Marketing your Home Health CMS Scores – (Part III - Patient Survey Results)

The third and final part of our series on Marketing your CMS home health scores is a review of patient surveys. Patients and their families answer survey questions about their home health care experience. The HHCAHPS provides a national standard of comparison among home health agencies and an excellent marketing opportunity.

https://www.medicare.gov/homehealthcompare/search.html is an online consumer resource that gives your agency a recognized marketing platform. The best part is this tool is its absolutely FREE!

1.     Patient survey summary star rating: The more stars the better! The HHCAHPS star rating is a summary of all the patient experience survey results. https://www.medicare.gov/homehealthcompare/About/Patient-Survey-Star-Ratings.html

2.     How often the home health team gave care in a professional way? A lower score in this category is basically a poor staff review, and could indicate the need to educate staff on agency processes and expectations for providing quality care to patients. https://www.tagwebstore.com/caregiver-handbook.php (National Average 88%)

3.     How well did the home health team communicate with patients? Communication is very important for success in many areas of home health care. A score below 85% is an indication that your training program needs to emphasize better communication. (National Average 85%) https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000456.htm

4.     Did the home health team discuss medicines, pain, and home safety with patients? Along the same lines as the previous question, medication education, pain evaluation, and patient safety at home are basics of home health care. A score below 80% on this question could indicate the need for more training, staff support, or staff evaluations to improve your score. (National Average 83%) https://www.ama-assn.org/residents-students/medical-school-life/6-simple-ways-master-patient-communication

5.     How do patients rate the overall care from the home health agency? Home staffing is nearly impossible to supervise, but HHCAHPS is a direct reflection of your staff performance.  You always want to see this rating in the 90% range! (National Average 84%) https://homehealthcahps.org/Portals/0/HHA_Responsibilities_List.pdf

6.     Would patients recommend the home health agency to friends and family? This question is your money maker! You always want the majority of your patients to be willing to refer your agency! Failing here, is failing! (National Average 78%)

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 on our Outcome Brochures and take the next step in successful home health physician marketing.

Resources: https://www.medicare.gov/homehealthcompare/About/Survey-Results.html , https://www.medicare.gov/homehealthcompare/About/What-Is-HHC.html

2020: Refocus Your Vision Statement

December is a time to give thanks, deck the halls, evaluate your agency’s performance, and plan how to improve on it next year. Review every department: celebrate the areas that have surpassed their goals, and create a development plan for the areas that are falling short. If the same areas continue to fall short of their goals, it may be an indication that your vision statement needs revising.

Your vision statement should evolve as the guidelines and methodologies of home care, home health, and hospice care evolve. Listen to feedback from your nurses and your patients. Don’t limit your opportunity for growth or be blind to the need for change just because that change may not fit your current vision statement. 

Here’s some points to help evaluate the relevance of your vision statement:

1. Start with your staff.

   Provide your nurses and assistants the tools and training they need to perform efficiently in the field. Get their input on what they would like to see your agency accomplish in the coming year. According to a Forbes article by Joseph Folkman, staff members who buy into an agency’s vision are more engaged in their jobs, making them productive, satisfied, representatives of your agency. An engaged nursing staff will deliver quality care and promote higher CMS Quality of Patient Care and Patient Survey Ratings.

2. Never forget that home care is a people business, and people trust relationships.

   If your referrals are lacking, make sure your vision for 2020 includes relationship building; keep your face in front of the nurse practitioners, clinicians, and physicians referring patients to your agency.

3. Educate your referral partners.

   Never assume that your partners are aware of all you can do. Promote different areas of service on each visit. Ask how you can help them. Find out what their needs are and how you can offer support, i.e. Care plan Oversight or Transitional Care Management.

4. Stay relevant when marketing to physicians.

   Always promote your service as an extension of a physician’s care. Discuss improved patient outcomes, and share details about progressive care programs such as telemonitoring. If you don’t currently offer a telemonitoring program, consider offering it in the coming year.

5. Promote palliative and hospice care.

   In your vision for 2020, be mindful that the more people who are enlightened about symptom management, comfort care, and the support hospice provides patients and their families, the more people your agency will be able to serve.

As the terrain of home health and hospice care continue to change, there is no harm in adjusting your tread to improve your traction.

Have a safe, healthy and prosperous 2020, and remember TAG Partners is here to help!

“Vision statements should demonstrate how the world will be different now that your business is in it.”   ______ Shannon DeLong, House of Who

Managing Cancer Pain

Cancer patients should never accept relentless pain as their new normal! All pain can be treated, and even if not totally alleviated, it can be minimized with a comprehensive pain management plan administered by a top-notch caregiving team.

A consistent high level of care is needed for a pain management plan to be effective. Home health and hospice teams provide just that. Home care nurses are trained to recognize tolerance changes that occur as cancer progresses. It can be hard for patients to describe their pain, but It’s important that they convey as much about it as possible. Pain is easier to treat at the onset, and staying in front of it is the key to controlling it.

Patients should participate in their pain management plan by documenting their pain:

• Where is the pain?

• Is the pain worse during the day or at night?

• Rate the severity of the pain, on a scale from 1 to 10 where 10 is the worst.

• How does the pain feel: sharp, shooting, achy, burning, throbbing?

• What makes it feel better: ice, heat, exercise?

• What makes it feel worse: lying, standing, walking?

• Does the medicine help the pain?

• How long before you feel any relief after taking the medicine?

Cancer pain can be the result of the cancer itself or of any number of treatments. It can range from dull to sharp, and intermittent to constant. While the severity of cancer pain can vary widely, the frequency of home health visits helps nurses identify unreported symptoms and spot the onset of new site pain before it becomes intense.

A cancer diagnosis can be overwhelming, and educating patients about their disease and treatment options can be challenging, especially when they are still processing the news. Help your referral partners explain pain management and palliative care services to their new patients. Newly diagnosed patients who are informed about palliative care have an easier time embracing it as their disease progresses.

Always keep cancer care at the top of your marketing strategy but especially during September, National Pain Awareness Month. Highlight the benefits of in-home care for cancer patients with limited mobility, diminished immune systems, and sickness caused by treatments.

Visit TAGwebstore.com for home health and hospice patient education brochures and flyers, as well as referral building tools like our popular Guidelines for Hospice Admission Flip Chart.

Resources: cancer.org, cancernetwork.com