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April 13, 2015
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Volume 4, Issue 15
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SERVICE EXCELLENCE
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Service Standard of the Week:
Customer Contact:
We greet our patients, customers, and colleagues with a warm smile, maintain eye contact when culturally appropriate and acknowledge their needs or concerns. | 
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Customer Contact Themes - Focus your attention to the individual needs of our patients, customers and co-workers.
- Practice the Platinum Rule, "Treat others the way they would like to be treated".
- We all have internal and external customers, treat everyone with the highest level of dignity and respect
Respect is not an emotion. It is an action we perform. It is something we do to show others we value them. Showing respect is one way we can show compassion in the workplace or in our patient care and bring healing to someone during a complicated event.
- What makes you feel respected and engaged as a customer?
- What makes you feel respected and engaged as an employee?
- Will you reach out to a colleague in any department this week to express your gratitude and admiration with an honest compliment?
- Will you offer encouragement to a new staff member or someone that you think is struggling; showing empathy as you recall experiencing the same?
While medicine holds the power to cure, how it is delivered can make a huge difference-not just for patients but for health care providers, too. Displaying compassionate care can be as easy as leaning toward the patient to send the message you are interested and avoids the impression that you are rushed
Small interpersonal acts of compassion in the workplace have significant, far-reaching effects on co-workers. Coined the "cascading effect," research suggests that experiencing compassion at work generates positive emotion and, in turn, shapes employees' long-term attitudes and behaviors.
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Thanks to all who have taken the time to recognize a colleague or to send along communication sent in from patients. I have received over a dozen such examples of service excellence in the past few weeks and will publish three or four in each week's Spotlight column. They are all truly great examples of dedication, excellence, and expertise!!
Trish Dumas, Administration: Southborough Office
Submitted by Jocelyn Lucier, managed care
During our "Huddle" we discussed this new communication form, and thought of a person who deserves to be acknowledged for her hard work. A lot of what she does is behind the scenes, but she is the glue that keeps this place together. Thank you for giving us an opportunity and means to say thank you to Trish Dumas, Receptionist in the Southborough Office.
I think when someone is alone in their job, the work they do often goes unrecognized or unappreciated. The truth is that no one could do their job effectively without the assistance of Trish, from the top department heads to everyone in between.
She orders supplies, and then stocks them. She lifts heavy packages and carrying them up and down the stairs. She fixes the fax machine and printers for us or calls to get them serviced if she can't do it herself. She assists Stephanie with decorating the offices and departments ordering new chairs, goes on road trips to pick up furniture and other supplies. She will do research to find the most cost effective items. She even does little things like calling our departments when we order food, to let us know it has arrived. She assists all those who come to the building whether it is vendors, deliveries, or new employees. She also books the conference rooms and the boardroom for special meetings. She hand delivers all our paychecks to us. She is kind, caring, dedicated and very hard working. I am sure there is much more that I am not aware of, but I do think she is pretty amazing, and we are lucky to have her here working with and for us and deserving of every bit of this recognition.
Kelley O'Connell, PT: Needham Office
Submitted by Jan Silvestry, rehab manager
This patient wrote a letter expressing her appreciation for the great job Kelley O'Connell, Team 26 Rehab did to help her recover from THR surgery that had some complicating factors.
Sundip Vyas, P.T: Weymouth Office
Sent from a grateful patient to Mary Ann O'Connor, president & CEO
I'd like to take the opportunity to sing the praises of Sundip Vyas, an extremely knowledgeable, professional, and sensitive physical therapist. His treatments to improve my flexibility after a total knee replacement have been nothing short of amazing with the results'. I truly applaud his skills as well as the pleasure of meeting this 'Healer'
These are all truly great examples of dedication, excellence, and expertise!! Please continue to share these stories by sending them to Mary Campbell at mcampbell@vnab.org.
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AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPDATES
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April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month!!!!
By Emily Stein, RN - Needham Office
- Every year over 3,000 people are killed and 421,000 injured due to distracted driving
- Common ways VNA employees might be distracted while driving include: talking on cell phones, checking emails and texts, writing emails, programming your GPS while driving, doing work on your laptop when stuck in traffic, eating your lunch while driving, and the list goes on
- Research has shown that simply talking on the phone while driving is just as dangerous as driving with a Blood Alcohol Content of 0.08, which is the legal limit. Engaging in any of the other distracting activities listed above put you at far greater risk of crashing.
- Drive now, communicate later. It can wait.
Please click the video below to watch the story about how distracted driving impacted my life:
 (video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaOrI2lnw6w)
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Moving Forward Update
Issue 15 - April 6, 2015
(Please note that this change only impacts Atrius Health staff originating from one of the medical groups. VNA emails will remain unchanged at this point.)
IMPROVING COLLABORATION/COMMUNICATION - UPCOMING CHANGES TO YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
Effective April 13th, email addresses for employees of all three medical groups (Dedham Medical Associates, Granite Medical Group, and Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates) will change to firstname_lastname@atriushealth.org. There are several communication, collaboration, and productivity benefits to creating a common email system and email naming convention across the three medical groups:
- We will have a shared global address list in Microsoft Outlook across the groups so staff can easily find a colleague at any of the three medical groups in order to send an email.
- We will be able to centrally create and maintain email distribution lists across sites, regions and departments for broad use across the organization. Individual users will also be able to easily create their own customized email distribution lists including employees across the three groups.
- We will have shared calendars in Microsoft Outlook so staff can find a colleague at any of the three medical groups, add them to a meeting request, view their availability and then schedule a mutually convenient time for that meeting.
- We will begin to signify our operational "oneness" by using the Atrius Health name in our email address.
Below is how the email naming convention will change for staff at each medical group:
Note: Certain Atrius Health central functions (such as the IT group) have already been using this email naming convention (@atriushealth.org) for the past several years. ********************************************************************************** Please read these FAQs for more information about the @atriushealth.org email address transition. Q: What do I personally need to do to be ready for this email change? A: Nothing. You can continue to send emails and the technical change will automatically take effect behind the scenes on April 13. For Dedham Medical Associates, staff and providers that use their mobile devices to receive work email will have to make a few simple changes to their mobile device. Documentation and a guide to help with this change will be provided before the migration. No changes will be necessary for Harvard Vanguard or Granite Medical Group staff in relation to mobile devices with this transition. Q: Will my current medical group email address continue to work after the email transition date? A: Yes, email sent to your medical group email address will continue to be received without issue indefinitely. No future cut-off date for the medical group email addresses has been determined. Regardless of which email address is used to send messages to you (your medical group email address or your Atrius Health email address), you will still receive all your email in one place in your Microsoft Outlook inbox. Q: What will external parties receiving emails from me see as my email address? A: As of April 13, individuals who receive your emails will see that your email address is now using thefirstname_lastname@atriushealth.org naming convention. Again, you will still be able to receive incoming email through your medical group email address indefinitely. Q: Should I tell my contacts to change my email address in their address book? A. Yes, you can do this at your leisure since there is no cut-off date for the medical group email addresses and you will be able to receive email through both addresses indefinitely. Q. What should my email signature say in terms of which organization I work at? A. Many employees have set up an email signature within Microsoft Outlook which is auto added to the bottom of emails and includes their name, title, organization name, work address and contact information. If you work in a practice site and your email signature today includes the name of one of the medical groups, it should continue to use that medical group name. If you are working in a central Atrius Health function, you can continue to use the Atrius Health name. It is recommended you update your email address in this signature with your new @atriushealth.org email as of April 13. Q. What if I have subscribed for online access to something (for instance, a medical association newsletter) using my medical group name email address? A. If you signed up to receive emails via your medical group email address, you will continue to receive those emails even after April 13. If you used your medical group email address as part of an online access profile (username/email/password), you may continue to use your medical group email as part of your username/password profile. However, if you wish to use your new atriushealth.org email for this purpose, you will need to manually update your user profile with the new email address. Q. When will I be able to locate VNA staff members through the Atrius Health shared global email address system? A: We are exploring future options for the VNA's two current email systems. If you work frequently with colleagues from VNA, it is recommended you add their individual email addresses to your personal contacts within Microsoft Outlook. Phone numbers and email addresses for VNA staff are now also available in the Atrius Health Staff Phone Directory on the Atrius Health SharePlace intranet. Q: How will I search all email contacts across Dedham Medical Associates, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates and Granite Medical Group? Ä: All contacts at all three groups will be part of the shared global email address book in Outlook as of April 13. To search for a colleague, start a new email, click on the "To:" button and type in the staff member's last name and it should automatically populate in that field if the name is in the system. Q: Will I need to have new business cards printed reflecting my new @atriushealth.org email address? A: Please use up any remaining quantities of your existing business cards first if no other information (other than email address) needs to be modified. Per above, inbound emails addressed to you with your medical group email address will continue to be received after the April 13 date indefinitely. When you need to replenish your business cards, you should update your email address at that time. As of this week, business cards ordered through Staples (Michele Lutz-Strategic Sourcing) will automatically incorporate the @atriushealth.org email extension into the business card format. Q: Does this change mean that I am now an employee of Atrius Health? A: This change is only for your email address. Nothing else changes on April 13. Send your questions about integration activities to Integration@AtriusHealth.org. Please note that, if you would like your question to be anonymous, you may indicate that and your name will not be shared beyond the one person who manages the mailbox.
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CLINICAL SERVICES
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Clinical Services Announcements and Updates
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iPhone Deployment for VNAB Clinicians
The long awaited replacement of your flip phone for an iPhone will begin in early May 2015! The deployment will be carried out in two phases which is due to some limitations with our current Verizon Wireless contract.
In early May, with the help of Verizon representatives, we will roll out iPhones to the first group of clinical staff. We are working with Verizon to coordinate dates with your May team meetings. As soon as things are worked out with the Verizon contract we will do the second wave of phone exchanges.
Stay tuned to the Connecter for more information as to when you can expect your phone to be upgraded. Please contact your manager with any questions.
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Mass College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Recognizes Our Physical Therapy Department for Excellence in Clinical Teaching!
By Adele Pike, Director of Education
Congratulations to the Physical Therapy Department!
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) has recognized the VNA Care Network's Physical Therapy Department as a Clinical Site of Excellence. This award recognizes the Physical Therapy Department's involvement with MCPHS's program, including mentoring students in the Integrated Clinical Experiences course and capstone Physical Therapy clinical experiences, involvement with panel discussions, and participation with students as "mock" patients. The award also recognizes Jan Silvestry's membership on the MCPHS Clinical Education Advisory Board.
The College's announcement of this awards includes, "The VNA Care Network and Hospice has been an early and continued supporter of the DPT program and it was an unanimous decision to recognize the Agency this year."
There will be an Awards Ceremony on May 6th, 8:30-9:30 in Southborough. Everyone is invited to come celebrate this recognition and the contributions of the Physical Therapists who have expertly instructed PT students!
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Remote Patient Monitoring Program Start Date
By Kathy Duckett, Director of Population Health
A substantial amount of work has been done to move the Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) Agreement forward. The major issue has been resolved and there just a few loose ends to tie up.
Since the agreement has not yet been signed, the RPM program will not go live on 04-13-15. The agreement should be finalized shortly. As soon as I have a date I will let you know.
Thank you for your understanding and patience. Please contact Kathy Duckett with any questions or if you need further information at kduckett@vnab.org.
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Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Week April 12-18
By Carol Jones, Senior WOC Nurse
This is a week set aside to recognize the WOCN specialty. We want to thank VNACN and VNAB for their support of WOCN nursing over the last 20 years. We have a stellar program and were recognized by the WOCN certification board last summer for the VNACN commitment to WOCN nursing.
Please remember that your WOCN nurse is here to be a major resource for you. They are the experts at all issues related to wound, ostomy and continence patients including helping with Oasis questions related to these patients. Use us, that is what we are here for!
A big Thank You to : Nicole Hamm, Carrie Bergman, Harri Blau and Shirley Lucier from the VNACN and Joyce Hart and Debbie Gibson from the VNAB for their excellent work!
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Best Practice Committee Monthly Update
By Joan Roth, Manager of Special Initiatives & Best Practice Committee Member
The VNAB is committed to the goal of reducing our rehospitalization rate. The agency's goal is to have all patients admitted by nursing to have their 2nd nursing visit within 48 hours of start of care. We will now be measuring this rate monthly for patients at high risk for hospitalizations.
For the month of March 2015, the agency's rate for having the second nursing visit within 48 hours of start of care for high-risk patients was 70%. This is higher than our rate for February, which was 62%.
We are also promoting two additional interventions that are best practices for keeping patient's from being rehospitalized. - The first best practice intervention is that continuity of care with providers improves patient outcomes. To support this practice we will be reporting on the percentage of patients who received their 2ndnursing visit by the nurse case manager. The rate for the month of March was 59% which is higher than the rate for February which was 57%
- The second best practice intervention is that the patient have a physician follow up visit within 7-14 days after a discharge from an acute care hospital. The rate for March was 72% which is lower the rate in February was which was 76%
Thanks for your continued efforts to keep patients out of the hospital particularly during the four weeks after they first come home from the hospital. The next report will be for the month of April. Please remember that a great way to help keep our patient's out of the hospital is to provide telemonitoring for the high risk for rehospitalization patients. We now can provide monitoring for our COPD patients in addition to our Heart Failure patients.Please see your manager with any questions.
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FUND DEVELOPMENT
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Elder Health Clinics Earn National Award from Mutual of America
(Photo l-r: Thomas Gilliam, chairman and CEO Mutual of America Foundation, Maureen Sendrowski, manager of preventative health, Jane Woodbury, vice president of fund development, Mary Ann O'Connor, president and CEO, Chris Bailey, senior field vice president Mutual of America, and Ted Herman, vice chairman Mutual of America Foundation)
Mutual of America awarded VNA Care Network one of 10 national Community Partnership Awards and a $25,000 grant last Thursday in recognition of the significant role the agency's Elder Health Clinic Program plays in helping seniors live independently.
Ted Herman, vice chairman of the Mutual of America Foundation, said this year the "competition was keen and the selection process exhausting." The Foundation sought to honor "unique, creative, and innovative programs that showed a pattern of success in solving a community need," he added.
VNA Care Network partners with 45 organizations, including senior centers and elder housing sites, to provide local seniors a safe, comfortable and convenient environment to discuss their physical, emotional and psychosocial concerns. Nurses from the Wellness Division offer health screenings and blood pressure monitoring, medication review and instruction, and health education weekly or monthly at these neighborhood locations. They also provide seasonal flu, pneumonia and other vaccines. Last year, 2,000 individuals participated in the program, translating into more than 6,500 visits.
As Mary Ann O'Connor, president and CEO, accepted the award, she recognized the work of Maureen Sendrowski, RN, MPH, preventative health manager, and her Wellness staff and called the clinic program a "jewel in the VNA's crown." She said that at a time when other VNAs have walked away from such community health programs, VNA Care Network has expanded its presence to help seniors remain safe in their home setting.
Thomas Gilliam, chairman and CEO of the Mutual of America Foundation, presented certificates to VNA Care Network's community partners for their roles in making the Elder Health Clinics a success. He also recognized VNA Care Network staff and community partners who have gone above and beyond in making the Elder Health Clinic Program a success, including Maureen Sendrowski, RN, MPH, preventative health manager, for her leadership of the Elder Health Clinic Program for more than 15 years, and Karen Webber, development officer, for securing grant funding that has allowed the program to continue. Jennifer Claro, director of the Marlborough Council on Aging, and Jamie Gutner, director of the Needham Council on Aging, were also honored for their roles as advocates and supporters of the Program in their communities.
Congratulations to our honorees!
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HUMAN RESOURCES
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Employee Referral Bonus up to $5,000!
Employee referrals are often the most successful way for us to find the best candidates for open positions. Demand for physical therapists and nurses continues to be issue throughout the industry and the VNA is no exception.
In order to attract and retain new RNs and PTs, we are offering an employee referral bonus of up to $5,000!!! Certain conditions apply and the bonus will be paid in equal installments to eligible employees at the new recruits three and six month anniversaries.
Please contact Cheryl Milas at cmilas@vnacarenetwork.org or Debbie Brown at dbrown@vnab.org for more information.
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Employee Advisory Team Suggestions
To suggest an area of focus to the Employee Advisory Team (EAT), please email your suggestion to EATSuggestionbox@vnab.org. Suggestions can include ideas to improve current processes and procedures, remove redundancies, or even to provide feedback on something you think is/is not working.
Please feel free to discuss any issues that you would like brought to EAT with the following members of the committee: - Ellen Cavalier
- Michelle Coote
- Kelly Frew
- Jenny Highland
- Mary Helen Mahoney
- Becky Manning
- Susan Marlin Procter
- Annemarie Martin
- Mary McCarthy
- Ilona O'Connor
- Mae Powers
- Maria Rodrigues
- David Rose
- Chris Schultz
- Danny Yan
EAT is also on the lookout for new members. If you're interested in participating, or for more information on what EAT is all about, please reach out to any of the members listed above. Meetings are held monthly and alternate between the Charlestown and Braintree offices.
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Employee Newsletter - April 2015
By EAP Network
For Confidential Assistance, 24 hours a day call 1-800-333-6624 or visit www.eapnetwork.com
| Giving Feedback to Your Boss
You can give constructive feedback to your boss with less unease. The key is making it fully formed, thoughtful, and delivered with timeliness and tact. Do manage your emotions so you're calm and these crucial elements don't go missing. Your approach: View feedback as a way to enhance your workplace. Doing so will naturally cause you to exhibit a positive attitude. You will avoid a negative tone or approach seen as unwelcome complaining or attacking your boss. When you deliver feedback positively, you are not a pest but a welcome guest. For added receptivity, request permission to give feedback. For example, "I have some thoughtful input on this project we are involved in. Is it okay to share it with you at this time?"
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| Self-Diagnosis & Referral
It is a myth that alcoholics do not seek help on their own. Like other illnesses, a sense of urgency usually drives the decision. It happens every day by accurate information about the illness arriving in combination with some adverse incident related to alcohol. If you're thinking, "that sounds like me," your next step is an assessment by an experienced professional. Try your employee assistance program or an addiction medicine physician, whom you can find in your area by visiting the membership link at www.asam.org (the Web site for nonprofit association that addiction medicine physicians join).
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| Teach Young Children to Dial 911?
3-year-old child could save a life by dialing 911. Would your child know what to do if you fell and could not get up? It takes only a short time to teach a child how, why, and when to phone for help. The most common life-threatening event in the home is falling, with 6,000 victim deaths per year. It may sound ominous to be teaching a small child to dial 911 in an emergency, but if you do an online search, you'll discover many stories of lives saved this way.
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| Tardiness: Ripple Effects that Add Up
Tardiness is a silent hit to productivity. Being 10 minutes late to work may not seem like a big deal, but like many small expenses that create a large hit to your pocketbook, tardiness can add up. Like ripple effects from a rock thrown into a pond, tardiness reverberates throughout an organization. If you're frustrated about coming in late and puzzled over your inability to correct it, get counseling help to curb it. Start with the only book ever written solely on the topic: Never Be Late Again: Seven Cures for the Punctually Challenged by Diana DeLonzor.
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| Making Diversity Work for You
When solving problems and searching for new ideas among your workgroup or team, take advantage of the problem-solving capabilities of every member, but especially those who bring unique perspectives based on diverse life experience, background, gender, race, culture, or worldview. This strategy is based on a principle called "standpoint theory." Standpoint theory means that each person possesses a unique perspective, but the more divergent from the norm the background, life experience, or cultural orientation of the employee is, the more diverse and valuable that perspective might be. Standpoint theory can better leverage the talents of your team. It also recognizes in practical terms the inherent capabilities of your group's diverse makeup. Another key value of standpoint theory is its ability to prevent "groupthink," a situation in which everyone from the dominant or similar background within the group tends to believe the same thing. This unwittingly walls off the group from the opportunity to see the best solution. Who we are and where we've lived and what culture, race, or life orientation we experience all contribute to our individual perspectives. This greatly determines how we view problems and set out to solve them. This is what makes diversity in the workplace so valuable, and it is why it is a resource that can advance the mission of your organization.
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| Making More of Your To-Do List
There are secrets to successful to-do list management. When tallying your crucial items, do the following to maximize the benefits of this time-tested tool. (1) Add the time needed to each task for its execution; (2) add deadlines to each item; (3) add subtasks for each task that requires multiple steps; (4) draw a line between related items (e.g., get haircut, pick up milk at grocery store); (5) mark whom to delegate the task to, if appropriate; (6) add more items to your list than you can accomplish. Why the last addition to the list? You will discover some items drop off as unnecessary. This strategy alone can increase productivity 20 to 50 percent. Does the above make you feel like you will be planning all day? You won't be. Rule #1: It is always worth the time to plan, because time saved makes up for the few minutes involved in the to-do list planning exercise.
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| Are You Living Near a Meth Lab?
Are you living near a methamphetamine lab but don't know it? Each year, thousands of children are exposed to the hazardous chemicals carelessly mishandled by brewers of this addictive, psychoactive substance. Illegal and highly explosive methamphetamine labs have grown in number, with more than 11,000 seized in 2012. In the past decade, their numbers doubled within just a two-year period. The behavior of individuals or the ramshackle looks of a suspicious location might give cause for concern, but these signs are clearer: unusual odors like ammonia or ether (think cat urine or rotten eggs); blackened or covered windows; strange ventilation systems and contraptions; elaborate security ("keep out" signs, guard dogs, video cameras, etc.) to warn off trespassers; dead vegetation from dumping chemicals; and large garbage bags of assorted paraphernalia related to lab equipment, clothing, plastic bottles, etc.
(Source: www.justice.gov. Search "signs of a meth lab.")
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| Employees and Workplace Ethics
Workplace ethics is a vibrant topic, but in the digital age, where ethical violations can quickly be discovered and big ones exposed internationally on the Web in mere minutes, employers are more concerned than ever. The key prevention concept is grasping how relatively small indiscretions, easily rationalized, can help pave the way to larger events with significant consequences. Every employee is on the front line in the fight to maintain an ethical workplace. Whether it's grabbing a few company ballpoint pens on the way home or serious infractions that might lead to dismissal, there is a prevention signal worth paying attention to that accompanies nearly every incident: a thought of awareness that says, "Don't do it."
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Important Notice: Information in EAP Network's Employee Newsletter is for general information purposes only and is not intended to replace the counsel or advice of a qualified health professional. For further questions or help with specific problems or personal concerns contact your employee assistance professional.
For Confidential Assistance, 24 hours a day call 1-800-333-6624 or visit www.eapnetwork.com |
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Job Postings - VNA Care Network and VNA Hospice Care
To learn more about career opportunities, contact a human resources representative:
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Job Postings - VNA of Boston and VNA Hospice Care
To learn more about career opportunities listed in the links above, contact Debbie Brown, Human Resources Manager at dbrown@vnab.org.
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INFORMATION SYSTEMS
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Computer Network Maintenance This Week
By Dave Hanley, Computer Operations Manager
Please be advised there will be computer maintenance to the VNAB's network taking place in Charlestown on the evening of Wednesday, April 15th between the hours of 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM. During this service, you may experience outages or unavailability of these services and technologies:
- VPN access to VNAB network
- iPad access to VNAB network
- Network connections between VNAB and VNACN and all programs dependent on those connections, e.g. McKesson access from Rose Monahan or other VNACN sites
- Email for VNAB-based email users (e.g. XX@vnab.org)
- Local access to systems within the Charlestown office, including McKesson Horizons, email, network file shares, etc.
Please plan accordingly and feel free to contact the MIS department with any questions or concerns.
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QUALITY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
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Home Health Care Star Ratings
CMS established the Home Health Compare (HHC) website on Medicare.gov as a tool for consumers to use when choosing a home health care provider. Designed to be an easy-to-access, convenient source of information on provider quality has proven to be cumbersome for some consumers faced with an urgent need to make a choice.
In order to make the information contained within HHC easier to use, a "star" rating system is being developed to summarize some of the findings in an easier to understand way.
Which measures are included? - The HHC Star Ratings methodology includes 9 of the 27 currently reported process and outcome quality measures. These measures were chosen based on the following criteria:
- The measure should apply to a substantial proportion of home health patients and have sufficient data to report for a majority of home health agencies.
- The measure should show a reasonable amount of variation among home health agencies and it should be possible for a home health agency to show improvement in performance.
- The measure should have high face validity and clinical relevance.
- The measure should be stable and not show substantial random variation over time.
The 9 measures selected based on these criteria are:
- Process Measures:
- Timely Initiation of Care
- Drug Education on all Medications Provided to Patient/Caregiver
- Influenza Immunization Received for Current Flu Season
- Outcome measures:
- Improvement in Ambulation
- Improvement in Bed Transferring
- Improvement in Bathing
- Improvement in Pain Interfering With Activity
- Improvement in Shortness of Breath
- Acute Care Hospitalization
A preview of the new Star rating system was distributed to home health agencies last week...and we did pretty good!! Both VNACN and VNAB scored 4 out of 5 stars!! Way to go!
CMS will continue to fine-tune their calculations over the next several months and they expect to have the official Star ratings published at Medicare.gov in mid-July 2015.
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Patient Care Managers
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Office
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Name
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Office
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Cell/Direct
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Position
| | Rehab | Kyra Mihalick | 617-886-6500 X3085 |
617-913-6823
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Patient Care Manager
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Quincy/
Weymouth
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Carol Morris
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617-886-6435
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617-913-3006
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Patient Care Manager
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Charlestown
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Elaine Gardner
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617-886-6464
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617-680-1105
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Patient Care Manager
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Danvers
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Marilyn Bowden
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888-663-3688 X1271
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774-502-7478
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Patient Care Manager
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Gloucester
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Marilyn Bowden
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888-663-3688 X1271
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774-502-7478
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Patient Care Manager
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Leominster
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Terry Dancewicz
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888-663-3688 X1341
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774-502-7481
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Patient Care Manager
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Needham
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Maura Vitello
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888-663-3688 X4536
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774-502-7475
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Patient Care Manager
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Southborough
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Maria Dunn
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888-663-3688 X1317
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508-688-2449
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Patient Care Program Manager
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Worcester
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Christine Gill
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as of 3/30/15
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TBD
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Patient Care Manager
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