To date, CMS has developed star-rating efforts for many aspects of the health care experience, from hospitals and nursing homes to pharmacy services, dialysis care and Medicare Advantage plans. "Home care scrutiny and public reporting is a natural progression in the series of CMS efforts to assist consumers in differentiating among providers," says Robert J. Simione, Managing Principal, Simione Healthcare Consultants. "By establishing more diligent plans for quality reporting, home care agencies will be better prepared to thrive as the emphasis on post-acute services increases to improve quality and reduce the cost of care.  We are working to help providers embrace quarterly 5-star ratings as an opportunity to stay competitive. Data-driven results will benefit all agencies as our industry faces greater visibility by consumers, CMS, ACOs, payers or other organizations," he said.

What's the Yield Out in the Field?  Basic Strategies to Improve Productivity

Productivity remains a key component of maintaining cost-efficient home care and hospice operations, and agencies and clinical staff are feeling the pressure of trying to meet their goal for "visits per day".   In terms of managing costs, what are you doing to evaluate and improve your agency's productivity?  Many factors contribute to your agency's overall results, but all days in the field are not created equal.  Simione Healthcare Consultants provides comprehensive expertise to help home care and hospice organizations improve productivity. Our team can identify any barriers - from patient acuity and technology issues to redundant paperwork and time/distance to visit - and build an effective plan to assist you in improving overall business performance. These basic considerations can help in your ongoing efforts to increase efficiency:

Technology

The systems and digital devices you use, as well as programs such as telemonitoring, will enable your staff to be more productive in communicating and documenting their work. Make sure you are monitoring the reliability and quality of your systems and devices.  Sometimes the best rate on systems and services aren't worth the savings if you cannot rely on their performance.