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| November 30, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
This Week at CT Healthcare At Home
News Update
 On Tuesday, Nov. 28, exactly one month after the murder of home health nurse Joyce Grayson, over 150 people gathered for a vigil at the State Capitol to honor Joyce Grayson’s life, offer support to the home care providers and promise to push for stronger protections and safety during home care visits.
Carefully chosen songs and readings were shared by several hospice counseling support staff. Nearly 30 nurses from the CT Nurses Honor Guard paid special tribute to Grayson’s life as a nurse while recognizing all nurses present. The Reverend Jane Newall (pastor at Joyce Grayson’s church in Brooklyn) offered words of comfort, and several legislators shared their condolences and vowed to move legislation to ensure the safety of our home care providers making visits in the community.
For media coverage, see below links:
The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued a template home care worker employment agreement to increase visibility of employee rights and employer responsibilities. This document comes as a result of an April 2023 Executive Order titled Increasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers. The Executive Order called on the Department of Labor to develop “compliance assistance and best practices” for, among others, home care workers.
The DOL explained that the informal and non-binding sample agreement is not required by law. Rather, it is better viewed as “tools” that may help household employers and workers develop their own employment agreements together, “thereby reducing potential future misunderstanding or conflict and strengthening the employment relationship and trust.”
The DOL further states that the agreement reflects topics that employers and employees may voluntarily choose to address. For example, the template agreement provides for an explanation of benefits like health insurance, paid leave, pay if the employer cancels a shift on short notice, and on-call pay – none of which are required by federal law.
The DOL is also careful to note that the sample agreement does not constitute legal advice, an official statement of position by the DOL or reflect the full range of laws that may apply in every situation, such as local and state laws. It also notes that the use of an employment agreement cannot waive the rights or protections of an employee under applicable federal, state, or local law.
Any questions may be directed to your Polsinelli attorney, the Authors of this article, or any attorney in our Labor & Employment Department.
Source: Polsinelli
Providers can now access the latest Provider Preview Reports via the Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) application. Once released in CASPER, providers will have 30 days during which to review their quality measure results. Although the actual “preview period” is 30 days, the reports will continue to be available for another 30 days, or a total of 60 days. The preview period for the latest Provider Preview Report lasts from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15, 2023.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) encourages providers to download and save their Hospice Provider Preview Reports for future reference, as they will no longer be available in CASPER after this 60-day period.
Learn more about the Provider Preview Report (HIS and Claims-based measures) here and about the CAHPS Preview Report here. Hospice QRP Key Dates for Providers can be found here. The 3rd Edition HQRP Public Reporting Tip Sheet is available here.
Source: NAHC, Nov. 21, 2023
Wound care and endocrine patients required the most nursing visits from January to December 2022, according to the Strategic Healthcare Programs (SHP) National Client Database of more than 6 million periods.
Source: DecisionHealth, Nov. 2, 2023
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced the request for application for the new Guiding and Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) model from the CMS Innovation Center. The GUIDE Model will test whether providing an alternative payment methodology dementia care programs to Medicare beneficiaries with dementia and their caregivers reduces expenditures while preserving or enhancing quality of care.
The GUIDE Model is designed to enhance quality of care by improving quality of life for people with dementia and reducing burden and strain on their caregivers. It is expected to reduce Medicare and Medicaid expenditures primarily by preventing or delaying long-term nursing home stays, and secondarily by reducing hospital, emergency department, and post-acute care utilization.
Source: NAHC, Nov. 27, 2023
Membership News
By Courtney Verissimo, Director of Membership and Education
One of the responsibilities of CAHH is to make members aware of services and tools that have the potential to impact your businesses in a positive way. In light of Joyce's death, I recently connected with Katana Safety (the premier provider of lone and workforce safety solutions for our industry) to inquire about their efforts to help protect home health workers. Katana Safety was started by Todd Baldree, when he learned that one-in-four women are sexually assaulted in college. Originally designed as a solution to help keep his college-bound daughter and others safe on campus, Katana Safety has evolved to become the nation's leading provider of personal safety solutions for home health, hospice and home care workers, as well as the social services industry.
As a whole, healthcare continues to outperform other sectors in the representation of women, who make up more than two-thirds of entry-level employees in healthcare organizations. However, recent years have seen a major shortage of experienced caregivers, particularly in the home health, hospice and palliative care sector that relies on females of average menopausal age (40-60). In this Lunch and Learn, Nathalie will discuss the impact menopause can have from the perspective of both the employee and employer, and offer some suggestions to create a more supportive and inclusive work environment.
 The 2024 Leadership Summit for Home Health and Hospice is just weeks away. Both the conference and the evening’s intriguing mystery dinner are being held at the exquisitely appointed Colonnade Hotel in Boston. Register today and secure your spot at the early-bird rate.
What’s in store for this year’s event?
Don’t delay — this discounted rate ends on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. Join us in Boston on Jan. 16-17!
Education
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In-Home Care Safety Management & De-Escalation
