Caregiverlist Care News: Private Duty Insider Newsletter by DecisionHealth

Private Duty Insider Newsletter by DecisionHealth, June 7th Issue

Disaster Preparedness:  Protect Your Business

Prepare for the unexpected. Disasters could strike at any time and in the event they do, having a plan in place for your business is just as essential as having one for your clients. As a business owner, it’s your sole responsibility to anticipate what kinds of emergencies might affect your company both internally and externally.

Develop a disaster plan for your business that includes the following strategies:

• Print copies and save important documents to a memory stick or web-based document storage program. Copy all company insurance policies; inventory of business equipment (include photos whenever possible); completed staff disaster plan forms; client disaster preparedness form; and active client lists including addresses, phone numbers, evaluation location, and responsible party contact information. READ MORE

Increase Referrals with Emphasis on Customer Service

Caring Senior Service in San Antonio, Texas, saw a 29% increase in home care referrals in one year after expanding the agency’s customer service strategies that balance a focus on clients, agency caregivers and referral sources.

Achieve similar success at your agency by using the following customer service strategies – for clients, staff and referral sources – Caring Senior Service founder and CEO Jeff Salter found most useful:

• Grow confidence with potential clients by learning their concerns. Understand that potential clients likely are skeptical about your services. Learn what concerns they have about their condition, ask questions to gain the information you need and provide examples about your agency’s care approach and describe past solutions you’ve given to similar issues.
• Know and thank the referral source. Ask clients how they heard about your agency to help determine how the conversation should be steered. For instance, clients who learned about your agency in the phone book may be more skeptical than those referred by a healthcare provider. READ MORE

Proposed rule calls for state scrutiny of Medicaid programs, may slow pay cuts

Your state will have a harder time cutting your payments if CMS finalizes a proposed rule aimed at ensuring access to care for Medicaid clients.

The proposed rule, published May 6 in the Federal Register, would require states to conduct comprehensive data analyses, based largely on provider and client input, before making any payment changes to ensure that the modifications don’t prevent access to care.

The proposed rule suggests a review of data points such as the number of providers who are accepting new Medicaid clients, provider retention rates and the average amount of time from provider claim submission to payment by the Medicaid agency to track client access.

The proposal outlines a five-year reporting cycle in which states must report on some Medicaid services by Jan. 1 of each year and report on all eligible services rendered by the end of the five-year cycle.  READ MORE

Register for DecisionHealth's 14th Annual Private Duty National Conference & Expo on November 2 - 4, 2011

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