Home health agencies: Your CMS star rating is a great marketing tool

Competition is fierce in the home health care industry, and savvy consumers have more information than ever to help them decide which provider will be the best for their family. Are you doing all you can to help ensure patients and their physicians have easy access to your key outcomes scores to help nudge them along the way? Conveying this information is easier than ever now that CMS has two different star ratings to allow an at-a-glance look at what may some of the most credible data about your company.

Although the Quality of Patient Care Star Rating and the Home Health Patient Experience of Care Star Rating (HHCAHPS Survey star rating) are easily accessible on Medicare’s Home Health Compare webpage, patients and physicians rarely dig into the data to make their home health provider decisions.

Here are some ways you can call attention to your agency using your star ratings:

  • Use your outcomes scores and star ratings to show referral sources just how much more effective you are than your competitors at caring for people living with certain conditions. TAG has created a line of Outcomes Brochures for Physicians that list the services you offer for a specific condition and your patient outcome scores compared to state and/or national averages in graph form. Our Outcomes Brochures for Seniors are a perfect companion piece to the brochure for physicians. These brochures educate seniors on their disease and the many benefits of enlisting your agency to help them manage it.

  • Put your star rating on all your collateral and communications materials so the recipients know at a glance that you have been rated highly. It should always be included in your Marketing Brochures.

  • When your agency does earn excellent ratings and scores, don’t forget to recognize the people who make it all possible: your staff. Send out a congratulatory note in your newsletter thanking them for their hard work.

  • A good star rating is worth sharing. If you haven’t already sent a press release to tout your 4-star or 5-star rating, get ready to brag a little about your recognition with the next release of scores. Send a press release out to your community’s media outlets and mail an announcement to your community partners. Doing well is a big deal; make sure they know it.

Ways to Help Patients Rise Above Cancer

Whether you have it or someone you know has it, you have probably been affected by cancer at some point in your life. According to the National Cancer Institute, cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide. There will be an estimated 1.8 million new cancer cases diagnosed and 606,520 cancer deaths in the United States in 2020. 

Oncologists are experts in supporting their cancer patients by helping with prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Home health centers should nurture relationships with oncology providers in their service area to connect with potential home health patients. By partnering with home health providers, patients can see these types of improvements and outcomes:

  • Improved Condition Management 

  • Patient & Family Counseling

  • Condition Assessment 

  • Home Safety, Medication & Emergency Education

  • Physical, Occupational & Speech Therapies

Reminding oncologists of the benefits that home health agencies can provide their patients can help agencies acquire new business and allow oncologists another way to be instrumental in caring for their patients. Our Home Health Cancer Brochures educate patients and families about cancer while also promoting home health.

Home Health Cancer Brochure

Home Health Cancer Brochure

Hospice can provide comforting end-of-life care to patients whose cancer is progressive or no longer responsive to treatment. Those patients and their families want to know that the patient will be safely and delicately provided premium care with efforts like the below:

  • Individualized Care Plans

  • Optional Home Care with Support Services 

  • A support team of Doctors, Nurses, Technicians, Chaplains & Social Workers

  • Symptom Relief & Pain Management

  • Spiritual Counseling

You can reassure cancer patients of the ways your hospice can treat for them by giving them a Choosing Hospice Guide. This piece nicely lays out everything they should consider when tackling the tough task of choosing a hospice provider. Your business can be top-of-mind when the patients search because your logo and branding will be featured throughout the guide. Once again, this is something you can distribute to oncologists in your area for them to hand out to their patients.

You can browse all of our home health and hospice products on our web store. If you prefer to speak directly with one of our print product experts, please call us at 615.819.2018 or email us at support@tagwebstore.com today.

How to be Safe in the Sunshine

Have you spread the word about the dangers of ultraviolet radiation exposure to your clients lately? The sun emits harmful radiation in the form of ultraviolet rays that can be damaging to the skin and eyes. Here are some quick facts:

  • UV-A rays have long wavelengths that can penetrate the middle layer of your skin and cause long-term skin damage. Skin damage is cumulative, so prolonged exposure to UV-A rays causes premature aging and an increased risk of skin cancer.

  • UV-B rays have short wavelengths that reach the outer layer of your skin and are the main cause of sunburns. These rays are also harmful to the eyes and can cause a corneal sunburn and contribute to the development of cataracts. Other eye diseases linked to UV radiations include macular degeneration and pterygium. 

Raising awareness about the dangers of UV radiation and how it can be minimized also calls attention to your agency and its place as a health leader in your community. Here are some ideas to consider:

  • Print and distribute sun safety information throughout your service area. We can print sun safety flyers for you from reputable sources such as The American Academy of Dermatology and the Centers for Disease Control. 

  • Stop by all your local senior communities to distribute sunscreen and hand it out with copies of your Marketing Brochure.

  • Share UV safety tips on a Retractable Banner at your agency. We can create a banner and include tips on it like those shown below:

        1. Wear sunglasses that screen out 75% to 90% of visible light and block out 99% (UV400) of both UVA and UVB radiation.

        2. Avoid indoor tanning. Tanning beds expose the skin to both UVA and UVB radiation. UV skin damage is cumulative, and those who begin indoor tanning before the age of 35 increase their risk for developing melanoma by 75%.

        3. Stay in the shade as much as possible during the peak hours of sun exposure between 10am – 4pm.

        4. Wear sunscreen with at least an SPF of 15 every day. Apply at least an ounce of sunscreen every two hours when out in the sun. Reapply more often if you are sweating or swimming. Allow sunscreen to fully soak in before going back into the pool or it will wash right off.

        5. Cover up your skin by wearing long-sleeve shirts, pants, and wide-brimmed hats.

        6. Avoid prolonged exposure to sun-amplifying surfaces like sand, water, snow, and even windows, especially during the peak hours of the day.

We encourage you to visit our web store for informational materials for Home Heath and Hospice Care.  

Choosing Home Health for Post-Stroke Rehabilitation

More than 700,000 Americans suffer from a stroke each year, and nearly two-thirds of them survive with some degree of physical or mental impairment that requires post-stroke rehabilitation. The goal of stroke rehabilitation is to recover as much mental acuity and physical function as possible. The damage that occurs in the brain during a stroke cannot be reversed, but rehabilitation can help people adapt.

Rehabilitation is a team effort that begins with the patient’s physician. Physicians care for the medical needs of their patients while managing and overseeing their rehabilitation. Our Transitional Care Management materials and Home Health CPO Kit allow these messages to be easily understood. It is important to convey the home health message, which is that home health is an extension of their care. Home health is the method by which a physician’s rehabilitation plans are executed. 

Stroke rehabilitation teaches patients new ways of performing tasks to help compensate for their lingering disabilities. This process begins by assessing a patient’s strength, coordination, endurance, and mental acuity. Home health therapists and social workers compile the results and create a customized program to regain motor function, stimulate cognitive recognition, and help the patient cope with the frustrations that come with surviving a stroke. 

Some common post-stroke resulting disabilities are below: 

  • Paralysis and loss of motor control

  • Sensory interruption and pain

  • Aphasia (difficulty communicating or comprehending language)

  • Comprehension and memory problems

  • Personality changes and depression

Home rehabilitation provides flexibility for patients while giving them the opportunity to practice complex skills in their own living environment. These programs routinely include a combination of physical, occupational, and speech therapies. You should always include the therapy services your agency provides and your outcome scores in all your referral building print media. TAG’s Patient Outcome Brochure for Physicians is the perfect tool to share this information, which you can buy on our web store.

TAG Partners is a full-service print shop with hospice and home health marketing expertise. We can do everything from designing your products to delivering them to your front door. Partner with TAG today by contacting us or browsing our web store. Let us help you market your home health recovery programs seamlessly. 

Taking Time to Observe Women’s Mental Health Month

May has been designated as Women’s Mental Health Month (also known as “Women’s Health Awareness Month”) since 1949. We take this time to observe and help women who are affected by mental health conditions. It is also a time to remind everybody that most serious mental health conditions cannot be cured but can be treated so these women can live healthy lives.

Men and women experience many of the same mental health disorders, but they react to them quite differently. A common but often overlooked mental disorder that affects around 10% of women is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Even though women don’t experience as many traumatic events on average as men do, they are twice as likely to develop PTSD.

PTSD in women can occur as the result of experiencing any traumatic event like the sudden death of a loved one, a car accident, rape, physical or verbal abuse. A PTSD survivor experiences severe debilitating anxiety and fear for an extended period of time. Women with PTSD relive the trauma through flashbacks, memories, or nightmares.

Women often do not realize they have PTSD because they don’t attribute their thoughts and feelings to a previous life event, let alone that their condition is a treatable one. Therefore, you can educate women with PTSD-focused educational materials by distributing Marketing Brochures. These brochures can be completely customized with your company’s information and mental health facts when you order from us. These women having a pen and notepad or health log handy to write down the thoughts and feelings they are experiencing could be helpful too. You can provide all of these items to them by first purchasing the materials through our web store:

Marketing Brochure

Marketing Brochure

Your business can stay top of mind and discuss topics like PTSD and Women’s Health Health Awareness Month to show that you are a thought leader with Home Care Newsletters. These can be purchased from TAG and customized with your branding.

Home Care Newsletters

Home Care Newsletters

Please visit our web store today for all of the materials listed in this blog and many other items to help serve your hospice or home health facility: https://www.tagwebstore.com/