular-disease--diabetes

• Share your knowledge about diabetes prevention with civic groups. Provide information on your agency and the services you provide.

• Host a diabetes and heart friendly holiday cooking demonstration at a big box store in your community. Pass out branded print media and yummy samples is permissible.

Visit our webstore for all your November home health and hospice marketing media.

*Telemonitoring technology uses smart devices to gather and send information remotely to allow virtual 24-hour nursing.

https://knowdiabetesbyheart.org/

Renal Health Awareness

March is just around the corner and with it come the first signs of Spring, the madness of the NCAA tournament, and kidney health awareness. The milder March weather also draws attention to our expanded waistlines. While you’re deciding the best way to lose those unwanted pounds, how about adopting a healthier approach to eating instead of the latest internet diet fad? It could improve your waistline and your kidney health.

Chronic kidney disease goes hand in hand with hypertension and diabetes. Consider choosing foods that reduce the risk of developing these conditions. A good place to start is by reducing your sodium intake. Too much salt strains kidney function by making it harder to filter toxins and remove fluid. Fluid buildup causes blood pressure to rise which strains the heart and increases the risk of developing heart failure.  

Here are some common alternatives to salt:

• Try tangy herbs like basil, black pepper, cayenne, cilantro, cinnamon, cumin, dill, ginger, oregano, paprika, lemon peel, onion powder, rubbed sage, thyme, and turmeric.

• Add zesty splashes like citrus juice, vinegar, beer, and wine.

• Introduce flavor enhancers in your favorite recipes like mushrooms, onion, shallots, garlic, and peppers.

Here are some common foods to include in your shopping cart to improve kidney health:

• Red Bell Peppers

• Cabbage and Cauliflower

• Apples

• Cranberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries

• Cherries and red grapes

• Eggs

• Fish

• Olive Oil

Don’t forget, always choose baked over fried.

Partner with your referral network this March to share information about kidney health:

• Join with your local grocer to sponsor a mini health fair. Provide blood pressure and blood sugar screenings.

• Reach out to the elementary schools within your service area and offer to speak to students about nutrition and the value of making better food choices. Provide healthy snacks and fun giveaways. Call us here at TAG for ideas.

• Supply patient education media to the medical internists, urologists, and nephrologists in your service are. Be sure to provide your patient outcome scores and tools to help increase referrals. 

Visit tagwebstore.com to view stock brochures, flyers, and booklets for home health, private duty, and hospice marketing. We are a full-service print shop and we are happy to create custom pieces catered to your specifications, call us at 866-232-3477 x 2018 for more information.

Cholesterol Awareness

National Cholesterol Education Month is observed every September to raise awareness about cholesterol and its effect on cardiovascular disease and stroke. It’s a good time to supply your referral partners with patient brochures on these diseases.

Cholesterol is an essential substance produced in the liver and carried throughout the body by proteins. There are two types of cholesterol:  LDL, or bad cholesterol, and HDL, the good cholesterol. High levels of LDL become a concern because they can create fatty deposits in blood vessels which contributes to the development of atherosclerosis, significantly increasing the risk of heart attack or stroke.

HDL actually promotes artery health by reducing inflammation and blocking the oxidation of LDL cholesterol. There are indications that HDL may even have the ability to pull some of the cholesterol out of arterial walls and transport it back to the liver where it can be removed from the body.

Cholesterol can largely be regulated by diet and exercise. However, some people have an inherited propensity to high cholesterol called familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) that can’t effectively be controlled without medication. People with diabetes, liver disease, kidney disease, hypothyroidism, or women who are pregnant tend to have higher levels of cholesterol and should be closely monitored.

A combined cholesterol level that is less that 200mg/dL is considered healthy.

Standard Cholesterol Guidelines:

LDL levels should be less than 100 mg/dL

• 100-129 mg/dL is acceptable for those not at risk for heart disease
• 130 -159 mg/dL is borderline high
• 160-189 mg/dL is high
• 190 mg/dL or higher is very high

HDL levels should be kept at 60 mg/dL or higher

• 41 mg/dL -59 mg/dL is borderline low
• 40 mg/dL or less is a major risk of heart disease

Get involved by:

• Sharing cholesterol information throughout the month of September on your social media feeds.
• Partnering with local healthy eateries to host lunch-n-learns for local non-profits that align with your mission. Provide information about cholesterol monitoring and demonstrate your expertise and value as a Home Health provider.
• Providing your public health center with brochures about disease prevention.

Visit tabwebstore .com for all your Home Health and Hospice Marketing essentials.