• Tuesday, January 5: Town Hall Meeting Needham
• Thursday, January 7: Town Hall Meeting Leominster

Welcome to 2016!! Over the last 52 weeks we have rotated through our ten services standards multiple times...just to make sure they really stick in our minds! As we kick off a new year, let's review each standard and its place in our daily work.

CUSTOMER LOYALTY
We ensure that our customers are the priority focus at all times by anticipating their needs and delivering exceptional service.

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.

PROFESSIONAL IMAGE
We are service professionals who uphold the reputation of our company by demonstrating a professional appearance.

PROFESSIONAL LANGUAGE
We communicate with respect and courtesy to colleagues and patients. We address patients, families, and customers based on their preference, using Mr., Mrs., Ms. or their preferred name.

SERVICE RECOVERY
We ensure complaints are acknowledged, addressed, and proper action is taken by utilizing LEAP.

EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT
We are all a part of the customer experience. We are empowered to use resources and training to enhance our professional goals and growth.

COMMUNICATION ETIQUETTE
We follow communication standards and expectations when engaging in electronic and telephone communications; ensuring to always use a warm and friendly tone. We follow the VNA Communication Guidelines at all time to ensure an exceptional customer experience.

WORKPLACE SAFETY
We assess and maintain a safe work environment.

WORKPLACE CLEANLINESS
We maintain a professional, clean, organized work bag and work area, whether in the patient's home or in the workplace.

TEAMWORK
We work collaboratively as one team, holding each other accountable.

By Katie Callahan, Patient Services Manager and Service Excellence Champion

The Service Excellence Champion group meets monthly to discuss ways to further our organization's commitment to exceptional service excellence.

See below for Town Hall Meeting dates, times, and locations. All meetings will run from 8:30-10am. Please note that these meetings are an important communication vehicle and provides an opportunity to hear about important agency initiatives and updates, and as such, they are mandatory for all staff to attend.

These sessions do require pre-registration. Pre-registration can be accomplished by emailing Brielle MacDonald at barsenault@vnacarenetwork.org.

1. Incentivize HHA to provide better quality with greater efficiency
2. Study new quality and efficiency measures
3. Enhance the public reporting processes

1. Clinical quality of care
2. Communication and care coordination
3. Population Health
4. Person and caregiver centered experience
5. Safety
6. Efficiency and cost reduction

• Improvement in ambulation: M1860
• Improvement in bed transfers: M1850
• Improvement in Bathing: M1830
• Improvement in Dyspnea: M1400
• Discharged to community: M2420
• Improvement in Management of oral meds: M2020
• Improvement in Pain: M1242
• Acute care hospitalization
• Emergent Care

• sudden admission to hospice
• sudden move out of the area
• Not Home Not Found situation
• patient refusal of a discharge visit after several telephone calls
• MD request

• The Discharge OASIS assessment reports the patient status at an actual visit and CANNOT be information gathered with a telephone call.
• Staff should always attempt to make a discharge visit. When this is not possible, the OASIS assessment data is based on the last visit conducted by a qualified assessing clinician-RN, PT, OT, or ST.
• The last qualifying clinician who made a skilled visit completes the discharge OASIS.
• REMEMBER: if two clinicians visited the same day, it is the last visiting clinician's responsibility to do the OASIS.
• THE PRIMARY CANNOT COMPLETE THE DISCHARGE OASIS UNLESS HE OR SHE MADE THE LAST SKILLED VISIT!
• The discharging clinician needs to explain in a CC or IC note (McKesson) or Doc Com (Encore) titled Unplanned (or Unexpected) Discharge the reason the discharge survey was not completed during a scheduled discharge visit and include a statement such as "OASIS based on my last skilled visit of" and the date of the visit.

• The discharging clinician does not include any events or changes in patient status that happened (good or bad) AFTER the last skilled visit by a qualified clinician.
• Answer the items referring to "the last 14 days" based on the two week period immediately preceding the last skilled visit date.
• The discharging clinician completes the OASIS within TWO calendar days of the discharge date (M0906) or knowledge of the need to discharge.

• M0090-Date Assessment Completed is the actual date staff completes the discharge paperwork after learning of the need to discharge. The date should be within two days of M0906.
• M0903-Date of the last (most recent) Home Visit is the date of last billable visit by agency staff. This could be a home health aide visit, which cannot be determined in Encore. In this situation contact PCM for assistance.
• M0906-Discharge Date is the date the agency learns of the need to discharge. The date cannot be before M0903 last visit date.
• There are occasional situations where the last qualified clinician is no longer employed at the agency. If this does occur a conference should be requested between the clinical team manager and the PCM.