Posted on Monday, March 13, 2017 10:26 PM
Incorporating home health aides into the patient care team is a positive step in the right direction. One of the major changes to the revised Home Health Conditions of Participation (CoPs) is adding aides as members of the interdisciplinary team.
The following change needs to be noted for agencies:
• The final CoPs deleted a portion of the proposed rule requiring aides to report changes in the condition of pressure ulcers
In addition, aides must be responsible for reporting any patient changes to clinicians. Therefore, ads need to recognize and report all changes in skin conditions – this will be made possible with training programs and competency evaluations. CNA training might be a consideration for an individual to be a home health aide beginning with the new CoPs.
These new requirements for aides are effective July 13.
Another new area that is required from the aides is communication skills. According to the final rule, “Aides should be able to communicate clinical information to patients that is within the aide’s licensure requirements (for example, blood pressure).”
If an aide shows an area of concern, your agency must do the following:
• Conduct a home visit with the aide present
• Have the RN conduct a competency evaluation of the aide
• Educate the aide
A new paradigm for Home Health agencies is on the horizon and Corridor is here to help with our Home Health CoP Compliance Workbook. To learn more about how you can pre-order this exciting new offering, please check out the Home Health CoP page on the Corridor Bookstore.
For the full article, please see the March 13, 2017 Home Health Line Edition.
About Corridor
Corridor is the nation’s preferred partner and trusted business advisor to home health and hospice providers, providing quality services and impactful results for 30 years. Focusing on key operational, regulatory and financial challenges, Corridor delivering industry-unique solutions and deep expertise in coding, clinical documentation review, compliance, billing and collections , consulting and provider staff education . At Corridor, we make the business of caring for people Better! For the most important industry updates and news that impacts home health and hospice, please make sure to sign up for our weekly newsletter to receive the latest up-to-date industry information direct to your inbox!
For additional information, please contact Corridor at 1-866-263-3795.
