June 10, 2010
Columbia Montour Home Health in national campaign
Columbia Montour Home Health Services (CMHHS) was chosen to participate in the national Home Health Quality Improvement (HHQI) campaign administered by the West Virginia Medical Institute (WVMI) and Quality Insights of Pennsylvania.
The HHQI is a two year campaign initiated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) intended to enhance the quality of home health services by identifying and distributing best practice information to the more than 8,000 home health agencies in the country. The goals of the campaign are to decrease hospital readmissions, and improve the management of oral medications for home health patients.
CMHHS was chosen by Quality Insights to represent how “rural” home health agencies can positively affect readmission rates and medication management. The choice to feature CMHHS as an exemplary organization was based on how effective they have been in achieving the HHQI’s goals.
“CMHHS’s readmission rate is very low, and all of their outcomes look great,” says Eve Esslinger, RN, BSN, MS, project coordinator for Quality Insights. “We realized their practices are obviously working, and we wanted to share them with other home health leaders and clinicians.”
The national average for avoidable readmissions for home health patients is 29%. Over the past three years, CMHHS has lowered their average from 28.3% to 16% by taking a proactive approach to patient care.
“The first step is observation,” explains Loreen Comstock, RN, MSN, CMHHS administrator of clinical services. “Our staff is educated to identify potential problems on a per-patient-basis that allow us to intervene before re-hospitalization is necessary.”
When a patient is identified as high-risk for rehospitalization, a staff member contacts them everyday for 14 days to make sure they are doing well and taking their medications properly. If an issue arises, CMHHS can make an extra visit and call the patient’s doctor to see if a change in care is required.
“We also empower our patients,” adds Cathy Reed, RN, BSN, BA, director of home health and continuous quality improvement. “We provide every patient with an individualized diagnosis sheet that identifies symptoms they should report. When a patient recognizes one of these symptoms, it is often early enough for us to coordinate the necessary changes in their care or medications before they require hospitalization.”
“By taking a practical approach to continuous improvement, home health agencies can improve both the quality and responsiveness of their services,” says Jane Gittler, CEO of Columbia Montour Home Health Services. “It was an honor to be recognized for our commitment to bettering not only patient care, but the overall home health experience as well.”
The HHQI campaign kicked-off at a national summit in January at the CMS headquarters in Baltimore. More than 4,000 home health agencies have signed up to take part in the campaign, and receive best practice information, such as that provided by CMHHS. For more information on the HHQI campaign, visit www.homehealthquality.org, or call CMHHS at 570-784-1723.