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For internal use only. Please do not distribute.
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Weekly Newsletter for Employees of VNA Care Network Foundation
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To ensure you're seeing the Connecter in its entirety:
- PC Users: right-click on the download images button at the top of this email.
- iPad Users: hold stylus down on images button until menu appears. Select download pictures.
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CONNECTER
ARCHIVES
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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, May 2, with articles due to connecter@vnacarenetwork.org by Friday, April 29. |
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IN THIS ISSUE:
SERVICE EXCELLENCE
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPDATES
CLINICAL SERVICES
FUND DEVELOPMENT
HUMAN RESOURCES
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
QUALITY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
VNA HOSPICE CARE
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April 25, 2016
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Volume 5, Issue 17
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Service Standard of the Week:
Service Standard #5: Service Recovery
We ensure complaints are acknowledged, addressed, and proper action is taken by utilizing LEAP.
- Listen
- Empathize
- Ask
- Produce
Here are some behaviors that demonstrate standard #5:
- If a complaint arises, respond with a sense of urgency; listening carefully and empathically with your eyes, ears, and heart; and resolving the issue to the customer's satisfaction.
- Anyone who receives a complaint will own it, resolve it to the customer's satisfaction and record it. We track customer complaints to assess for process improvements.
Huddle Topic Suggestions:
- When was the last time you had to employ your LEAP skills?
- Describe a situation where you successfully used your service recovery skills to strengthen your relationship with the customer.
- Describe a situation where using service recovery skills were unsuccessful.
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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:
- Improving patient experience
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- Town Hall Meetings
- Streamlining communication methods and tools
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- Huddle strategies
- Ongoing Service Excellence training
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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
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- Wendy Drake
- Jill Enwright
- Kelly Frew
- Dave Hanley
- Brielle MacDonald
- Cheryl Milas
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- Mary Ann O'Connor
- Adele Pike
- Lorraine Potter
- Dave Rose
- Geri Spina
- Charlvic Williams
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Submitted by Alice Bernard, Referral Center RN
The Referral Center received a nice compliment from Beth, a Tufts Senior Care Options cases manager. She said, ' I love working with you guys! Everyone is so nice and it is easy to make a referral. You are my preferred provider!" She said that many of her patients are Atrius and she appreciates the ease of making a referral using the Epic system as well. It is nice to hear compliments!
Submitted by Amy Daley, Clinical Services Manager, Rose Monahan Hospice Home I would like to recognize Tom Wood in the Woburn Referral Center. Tom really went above and beyond Friday night to help get a patient who was in crisis to Rose Monahan from another hospice agency who was unable to provide the level of care this patient required. Tom worked late helping to coordinate this transfer and get us all the information we needed to take this patient who was in such distress, literally on the spot. This is not the first time that Tom has demonstrated such enthusiasm and willingness to do whatever it takes in the best interest of patients. We were able to take this patient on Friday night where she was made comfortable until her passing the next day. A BIG THANK YOU to Tom!!
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Scenes from the Street
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Submitted by Laura Herzig, CSA in the Needham office
I would Like to recognize Joan Holst, she stays "with it" with her fit bit and is an inspiration to keep up with the times!
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Submitted by Marie Davis, PT in the Weymouth office
There's a new therapist in Weymouth! Start 'em young!
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The Telehealth Team recently got together for dinner to get to know each other better outside the office!
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ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPDATES
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VNA Care Rebrand Launching Next Week!
It's been a long time coming, but we are ready to launch our new brand beginning next week. Stay tuned for important information and how the rebrand will impact you!
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SCORE Survey - Complete Today!
(PLEASE NOTE: this is not the same culture design survey that the VNA sent out last year...please take a few minutes to complete, your input is incredibly valuable!)
Atrius Health has engaged Safe and Reliable Healthcare to conduct our second Safety Culture Survey. The aim of this survey is to understand how you feel about the Safety, Communication, Operational Reliability, and Engagement (SCORE) factors where you work. Your input is extremely important and valuable and will help us understand how to improve the conditions in which you work and the safety and reliability of the care delivered to patients. The survey will run from 4/11/16 to 5/9/16. Reminders and up to date response rates will be included in the Connecter each week during this period. Our goal is to get to an 85% response rate for this survey cycle!
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Hospice Featured on Chronicle
What a great day to be a part of VNA Care! Dr. Baker and the entire hospice team did an incredible job of representing our organization and all the wonderful things being done for so many patients and families every day.
If you weren't able to watch the Chronicle segment live, here is a link to the clip. http://www.wcvb.com/chronicle/chronicletalk-about-death-caring-not-curing-at-a-local-hospice/39123302
This was an amazing opportunity for our organization. It not only creates awareness for our services, but also serves as a reminder to patients and families to have those difficult conversations before it's too late. Thank you to all involved in making this happen and for all the work that's done every day in the field, in the home, and in the office to care for our patients and families.
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Boston Globe Subscribers: Last Week to Donate Ad Space
This is the last week you can donate ad space to VNA of Boston, VNA Care Network and VNA Hospice Care through the Globe Readers And Nonprofits Together (GRANT) program. Subscribers received a voucher last month via email or mail. If you do not have your voucher, simply complete a short form on the Boston Globe's website: http://manage.bostonglobe.com/grant/Default.aspx You will need your subscriber number, which can be found on your home delivery invoice or by calling 1-888-MY-GLOBE. For the organization name and city, please use one of the following: - VNA of Boston, Charlestown
- VNA Care Network and either Needham or Danvers
- VNA Hospice Care, Woburn
Thank you to everyone who helped us earn a free ad in last year's GRANT program. We hope you'll help us take advantage of this great opportunity again this year. Be sure to submit your voucher by April 30, 2016. |
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Yoffie Bequest Supports Clinical Education
William A. Yoffie and Judith S. Yoffie generously included a donation to VNA Care Network in their will, known as a bequest, to fund educational opportunities for clinicians. Their gift most recently supported training and certification in neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) via VitalStim for Amber Pombo, MS, CCC-SLP, speech language pathologist based in Danvers. This treatment option helps patients with difficulty swallowing by providing targeted stimulation to throat muscles while the patient does swallowing exercises. A grant from a private foundation also enabled the agency to purchase two VitalStim Therapy systems. If you know of a grateful patient or family member who may want to make a bequest or other charitable gift to support our work, please contact Jane Woodbury, vice president of fund development, at 888-663-3688, ext. 1360 or jwoodbury@vnacarenetwork.org.
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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.
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Job Postings - VNAB and VNAHC
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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Job Postings - VNACN and VNAHC
To learn more about career opportunities, contact a human resources representative:
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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:
- Liz Bourne
- Ray Brackett
- Linda Britt
- Kim Dio
- Kelly Frew
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- Mary Helen Mahoney
- Susan Marlin Procter
- Mary McCarthy
- Ilona O'Connor
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- Mary Ann O'Connor
- Mae Powers
- David Rose
- Danny Yang
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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.
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Network Downtime in Needham and Charlestown this Week
The IT Department is scheduled to perform maintenance on the Charlestown office's network Saturday, April 30th beginning at 8pm with an anticipated total completion time of 12am. The maintenance will include the replacement of our aging network gear and is just the first step of moving us to a strong redundant network. During this time, the following services and technologies will be unavailable during certain periods of the 8pm-12am time frame.
- Mckesson
- The Shortel Phone System. The main agency phone number will continue to forward to the answering service.
- Email for VNAB-based users (e.g. XX@vnab.org)
- VNA Boston network folder
As part of our planning and staging efforts we are making every effort to ensure the least amount of impact and downtime to the business. Like our successful Worcester refresh we are doing as much work as we can this week in preparation. Our key business applications and services will be our top priority to be restored. Please plan accordingly and feel free to contact the IT Department with any questions or concerns.
In addition, there will be a short network interruption in the Needham office on Wednesday, 4/27 beginning at 8pm. We will do everything possible to limit the network downtime.
Sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience.
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IT Department On-Call Staff for Week of 4/25/16
For Encore issues including communications, Encore laptops, WebVPN and general technology
- Through Friday, April 29, 11:59 PM - Gary Weller (774) 239-6064
- Beginning Saturday, April 30, 12:00 AM - Eric Bromberg (774) 463-7320
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, April 26, 10:00 PM - Carol McDonald (617) 913-3003
- Beginning Wednesday, April 27, 6:00 PM - Carol McDonald (617) 913-3003
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| QUALITY AND RISK MANAGEMENT |
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OASIS Guidance: M0090 Date Assessment Completed - Transfer OASIS Tools
By Elaine Gardner, Patient Care Manager
In the 3/22/16 Connector, an article titled M0090 Date of Assessment for Unplanned Discharges provided helpful guidance, noting M0090 is the date the clinician actually sits down and completes the discharge OASIS assessment. Earlier this year, one of the questions in the CMS Quarterly OASIS Q&As addressed a similar question regarding the M0090 Date Assessment Completed when completing the Transfer OASIS tool:
Question 1: Our Home Health agency admitted a patient on July 1st. He was admitted to the hospital on July 28th; from there he went to a skilled nursing facility on August 6th where he stayed until he died September 17th. When our Home Health agency audited the discharged record this week, it was discovered that a Transfer OASIS had never been done. My question is, should a Transfer OASIS be done and submitted this late after discharge from Home Health?
Answer 1: In the scenario cited, the Transfer assessment (M0100-RFA 7 - Transferred to an inpatient facility - patient discharged from agency) would be completed to end the patient's quality episode. The M0906 date would be the date the patient transferred to the hospital (July 28th), and the M0090 Date Assessment Completed would be the day the agency completes the transfer data collection. The Transfer assessment is due within two calendar days of the qualifying transfer to an inpatient facility. Assessments not completed according to the required time frames represent noncompliance with the data collection rules. (January 2016 Q&A)
This answer regarding the M0090 Date Assessment Completed in the Transfer OASIS Tool is consistent with the previous guidance provided in the 3/22/16 Connector article regarding the M0090 Date Assessment Completed in the Discharge OASIS Tool. Additionally, while difficult to always achieve, CMS data collection rules are to complete the Transfer OASIS Tool within two calendar days of the transfer date (M0906). Please note the Transfer OASIS Tool is relatively brief, ends a quality episode, and may be completed by the RN, PT, OT, or SLP, in the field or in the office, who learns the patient is admitted to an inpatient facility.
Thank you for your efforts in the timely completion of these OASIS Tools; such work also assists in the goals set forth in the HHVBP Model, as discussed in previous Connector articles. If you have questions regarding this or other aspects of the OASIS Tools, please contact the QI Patient Care Manager in your office.
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Continuing Improvement in Medication Teaching
By the Medication Management Committee & Quality Department
VNA Care Network (VNACN) has made improvement over the past year in the outcome for M2015 -Patient/Caregiver Drug Education Intervention.
At the end of February 2015, VNACN score was 93.5% for the previous 12 months and at the end of February 2016 it was 95.3%, great improvement, thank you to all you have worked so hard to move this to 95.3%.
However, while we did make progress, so did other agencies. Click the FULL ARTICLE button for more information.
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NO Zoster Added to Encore
No Zoster has been added to the drop down selections in Immunization History to be used when the patient has not had the zoster vaccine for reporting purposes. Beginning this summer the agency will be reporting to CMS the number of patients who received the Zoster vaccine and the reasons why a person did not receive the zoster vaccine. The only way we would be able capture this information is to add a new category labeled NO Zoster. Everyone has been doing a terrific job asking patients and recording vaccine information in the record. Going forward, please select NO Zoster when the patient has not received the zoster vaccine. Please note that we are also required to list the reason the patient did not receive the vaccine. See attached directions. This NO category is only for the Zoster vaccine. You will continue recording refusals of vaccines under the name of the vaccine such as Pneumococcal. When the patient does receive the vaccine at a later date, edit No Zoster to Zoster and add the date.
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PATIENT CARE MANAGERS
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Name
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Email
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Cell
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Position
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Covering Office
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Bowden, Marilyn
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774-502-7478
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Patient Care Manager
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Danvers and
Gloucester
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Dunn, Maria
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508-688-2449
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Patient Care Program Manager
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SS02 Southborough
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Gardner, Elaine
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617-680-1105
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Patient Care Manager
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Charlestown
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Gill, Christine
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774-502-5725
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Patient Care Manager
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Worcester
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Mihalick, Kyra
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617-913-6823
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Patient Care Manager
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VNAB Therapy
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Morris, Carol
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617-913-3006
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Patient Care Program Manager
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Quincy
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Saxena, Surabhi
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774-463-7336
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Patient Care Manager
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Leominster & SS55 Southborough
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Vitello, Maura
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774-502-7475
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Patient Care Manager
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Needham
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QI SUPPORT
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Covering Office
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Name
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Email
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Office Phone
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Position
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All VNAB
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Hughes, Kim
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617-886-6501 x5419
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QI Support Coordinator
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All VNACN
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Schultz, Chris
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617-886-6501 x6527
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QI Support Coordinator
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All VNACN
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Rao, Shamala
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508-756-7176 x6876
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QI Nurse
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| April 25, 2016 |
The Connecter
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Volume 5, Issue 17
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FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA!
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Confidentiality Notice: The Connecter newsletter is an internal communication intended only for employees of VNA Care Network Foundation and Atrius Health. Information contained within this newsletter includes confidential, proprietary, and privileged content. Unauthorized forwarding, printing, copying, distribution, and/or negligent handling is strictly prohibited and could result in disciplinary action.
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