Executive Steering Committee Campaign Pledges
The following are pledges made by members of the executive steering committee to ensure the campaign's success.
Committee Member
Lisa Remington, Publisher, The Remington Report
Organization
The Remington Report is “the home care magazine for business executives and clinicians on strategic initiatives and market forecasts"
HHQI Campaign Pledge
The Remington Report will:
- Publish strategies and best practices to reduce acute care hospitalizations promoted by the HHQI National Campaign in each issue
- Post campaign news and results on the Remington Report Web site
- Provide opportunity for the HH QIOSC Director to speak about the HHQI Campaign at The Remington Report’s 5th Annual Think Tank Conference in San Diego, CA, March 11-13, 2007
Web site: www.remingtonreport.com
Lisa stated:
“This campaign will highlight our role as an industry to save Medicare dollars while driving great outcomes.”
Committee Member
Susan Sender, Vice President and Chief Nursing Executive, Gentiva Health Services
Organization
Gentiva Health Services is the nation's largest provider of comprehensive home health and related services
HHQI Campaign Pledge
- All Gentiva home health agencies in 36 states pledge themselves to the HHQI National Campaign
- Gentiva Health Services will customize and integrate the monthly tools into their forms, policies, protocols and procedures
Web site: www.gentiva.com
Susan commented:
“All Americans benefit when government and business come together like this to deal with the national health care challenges, and certainly, the home health care industry is stepping up the plate – like we always do.”
Committee Member
Linda Krulish, Home Health Section Representative for the APTA and representative for the OASIS Competency and Certification Board
Organization
American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) is the national professional organization whose goal is to foster advancements in physical therapy practice, research, and education. The home health section has over 1,900 members participating through statewide chapters.
HHQI Campaign Pledge
APTA will:
- Distribute information about the HHQI Campaign through their Web site, newsletter, listserv and conferences
- Develop and share document “101 Ways PTs Can Reduce Hospitalizations”
- Involve and expose PT members to the HHQI Campaign to encourage their buy-in and their role in home care quality improvement
Web site: www.apta.org
Organization
OASIS Competency and Certification Board (OCCB) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting greater reliability in OASIS data, through consistent application of guidelines provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
HHQI Campaign Pledge
OCCB will:
- Create “OASIS Accuracy Support Packet” - a 20 page document with CMS guidance for scoring OASIS items used to compute the ACH outcome measure including CMS Q & As and OBQI Implementation Manual Chapter 8. This will be posted on the OCCB Web site.
Web site: occb.affiniscape.com/index.cfm
Committee Member
Rhonda Chetney, Vice Chair for Home Health Special Interest Group, American Telemedicine Association
Organization
American Telemedicine Association (ATA) is the leading resource and advocate promoting telehealth worldwide. The Home Health Special Interest Group is the ATA’s largest SIG with over 500 members and supports the expansion and utilization of telehealth, remote monitoring and disease management applications in the patient's place of residence.
HHQI Campaign Pledge
ATA will:
- Educate members about the HHQI Campaign
- Provide tools, including the Telehealth Toolkit to support home telehealth programs
- Offer an online “Home Telehealth: The Basics” Course
Web site: www.atmeda.org
Committee Member
Carol Siebert, Home Health Special Interest Group Representative, American Occupational Therapy Association
Organization
American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) is the nationally recognized professional association of more than 35,000 occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and students of occupational therapy.
HHQI Campaign Pledge
AOTA will:
- Assist in development of HHQI Campaign monthly intervention packages
- Provide continuing education credits for OTs to provide education specific to home health
- Facilitate dissemination of educational materials about the HHQI Campaign to its members
- Provide supplemental resources to OTs for reducing hospitalizations
- Support patients to have a meaningful life in their homes
Web site: www.aota.org
Committee Member
Bob Wardwell, Vice President Regulatory & Public Affairs, Visiting Nurse Associations of America
Organization
The Visiting Nurse Associations of America (VNAA) is the official national association for not-for-profit, community based home health organizations known as Visiting Nurse Associations (VNAs).
HHQI Campaign Pledge
VNAA will:
- Promote participation of all membership in the campaign
- Inform all VNA participants of the campaign’s activities and progress
- Offer CHAMP support in providing tools, resources, and supports to clinicians to assist them in making lasting positive improvements and transformation changes in home care
- Share the most recent evidence-based clinical information with the home health care community at large
- Provide CHAMP evidence-based geriatric home care course materials as requested by the home health care community at large
Special statement by Bob:
“Home health care agencies are not the problem - they are a solution to many health care problems.”
Web site: www.vnaa.org
Committee Member
Mary St. Pierre, Vice President for Regulatory Affairs, National Association for Home Care & Hospice
Organization
The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) is the nation's largest trade association representing the interests and concerns of home care agencies, hospices, and home care aide organizations.
HHQI Campaign Pledge
NAHC pledges to:
- Use the campaign as an opportunity to reach out to all agencies to be actively involved in the campaign and implement the use of the tools/resources that will be disseminated by the QIOs to work toward achieving a reduction in avoidable hospitalization
- Disseminate campaign information via the NAHC report, Caring Magazine, and the NAHC listserv
- Support and provide guidance to all agencies as requested
Mary encouraged all agencies to step forward and take this challenge. “It is time for home health to shine.”
Web site: www.nahc.org
Committee Member
Ann Howard, Director, Federal Policy, American Association for Homecare
Organization
The American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare) is the only national association that represents every line of service in the home care community, including home health and home medical equipment providers, respiratory and infusion therapy, telemedicine, and rehab and assistive technology.
HHQI Campaign Pledge
AAHomecare will:
- Include updates regarding the campaign activities and progress in its newsletter
- Ann encouraged all home care agencies take this “great” opportunity to demonstrate the value of home health to policy makers by decreasing avoiding hospitalization [the #1 marker of quality care] which will contribute to the management of costs.
Web site: www.aahomecare.org
Committee Member
Judy Lentz, Chief Executive Director, Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association
Organization
Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA) is a membership organization for individual members of the nursing team working in the specialty of hospice and palliative care across the life span continuum.
HHQI Campaign Pledge
HPNA pledges to:
- Serve as a monthly consultant to the home health QIOSC with completion of the monthly campaign intervention packages
- Share HPNA patient centered multidisciplinary tools/resources and tips that can assist home care agencies with increasing quality of care and decreasing avoidable hospitalizations
- Collaborate educationally with the making of a variety of educational multidisciplinary programs/products available to home care via a variety of methods
- Serve as a research resource; agencies can contact hpna@hpna.org for support.
Web site: www.hpna.org
Committee Member
Penny Feldman, Director, Visiting Nurse Service of New York/VP Research & Evaluation, VNSNY
Organization
Visiting Nurse Service of New York Center for Home Care Policy and Research conducts scientifically rigorous research to promote the delivery of high quality, cost-effective care in the home and community and support informed decision making by policy makers, payers, managers, practitioners, and consumers of home and community based services.
HHQI Campaign Pledge
VNSNY and the Research Center pledge to:
- Urge ReACH QIO participants to become actively involved as LANEs to support the campaign
- Share evidence-based strategies and tools - these must then be “transferred into practice”
- Serve as peer experts to support and assist with making the campaign successful
- Share data that can be turned into information that is then put into action
Penny’s significant comments:
An agency can not “do this alone.” To make an impact in ACH rates across the country, there is a need for peer champion expert involvement, evidence-based practice and the sharing of tools that can be “put into practice.”
Penny sees the campaign as Dr. Stone stated in her presentation, as an opportunity for the home care community to “turn itself upside down and inside out” to engage patients, staff and providers jointly to decrease the rate of ACH.
Web site: www.vnsny.org/research/
