A study featured in the Annals of Internal Medicine reports that elderly patients and their families are more satisfied with homecare, which also resulted in shorter hospital stays and lower costs. (Medical News Today) Although anyone could have guessed the results, it's good to have formal studies with hard numbers. Patients generally prefer recovering at home with people who love them, no matter how kind and caring health care professionals may be. In related news, some of the country's … [Read more...] about The Value of Homecare, Relationships
Get On The Drug Train!
Saturday Night Live does Medicare Part D. Click here to watch. (You will need Windows Media, Real Player or something similar to watch) (HT Healthy Blog) … [Read more...] about Get On The Drug Train!
Drugs Excluded from Medicare Part D
The blogger over at Over! My! Med! Body! is a third year medical student. His blog is very informative about Health Care policies. He recently posted an article that will answer questions you may have about why some medications seem to be missing from the Medicare Drug Calculator. He obtained the following information from a Medicare patient advocate: In your tutorial, you mention that you have questions with the "Enter My Medications" section. First, the Federal legislation … [Read more...] about Drugs Excluded from Medicare Part D
New Pharmacy Claims System
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has announced that it has moved to a new pharmacy claims system, effective December 31, 2005. Information about why the system is changing doesn't appear on the site, but there are links to frequently asked questions, a pharmacy providers letter, and a quick reference guide for providers. … [Read more...] about New Pharmacy Claims System
Texas Association for Home Care Winter Conference
Texas Association for Home Care will hold a conference on January 25-26, 2006, at the Doubletree Hotel in Dallas, Texas. Providers will have an opportunity to discuss recent trends in home health care and network with other providers. Some session titles: The Future of Medicare & Medicaid Reform - What it Means to Texas, the Nation and Home Care Tax Reform in Texas - Effects on Your Business How to Impact the Politics Affecting Home Care; and Remote Electronic Monitoring: … [Read more...] about Texas Association for Home Care Winter Conference
Case Managers: Exempt or Non-Exempt?
The cheap answer is: Case Managers' exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act's (FLSA) overtime requirements must be determined on a case-by-case basis. The tougher analysis is that the Department of Labor (DOL) has apparently continued its earlier position that case managers are typically non-exempt and, thus, entitled to overtime. With all the celebration surrounding the DOL's regulations issued in 2004, providers remained frustrated with the DOL's complete failure to address the exempt … [Read more...] about Case Managers: Exempt or Non-Exempt?
New CPR Guidelines From AHA
KidneyNotes.com posts about the new CPR guidelines. As the post notes, the highlights are: *The ratio of compressions-to-ventilations has been changed to 30:2 *Rescuers now deliver 1 shock (360J monophasic) followed by CPR, not 3 shocks *Lay rescuers no longer check for circulation *Many other algorithms have been simplified These are published in the Nov 29, 2005 issue of Circulation. KidneyNotes has formatted some easy links to the above for you to read. Click here to see … [Read more...] about New CPR Guidelines From AHA
Legislating Ethics: So…Where’s Your Compliance Plan?
You may have heard of them at seminars, seen them referenced in handbooks and vaguely associated them with the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). But what are Compliance Plans and, more importantly, why don't you have one yet? Do You Want a Compliance Plan? You Bet…And You'd Better! The Office of the Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services dictates that almost all providers have Compliance Plans. Specifically, the … [Read more...] about Legislating Ethics: So…Where’s Your Compliance Plan?
Clostridium difficile –Some Important Information from MedSleuth
MedSleuth makes some important points about C-Diff and you should all take note of this: Two facts about Clostridium difficile are of increasing concern. First, it is becoming resistant to antibiotic treatment, and second, it is being discovered in otherwise healthy individuals who have neither been hospitalized nor been on antibiotics . MedSleuth goes on to quote some other important facts: In another article in the New England Journal of Medicine, health officials said … [Read more...] about Clostridium difficile –Some Important Information from MedSleuth
The Folded Napkin . A Truckers Story
This story was sent to PPAT by one of the members. Carole at PPAT gave me permission to post it here. I try not to be biased, but I had my doubts about hiring Stevie. His placement counselor assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy. But I had never had a mentally handicapped employee and wasn't sure I wanted one. I wasn't sure how my customers would react to Stevie. He was short, a little dumpy with the smooth facial features and thick-tongued speech of Downs Syndrome. I … [Read more...] about The Folded Napkin . A Truckers Story