Home Healthcare Nurse

FROM THE EDITOR

May 2013 Updates

Dear Colleagues,

Here are some recent articles of interest:

• Make a Family Emergency Plan (Infographic)

• HHS would increase rewards for reporting fraud to nearly $10 million - Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a proposed rule that would increase rewards paid to Medicare beneficiaries and others whose tips about suspected fraud lead to the successful recovery of funds to as high as $9.9 million. In addition, a new funding opportunity released this month supports the expansion of Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) activities to educate Medicare beneficiaries on how to prevent, detect and report Medicare fraud, waste and abuse.

• U.S. Heart Failure Costs Could Skyrocket: Report - Better awareness, prevention and treatment are crucial, experts say. The number of Americans with heart failure could rise 46 percent, from 5 million in 2012 to 8 million in 2030, new research says. And the direct and indirect costs of treating the condition could more than double, from $31 billion to $70 billion, over the same time period.

• May 7, 2013 Webinar: The Role of Patients, Families, and the Community in Patient Safety: Innovation and Best Practices - This webinar will explore tactics to engage patients and families in designing health care quality and safety improvement efforts. The webinar will be held May 7, 2013; 1:00–2:00 PM (Eastern).

• Development of a checklist of safe discharge practices for hospital patients - The hospital discharge process is often disorganized and lacks standardization. As a result, adverse events after hospital discharge are disturbingly common. This study reports on a multidisciplinary, collaborative effort—involving hospitalists, primary care physicians, home care and bedside nurses, and pharmacists—to develop a standardized hospital discharge checklist.

• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Offers Free, Online Continuing Education for Health Care Professionals - A new continuing education program for health care professionals offers doctors, nurses and physician assistants the opportunity to learn about best practices in improving care coordination and reducing avoidable hospital readmissions. The free, 90-minute online course is based on the February 2013 Care About Your Care panel discussion convened by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation at the National Press Club and moderated by Nancy Snyderman, MD, chief medical editor for NBC News. Completion of the course confers 1.5 CME or CEU credits. To access the course, visit www.CareAboutYourCare.org.

• PCMH Research Methods Series - The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is a promising primary care approach that emphasizes comprehensive, coordinated, accessible care, with a systematic focus on quality and safety. AHRQ conceptualized and commissioned a series of briefs to expand the toolbox of methods to evaluate and help refine PCMH models and other primary care delivery interventions. The PCMH Research Methods Series is the result of AHRQ’s invitation to nationally recognized thought leaders in research methods and PCMH models to prepare briefs that describe various methods and approaches and how they might be used to study and refine PCMH models. Topics cover both “evolutionary” ways to improve evaluations—by using traditional health services research methods—and “revolutionary” approaches that draw on novel methods from other fields such as anthropology, organizational analysis, engineering, and political science methods. The individual briefs and an overview of the series, along with other resources related to PCMH Evidence and Evaluation, are available at www.pcmh.ahrq.gov.

• 12 Ounces of Sugary Soda a Day Raises Diabetes Risk: Study  - European researchers found odds rose by up to 22 percent at this level of consumption.

  
   

A picture from the National Association for Home Care meeting in Orlando, FL with a great chocolate cake celebrating 30 years of "Home Healthcare Nurse"!

Also, from June's update is Nancy Lowe's editorial. Nancy is a nurse editor and colleague. Her positive home care story should be read by all, regardless of area of specialty: Reflections on the Importance of the Nurse.

I welcome your feedback and look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Tina M. Marrelli, MSN, MA, RN, FAAN
Editor, Home Healthcare Nurse

The Home HealthCare News offers up-to-date information that we want you, the subscribers of Home Healthcare Nurse to know about and soon! These may be government initiatives, web sites with important information, new publications, and more! If you know of an item that might fit this section e-mail the Editor, Tina Marrelli at news@marrelli.com.

IHCNO Inaugural Conference June 25-28, 2013

The mission of the International Home Care Nurses Organization (www.IHCNO.org) is to develop and support a vibrant world-wide network of nurses who promote excellence in providing optimal health and well-being to patients living in their homes.

We are pleased to announce our Inaugural Conference, to be held on the campus of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Ohio, June 25-28th, 2013, co-sponsored by the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University.

The focus of the conference is "The Future of Health Care is at Home!" Click for more information:

June 28-29, 2013 - Free Training
Treatment of TB, STDs, HIV, Hepatitis C and Substance Abuse on the Border: Focus on Reproductive Health Concerns
San Diego, CA
More Information