Home Healthcare Focus August 2009

Volume 1, Issue 3

focus

Home Health Care

August 2009

Addressing the needs of home health care agency professionals throughout the United States.

An Indura Systems publication Each issue includes:

Reacting to the Health Care Debate

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Industry Headlines

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Home Health Care Updates and Guidelines

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Event News

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Customer Support

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Igea Product News

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Home Health Care Comments

Newspapers, TV channels, radio stations, and web sites are all filled with the latest round of discussions, opinions, meetings, and complaints about health care reform. At this time, it is not easy to fully understand how to react to the government’s proposals. With so many “experts” offering a barrage of “facts” that twist and turn the health reform argument, accurately determining the impact of the final outcome is a guessing game. So what can we, in the home health care industry, be doing to minimize the impact of health care reform, and protect our patients, our caregivers, and our businesses?

Inside this issue: Reacting to the Health Care Debate

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Home Health Care Saves 1 Billions for Medicare CMS to Boost Home Health Payments

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Medicare Drug Plan Premiums to Increase

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Don’t be Fooled by False 2 Economy Health Insurance Reform Affecting Services

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Igea Customer Support

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We need to recognize what is currently in our sphere of influence— what are those things that we can control. Health care companies are using this time to reduce costs, improve efficiencies, ensure that their processes and systems are documented, and that activities and transactions can be monitored. They

are working with trusted advisers to ensure that their businesses are running smoothly, efficiently, and in strict compliance with current regulations. The only vendors that can be relied upon to support these activities will have a track record of home health care expertise, top notch products, and an established reputation in the health care industry. Indura Systems gives its customers access to sophisticated software solutions to easily manage home health agencies, as well as a team of home health care-experienced customer support professionals, dedicated to customer success.

Home Health Care Saves Billions for Medicare By expanding access to home health, a report by the Alliance for Home Health Quality and Innovation (AHHQI) indicates a potential saving of $30 billion for chronic disease patients in the next ten years. The study, which started in October 2008, states that “today’s home health industry provides a

crucial link in the health care continuum for some of the country’s most vulnerable patients, including millions of seniors who rely on Medicare, at a time when our nation’s leaders are grappling with daunting health care challenges.” The study goes on to outline how reductions in hospital read-

missions could allow Medicare to save $31.1 billion over the next ten years through expanded home health access. Significantly, 86% of people who qualify for Medicare have at least one chronic condition. Read the study at: www.ahhqi.org.

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Home Health Care Focus—Indura Systems

CMS to Boost Payments to Acute Care Hospitals and Home Health Agencies

Payments to be boosted for home health care centers by 2.2%.

Reversing an earlier decision, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced it will increase payments to acute care hospitals and home health agencies for fiscal 2010. Home health centers, will see an overall increase in Medicare payments of 2.2%. The update to the home health prospective payment system (HH-PPS) will come from capping payments to home

health agencies for “outliers,” — 60-day episodes of care that are unusually expensive. Under the new rule, each home health agency will only be reimbursed for outliers if they account for 2.5% or less of the agency’s total HH -PPS payments. The old rule allowed up to 5% of total reimbursements to be spent on the outlier cases. “The outlier policy changes we are proposing are in response to

overwhelming evidence showing a small, but growing number of home health providers have been abusing the system, especially in certain parts of the country,” said Jonathan Blum, director of CMS’ Center for Medicare Management. CMS also announced a 1.4% increase in Medicare payments for hospices. All updates will take place on October 1, 2009.

Medicare Drug Plan Premiums to Increase

Medicare drug plan premiums rise.

Based on the bids submitted by Part D plans, CMS estimates that the average monthly premium that beneficiaries will pay for standard Part D coverage in 2010 will be $30, an increase of $2 over the 2009 average premium of $28. Premiums and benefits for Medicare Advantage plans and more details about the Part D plans will be announced in September, as well as the list of

plans that are not renewing their contracts with Medicare for 2010. “The majority of beneficiaries enrolled in prescription drug plans should see only small changes in their Part D premiums or benefits in the coming year,” said Jonathan Blum, acting director of CMS’ Center for Health Plan Choices. “Although most Part D plans should have relatively stable premiums, all beneficiaries

should compare their current coverage with the plans that will be offered in 2010 when information becomes available in October.”

Some beneficiaries who receive the low-income subsidy to pay for their premiums will need to move to a new plan to ensure that they can remain in a zero-premium plan in 2010 because the plan’s premium will be higher than the 2010 subsidy amount.

Don’t Be Fooled into False Economy

Don’t make buying decisions based on short-term economy, but on long -term cost and measurable value.

When starting, or growing, a home health care business, costs are always a factor. Getting the “cost of doing business” formula right can be tricky.

period of time. While this might sound desirable, it is not made clear that the customer will end up paying considerably more for that product over a 12—24 month period.

It is not uncommon for false economies to surface. Agencies that need to trim costs, are vulnerable to questionable tactics by vendors serving the industry.

New agencies also tend to commit to products, such as software, that give them the bare minimum of functionality to get started. This is also a mistake. The cost and inconvenience to upgrade to a superior software product, when the agency’s

Some vendors claim to benefit agencies by providing their products at no cost for a limited

growth demands it (this can happen sooner than some agencies think), can bring the agency’s business to its knees. Igea HHC is designed specifically to grow with an agency’s business, and many customers significantly reduce their cost of ownership. Don’t be fooled by offers of “no cost” products—ask an expert and learn what you could really be paying over time.

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Volume 1, Issue 3

CHP Examines How Health Insurance Reform Could Affect Services Brent Tow, President/CEO of Community Health Professionals, attended a conference last week for the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) and he said paying for a health insurance reform plan the way the U.S. House of Representatives has put forward in their bill would dramatically change how Medicare works. The NAHC reported at the conference that the proposed health care reform bill as currently constituted would expand health coverage to include all Ameri-

cans at a cost of $1.2 trillion over a ten-year period. Medicare providers - including home health agencies and hospices would face what is being called a "productivity adjustment" consisting of a 1 percent reduction in payments every year moving forward. Perhaps most importantly, the home health care payment rates would be re-based in 2011, reassessing the amount of money earned by agencies for every service and the length of time associated with the procedures.

Tow pointed out this would be the first time for that type of change since 1997 when the pay per visit moved to a care established payment system. The current type of payment system says that Medicare will pay a set amount of dollars for a certain type of care for a set time period, usually 60 days.

Medicare providers would face a productivity adjustment of 1 percent reduction every year.

"We are saying that if we are going to have these kinds of cuts (to the system), then please phase them in over a period of time, say ten years, rather than have it all come in at once," Tow said.

Product News from Indura Systems With increasing interest in our point of care solution, iPOC, we have revisited our pricing strategy to make Igea HHC with point of care, more accessible for every agency. Igea Fusion combines Igea HHC with iPOC, allowing agencies access to a complete home health care management system that includes on-site caregiver workflow. iPOC runs on standard Windows tablet laptop computers and synchronizes with Igea HHC remotely or in the agency office. The solution comes complete with OASIS and clinical assessment forms and we

can take a selection of an agency’s paper forms and digitize them for use inside iPOC. Existing customers have enjoyed a significant reduction in typos, and increased back-office productivity which results in faster claim submissions. Igea Fusion is available in configurations suitable for small, start-up agencies, and large, enterprisewide installations.

Indura Systems iPOC point of care solution.

Schedule your Igea Fusion demo today, and take the first step towards introducing an easy to use, robust, and scalable point of care solution to your workflow.

Igea HHC Questions and Answers Q: When I print my calendar, not all the services scheduled are seen on the report. A: There is a useful report in Igea HHC named “Caregiver Calendar by Certification Period” with which you can easily change the configuration of the calendar. This report can be found under Reporting—Scheduling and Tracking—Caregiver Calendar by Certification Period. Once you are in that section, select the <settings> button. A pop-up window will appear allowing you to change the configuration for how Visits and Days are displayed. Click on to save and exit.

Q: I am making changes in the Plan of Care (POC), but when I preview the 485 Form to print it out, these changes are not being reflected. Why is that? A: This is because you are editing a Modified Order, instead of the actual POC 485. In order to make changes to the POC, first go to the Chronology Home tab in this section, and select the POC or Recertification order that you need. Click <edit> and make whatever changes are required. Click <save> when finished.

Indura Systems Customer Support—Igea HHC experts—home health care experts.

Igea HHC is a leading enterprise management application made specifically for home health care agencies. With an established reputation in many U.S. locations, Igea HHC and our point of care application, iPOC, are increasingly being adopted by agencies seeking a truly cost effective, easy to use, and scalable home health care management system, with excellent customer support.

Indura Systems 851 Irwin Street, #300 San Rafael, California 94901 California Phone: (415) 226-1206 Florida Phone: (786) 871-6755 Texas Phone: (956) 205-0024 Virginia Phone: (757) 942-1199 Igea HHC—Made to Manage Home Health Care Web site: www.indurasystems.com Blog: www.homehealthcarefocus.blogspot.com

Igea HHC, from Indura Systems, helps home health care agencies remain compliant, effective, and profitable. For a free demonstration, contact the Indura Systems sales team today—dial your local number and select option 2.

NAHC 28th Annual Meeting and Exposition

Proud Members of:

Come and see us at the NAHC Show in Los Angeles, October 10—14, 2009. We will be demonstrating our point of care solution, iPOC, and our market-leading home health care system, Igea HHC. See us at booth 1408. INDURA SYSTEMS OPENS A NEW OFFICE IN HOUSTON, TEXAS!

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Texas Association for Home Care Home Care Association of Florida California Association for Health Services at Home Association for Home and Hospice Care, North Carolina

As of July 2009, Indura Systems now has a permanent office in Houston, Texas, right in the heart of the home health care community, close to Memorial Hermann Plaza. We invite all local home health care agencies to call us for support on any home health care topic. As well as being technology experts, we have a team of home health care professionals and a network of consultants, billing specialists, and accountants, to help your business grow.

 Virginia Association for Home Care & Hospice

Customers Comment on Igea HHC. Valdes Yamiles CEO, Elderly Health Home Care Inc. Billing is a snap with Igea HHC, easy and efficient! The support team is there to resolve my issues on the first call. Sucet Lopez Administrator, Advanced Nursing Homecare Services Inc. Igea HHC has fulfilled all operating needs of our home health agency. The help/ support team is great when you are new like us. Juan Parrado CEO, The Lakes Homehealth Corp The Igea HHC system is user friendly. It covers every need

in the Home Health Industry and the Customer Support team is always there when we need them. Ernesto Diaz CEO, Samy Nursing Corp. As of today we can truly echo the sentiments of many. It is user friendly and pleasing to the eye. The menus are easy to navigate. We have used the support team and were very pleased with the professional and efficient help we received.

As well as these comments, we regularly hear from customers who have been able to reduce their back office staff overhead since implementing Igea HHC. In many cases,

users of other HHC management systems switch to Igea because of the cost savings available. It is not uncommon for operating costs to be cut by $50,000—$100,000/year based on staff salaries. We also receive feedback about our OASIS and billing capabilities which allow agency administrators to reduce claim submission errors, and speed the time to claim reimbursement. This results in improved, reliable cash flow which helps sustain a growing business. Join the Igea community today!

Join the happy community of Igea HHC customers. Benefit not only from a high ROI, easy to use, fast to implement home health care management system, but also from a company where staff have professional experience in the home health care business.

Igea HHC Made to Manage Home Health Care