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Weekly Newsletter for Employees of VNA Care Network Foundation
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CONNECTER
ARCHIVES
Below is this week's issue of the Connecter newsletter, which is required reading for all employees. The next edition will be published on Monday, January 18, with articles due to connecter@vnacarenetwork.org by Friday, January 15.
KEY DATES THIS WEEK:
  • Wednesday, January 13: Medispan Update
  • Thursday, January 14: Town Hall Meeting > Woburn
IN THIS ISSUE:

SERVICE EXCELLENCE
January 11, 2016
Volume 5, Issue 2
SERVICE EXCELLENCE
Standard
Service Standard of the Week:
Service Standard #3: Professional Image

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

Here are some behaviors that demonstrate standard #3:
  • Take pride in and care of your personal appearance. Everyone is responsible for conveying a professional image at all times, in all places.
  • Wear your ID badge and adhere to our dress code standards.
TownMeetings
Observations on Service Excellence at Town Meetings
By Adele Pike, Director of Education and Service Excellence Champion
 
I have had the pleasure and the privilege of attending most of our recent Town Hall Meetings. And, since I was long ago given the assignment of writing about the Service Excellence standard relating to Professional Appearance, I thought I would take the opportunity of Town Meetings to check out employee fashions.
 
I'm happy to report that everyone looked great. Business casual was consistently the order of the day, with clinicians in either neat scrubs or professional pants and shirts. Footwear was also spot-on - neat, understated, and SAFE!
 
What employees wore conveyed a nonverbal message of respect for the work we do and for the patients we care for. It carried a message that we are here to do a job and also to care about patients we see and colleagues we work with. The VNA fashion statement at these meetings left me feeling "what an impressive, confident, and professional group of people make up this community." And, it left me proud that our fashion statements convey the same message to our patients! Thank you.

SEGroup
Service Excellence Champion Group

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

Key Initiatives Being Worked On:
  • Streamlining communication methods and tools
  • Town Hall Meetings
  • Service Excellence training for new employees
  • Improving the patient experience
  • Huddle strategies
Please contact the Champions listed below if you would like to have an initiative or issue reviewed at the next meeting. Thank you!
  • Ann Bohac
  • Debbie Brown
  • Katie Callahan
  • Jen Casper
  • Simone Charpentier
  • Lori DeRosa
  • Wendy Drake
  • Wendy Drake
  • Jill Enwright
  • Kelly Frew
  • Dave Hanley
  • Brielle MacDonald
  • Cheryl Milas
  • Mary Ann O'Connor
  • Adele Pike
  • Lorraine Potter
  • Dave Rose
  • Geri Spina
  • Charlvic Williams
spotlight

Submitted by the Fund Development Office from a grateful donor:
 
Nurses and physical therapists from VNA helped my husband through two difficult post-op rehabs. Annually, we contribute to support VNA's vitally important work. You guys rock! Blessings in the New Year!


Google+ review posted by a patient's family member who had been cared for at the Tippett Home
 
The staff is incredibly competent, professional and compassionate. All contributed so greatly to ensuring that our father was treated during has last two months with the dignity, respect, care, and kindness my family and I were seeking. The house is clean, safe, comfortable, and quiet and the staff and volunteers really extend themselves, not only to the residents but also to their families. I will be forever grateful for their support and friendship during an extremely difficult time in our lives. Suffice it to say, I highly recommend this organization to anyone caring for a dying loved one. My kudos and heartfelt thanks to all who work and volunteer there with a special shout out to Mel, Debbie, Betty, Joanna, Sandra, Rose, Anne, and Mary.


Submitted by Wendy Drake, Rehab Services Manager, from a happy patient cared for by Sharon Kuebler, PT in the Worcester office
 
I felt comfortable with Sharon right from the start. You are very lucky to have her working for you! She helped me a lot!
 

Please send your notes of praise and recognition to connecter@vnacarenetwork.org.

SCENESScenes from the Street

Share your pictures from the office or the field with us by sending them to connecter@vnacarenetwork.org!





ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPDATES
TH
Town Hall Meeting Dates

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.
  • Thursday, January 14: Woburn > Woburn office
CLINICAL APPLICATIONS
Medispan
Encore Medispan Update
By Christine Day, Clinical Application Specialist
 
Attention Encore Users:
On Wednesday January 13, 2016, a Medispan update will be placed on the server at 2 PM.
 
Please remember that this file will get picked up by your laptop with its first laptop sync after that time. It takes about 30 minutes to process onto your laptop. Please setup for your usual overnight communication Wednesday evening so that you will pick up the Medispan file overnight avoiding a potentially lengthy communication in the morning.

CLINICAL SERVICES
Workbook
New Patient Education Workbook Rollout in January
By Kyra Mihalick, Patient Care Manager and
Shannon McInnis, Manager of Orientation and Clinical Education
 
Attention all VNAB and VNACN clinicians! With the start of a new year, a new patient education resource will be available for you to use with all of your patients. Throughout January, PCMs and/or Education Managers will be attending team meetings to educate clinicians on the objectives and use of the workbooks.
 
The Education and Quality Departments collaborated to develop the new Patient Education Workbooks for clinicians to use with patients throughout the episode of care to promote patient self management and thus improve long term outcomes. Every patient, regardless of diagnosis, will receive an Education Workbook on admission in addition the policy/regulatory information. These are a great supplement to the education and recommendations already being provided to patients by clinicians as best practice. And, by having commonly used and important teaching tools in one workbook, our patients will have important information to help them stay safe and out of the hospital in one easy to find place.
 
If you have any questions about the new Patient Education Workbooks, please contact a PCM or Education Manager.

Shingles
Herpes Zoster (Shingles) Vaccine Documentation
By Susan Stiller, QI Specialist and Infection Control Officer,
Christine Gill, Patient Care Manager, and
Kathleen Schuft, Clinical Application Specialist
 
All clinicians will need to collect and document in Encore and McKesson whether or not the patient has had the Herpes Zoster vaccination. This will be collected only on patients 60 years of age and older. This is a CDC recommendation. Tracking the shingles vaccine will now be part of CMS's Value Based Purchasing program for home health agencies. It was to begin January 1st but the tracking of this measure has been delayed to the summer. This does give us the opportunity to begin asking the patient or patient's provider if they received the vaccine, entering the date in the record.  
 
Only one dose of the vaccine is needed. Persons with substantial suppression of cellular immunity such as AIDS, treatment with drugs that affect the immune system, prolonged high-dose steroids, radiation or chemotherapy, cancer affecting bone marrow or lymphatic system should NOT receive the vaccine.
 
Documentation of the Herpes Zoster Vaccine
This information is added in the Immunization History panel found within the Medications List / Allergies section for Encore.


For McKesson users, the location of the shingles vaccine date is still to be determined. Please note that you will start seeing a question regarding Herpes Zoster in the admission macro. Please start documenting the patient's vaccination status there as requested.

HandHygiene
Hand Hygiene Audit Tool
By Susan Stiller, QI Specialist and Chief Infection Officer

The Hand Hygiene audit tool for 2016 is now available. Please use this for hand hygiene audits. Everyone is doing an excellent job performing hand hygiene at all of the appropriate times during patient care. As it is so important to reduce the risk of infection, the audits will continue (plus it is a Joint Commission mandate).


HUMAN RESOURCES
BONUS
Employee New Hire Referral Bonus Program

The new hire referral bonus program includes employee referrals for RNs, LPNs, PTs, PTAs, OTs, COTAs, and SLPs. If you would like to refer a friend, family member, or colleague, please inform the appropriate Human Resources Representative at your location prior to the applicant coming in for an interview. Please note, when two or more employees refer the same applicant, the referral bonus will be split equally amongst the employees.

Referral bonuses are paid out after the referred employee's three and six month anniversary, as long as they are in a paid status at those intervals.

Please contact Cheryl Milas at cmilas@vnacarenetwork.org or Debbie Brown at dbrown@vnab.org for more information.

JOBS
Job Postings - VNAB and VNAHC
Job Postings - VNACN and VNAHC
To learn more about career opportunities, contact a human resources representative:
EAT
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:
  • Liz Bourne
  • Ray Brackett
  • Linda Britt
  • Kim Dio
  • Kelly Frew
  • Mary Helen Mahoney
  • Susan Marlin Procter
  • Mary McCarthy
  • Ilona O'Connor
  • Mary Ann O'Connor
  • Mae Powers
  • David Rose
  • Danny Yang
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 in the Charlestown office.
 
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
MIS
MIS Department On-Call Staff for this Week

For Encore issues including communications, Encore laptops, WebVPN and general technology
  • Through Friday, January 15, 11:59 PM - Eric Bromberg (774) 463-7320
  • Beginning Saturday, January 16, 12:00 AM - Sean Carroll (508) 868-0615
For McKesson issues including iPads and laptops and general technology (support is provided weekdays 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM, weekends and holidays 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM)
  • Through Tuesday, January 12, 10:00 PM - John Williams (617) 913-3003
  • Beginning Wednesday, January 13, 6:00 PM - Carol McDonald (617) 913-3003
QUALITY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
VBP
Value Based Purchasing - Part 2 of 4
By Donna Peters, Director of Quality Assurance and Risk Management 
 
Massachusetts has been randomly selected to participate in the pilot group for the CMS proposed quarterly reporting payment system based on quality outcome data. CMS is looking to develop a greater transparency of Medicare data within the market to deliver care based on value of care over volume.
 
The goals per CMS are to:
  1. Incentivize HHA to provide better quality with greater efficiency
  2. Study new quality and efficiency measures
  3. Enhance the public reporting processes
Home Health Value Based Purchasing (HHVBP) will test whether incentives for better care improve outcomes of care delivery. The aim is to support a payment system that rewards providers who deliver the highest quality outcomes, based on OASIS, Patient Satisfaction and Claims data.
 
This pilot, for data collection begins January 1 2016 for our agencies and extends through 2018. 

The 6 domains that CMS will target are:
  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
Each of these areas are covered by OASIS, patient satisfaction or claims data. We will be evaluating our performance in these areas, as we have been doing through quality review, CMS/QI committee and utilization review teams. The accuracy and validity of our OASIS data is extremely important as we are part of this pilot through 2018. The quality team is prepared to work with all staff in the agency for understanding these measures, assisting in outcome reporting and working to improve our scores. To date we are doing exceptionally well, with VNAB at 5 STARS and VNACN at 4.5 STARS. Thanks to all of you, our challenge is to continue to excel with 5 STARS as our continued goal.
 
These measures are reviewed on a regular basis by the CMS/QI team of professionals within the organization. Each month this team meets to assess how each measure is scored and evaluating ways for process improvement as needed, with continued education, review of aggregate and individual score cards and one to one education. We are doing well with our outcomes, as you know by our STAR Ratings, we continue to review and assess on a continuing ongoing basis to maintain our success and raise the bar to show our value as a Home Health Organization to the community and to CMS.
 
Process Measures:
  1. Timely initiation of Care: M0102, M0030
  2. Care management: M2102
  3. Pressure Ulcer: M1300, M2400
  4. Fall assessment: M1910
  5. Depression: M1730
  6. Drug education: M2015
OASIS
Q1 OASIS Education

The QA Department is committed to providing continuing quarterly education sessions for OASIS guidance and accuracy into 2016. As we move into Value Based Purchasing, our care and the measurement of our outcomes is key to the future. Please see following Q1 schedule for the office dates and times. The sessions are 90 minutes and mandatory. As always, you may go to an office of your choosing to complete the education. Please coordinate with your manager. We look forward to seeing you at the sessions.

Office
Day/Date
Time
Presenter
CharlestownSunday, March 68-9:30amElaine/Kyra
CharlestownWednesday, March 22-3:30pmElaine/Kyra
CharlestownTuesday, March 158:30-10amElaine/Kyra
CharlestownThursday, March 312-3:30pmElaine/Kyra
Danvers/GloucesterWednesday, March 28:30-10amMarilyn
Danvers/GloucesterTuesday, March 158:30-10amMarilyn
Danvers/GloucesterThursday, March 248:30-10amMarilyn
Danvers/GloucesterTuesday, March 292:30-4pmMarilyn
LeominsterThursday, March 102:30-4pmSurabhi
LeominsterWednesday, March 238:30-10amSurabhi
NeedhamWednesday, March 28:30-10amMaura
NeedhamTuesday, March 88:30-10amMaura
NeedhamSunday, March 138:30-10amMaura
NeedhamMonday , March 148:30-10amMaura
NeedhamThursday, March 248:30-10amMaura
QuincyTuesday, March 82-3:30pmKyra/Carol
QuincyThursday, March 248:30-10amKyra/Carol
SouthboroughWeds., February 242:30-4pmMaria/Surabhi
SouthboroughTuesday, March 18:30-10amMaria/Surabhi
SouthboroughThursday, March 32:30-4pmMaria/Surabhi
SouthboroughTuesday, March 152:30-4pmMaria/Surabhi
WeymouthWednesday, March 168:30-10amKyra/Carol
WeymouthThursday, March 312-3:30pmKyra/Carol
WorcesterTuesday, February 232:30-4pmChris
WorcesterThursday, March 32:30-4pmChris
WorcesterSunday, March 68:30-10amChris
WorcesterFriday, March 118:30-10amChris
WorcesterTuesday, March 158:30-10amChris
WorcesterTuesday, March 222:30-4pmChris

PATIENT CARE MANAGERS
Name
Email
Cell
Position
Covering Office
Bowden, Marilyn
774-502-7478
Patient Care Manager
Danvers and
Gloucester
Dunn, Maria
508-688-2449
Patient Care Program Manager
Leominster and Southborough
Gardner, Elaine
617-680-1105
Patient Care Manager
Charlestown
Gill, Christine
774-502-5725
Patient Care Manager
Worcester
Mihalick, Kyra
617-913-6823
Patient Care Manager
VNAB Therapy
Morris, Carol
617-913-3006
Patient Care Program Manager
Quincy
Saxena, Surabhi
774-463-7336
Patient Care Manager
Leominster and Southborough
Vitello, Maura
774-502-7475
Patient Care Manager
Needham

QI SUPPORT
Covering Office
Name
Email
Office Phone
Position
All VNAB
Hughes, Kim
617-886-6501 x5419
QI Support Coordinator
All VNACN
Schultz, Chris
617-886-6501 x6527
QI Support Coordinator
All VNACN
Rao, Shamala
508-756-7176 x6876
QI Nurse
January 11, 2016
The Connecter
Volume 5, Issue 2
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