The first BPIP Survey on the Hospitalization Risk Assessment was available on the HHQI Web site from March 8, 2007 through March 15, 2007. Additionally, primary and secondary contacts for all home health agencies participating in the campaign were sent an e-mail with a Web link to access the survey. By 5:00 p.m. March 15, 2007, we received 1,105 completed surveys.

The survey results are helpful to the HHQI campaign team to understand which parts of the package are most helpful to home health agencies and what problems and/or barriers prevent implementation of the packages.

The survey showed that the 67% of the agencies who had reviewed the package were using the complete package, while 33% were using the Fast Track Package. 

The four sections found most helpful in the complete package for Hospitalization Risk Assessment were (in order): Care Provider Tracks; Leadership Track; Patient and Family Connection; and the Physician Connection.

There were many, many comments related to the BPIP.  Here are a few:

Thank you very much. This is very helpful even though we have been doing a risk assessment for almost a year. It will help our team better understand the value of using these tools.

The disciplinary tracks are very useful for spreading the message throughout the organization… we were only focused on the nurses.

Education tracks are excellent—we like the post-tests.

I like the specific tracks, which give a succinct outline of what needs to be completed for educational purposes. It will help us stay on track!!

I am looking forward to implementing these and excited about those planned in the future. I wish I had these 18 months ago when I started my job as a quality manager!

I really liked the discipline tracks. Feel that will help get everyone involved and understand their role.

I appreciate some of the new tools you provided pertaining to educating physicians.

We are a small agency and I am the Clinical Manager. We do not have QI teams; it is my responsibility and I feel this is going to be very helpful to me.

We are always eager to learn ways to help our home health patients; because that is what we all should be doing, trying to provide the best care possible for those people we serve.

Great for every size agency.

I like the “to the point” information of the fast track.

Instrumento útil, especifico y es una gran guia para un mejor estimado.

Now for the constructive criticism… (There were a few — and most focused on the length of the package, time and resources to implement the package)

The package is informative but very lengthy and may be difficult if you have a very limited time frame to read all the info.

Remember: The Best Practice Intervention Packages are designed to meet each agency’s needs. Ideally, your agency QI team or QI coordinator will select a few strategies or action items to implement. One month may simply be using the home health aide education section for the monthly home health aide education topic and/or modifying case conferences to include patient-specific information related to the best practice intervention topic. The following month might be more in-depth as clinical and communication processes are explored for modification and enhancement. Or an agency may choose to use the Fast Track Package option one month or every month depending on the time and resources available for this project.

Thanks to everyone who completed the survey. The next survey will be available April 12, 2007 through April 19, 2007 and will focus on the Emergency Care Planning BPIP.