Leadership Educational Sessions

Financial, Leadership

How to Secure Financing for Working Capital Requirements

Banks don't understand the healthcare industry! Growing providers need access to capital for M&A and to fund working capital requirements. Many growing home care agencies need access to capital for acquisitions and to fund working capital requirements. This presentation is a plain talking, nuts & bolts description of what types of financing are available to home care providers and what is needed to qualify.

Objectives:

• Identify three major types of financing available to home care providers.
• Decide which financing options are best suited to various operating environments.
• Prepare for the application process and underwriting criteria expected by lenders.

Faculty: Jack Eskenazi, Senior Vice President , American HealthCare Capital, Los Angeles, CA;

Course Level: Intermediate; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending); 1.0 CPEs (NASBA/SKA);

Marketing & Business Development, Financial, Leadership

Managing the Transitions from Hospital Affiliation to Independence to Growth

This program focuses on the current climate and rationale for hospital disaffiliation of home health agencies. The presentation includes a nuts and bolts approach to orchestrating these transitions and discussion of the human resource elements involved to maintain staff morale during a tumultuous time.

Objectives:

• Identify the most critical factors to determine viability of an agency assuming independence.
• Select appropriate processes to successfully establish and independent agency from a hospital based system.
• Identify human resource issues that will impact retention and recruitment of staff.

Faculty: Anne Rich, RN, M.Ed., CHCE, Executive Director, Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care of Southwestern CT, Stamford, CT; Robert Grestini, BA, Director of Finance and Reimbursement, Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care of Southwestern CT, Stamford, CT;

Course Level: Advanced; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending); 1.0 CPEs (NASBA/SKA);

Management & Human Resources, Financial, Leadership

Thriving Agency: Combining Staff Recruitment/Retention with Strategic Planning to Build Success

By allowing clinicians to use their clinical skills and judgment in providing individualistic, progressive care, staff satisfaction will increase and clinician visits per episode will decrease by as much as 25% as the presenters will report. With consumers expecting comprehensive, holistic care, the challenge exists for agencies to find the delicate balance between reimbursement options and generalist versus specialist care delivery models. Tailored marketing strategies will also assist in promoting overall agency success with the new, innovative programs and progressive practice patterns.

Objectives:

• Discuss successful strategies for recruitment and retention of staff and the opportunities this provides an agency.
• Identify the therapy related financial components that can increase operating margin.
• Describe how to prepare your agency for the future with new and creative therapy focused programs and approaches.

Faculty: Lisa Anderson, PT, Director of Rehabilitation, Trinity Home Health Services, Novi, MI; Barbara Samson, RN, BSN, MS, CRRN, Professional Services Manager, Mercy Homecare/Trinity Health, Bloomfield Hills, MI;

Course Level: Advanced; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending); 1.0 CPEs (NASBA/SKA);

Managed Care, Financial, Leadership

Maximizing Opportunities in a Managed Care Environment

In order to position their agencies to the greatest advantage, key home care staff must have a firm grasp of the growing trends that will affect their standing in the market. Among the trends of greatest concern is the movement of Medicare patients from fee-for-service to the managed care sector. This workshop will provide a broad view of the changes taking place in the Medicare marketplace, the potential impact these changes can have on the provision of home health services, and guidance on ways to position your business to best take advantage of the emerging coverage and payment trends.

Objectives:

• Identify legislative and regulatory changes that encourage a shift from fee-for-service to managed care under Medicare.
• Describe the impact this shift could have on the traditional delivery of home health services.
• Outline ways that agencies can best position themselves for success in the changing financial environment.

Faculty: Jim Hamilton, CPA, Managing Director, David-James LLC, Baltimore, MD; Gary Bowers, CPA, Owner, John Gary Bowers, CPA, Long Green, MD;

Course Level: Intermediate; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending); 1.0 CPEs (NASBA/SKA);

Quality & Outcomes, Clinical & Disease Management, Leadership, Hospice

The Service Call: A Radical Approach to Admission Delays

This session focuses on one of the most difficult challenges for agencies today: How to deal with increasing demand and the capacity limits imposed by a nursing shortage. One of the more innovative approaches is to ease the burden of the admission for the nurse by using non-nurse talent to get the admission process going. The service rep model is also very helpful in the hospital setting, when liaisons are finding less time for marketing because of heavy referral volume. This program looks at a different response that can help the referral source while facilitating the admission process.

Objectives:

• Create training tools to help the rep identify key patient and caregiver needs.
• Assess value of admissions nurses and develop training program for them.
• Utilize the service rep in hospital settings and for discharged home care patients.

Faculty: Polly Rehnwall, BA, MA, Senior Consultant, Polly Rehnwall Inc., Salt Lake City , UT;

Course Level: Intermediate; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending);

Leadership, Hospice

Embracing the Future, Leaving the Past

This workshop will address the human responses that occur during change in the business environment. It analyzes the effects of system changes, mergers, acquisitions and changes in ownership on employees. Using the tasks of grief as a model, it proposes a process that management can facilitate to help the change proceed smoothly. It discusses the type of staff reactions and behavior as well as activities that will address staff issues. A case study is presented as an example of how one agency director facilitated change in clinical operations when clinical management was replaced.

Objectives:

• Identify the stages and process employees go through during change.
• Describe the tasks of grief.
• Discuss strategies and activities for facilitating change.

Faculty: Kate Colburn, MA, President, Strategic Options, Kings Park, NY; Denise Palsgaard, BSN, President, California Home Care and Hospice, Merced, CA;

Course Level: Advanced; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending);

Managed Care, Financial, Leadership

Look Before You Leap: Best Practices in Managed Care Contracting

Many home health agencies are finding that increasing numbers of their patients have enrolled in managed care plans, while others are watching the enrollment growth trends and putting forth efforts to contract with managed care organizations to provide vital home health services. As was learned during the managed care boom of the 1990s, it's important to look before you leap. This session will provide important guidance on contracting with managed care entities from a seasoned professional.

Objectives:

• Identify steps an agency should take prior to beginning discussions with a managed care organization.
• Describe key considerations for agencies in managed care negotiations.
• Explain different methods for pricing services for managed care contracts.

Faculty: Sherl Brand, Executive Director, The Home Care Association of New Jersey, Princeton Junction, NJ;

Course Level: Intermediate; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending); 1.0 CPEs (NASBA/SKA);

Leadership, Financial

Outcomes: No where to run, no where to hide

It is inescapable. Outcomes are here, they are public, and they will be the driving economic force in home care for the foreseeable future. In this session we remove the fear and confusion surrounding Outcomes, as we show you how agencies across America are responding to the challenge. The speaker will present data, much of it seen for the first time in public, that is based on thousands of episodes. This real-world Outcomes data will give you insight into your agencys position in the marketplace. Additionally, youll learn simple, concrete, strategies that insure success. The speaker will demonstrate how to set goals and monitor your agency progress against your market, your region, and the nation. Participants will gain enhanced understanding of why the individual performance of clinicians is fundamental to success, demonstrated by the techniques and tools that will turn your clinicians into outcomes superstars.

Objectives:

• Discuss how successful home care agencies manage using outcomes-centered decision support tools.
• Explain how to use data from outcomes-centered decision support tools to drive major agency decisions and direction.
• Relate the primary concepts: Outcomes-centered decision support, Circle of Refinement, Agency Effectiveness Assessment.

Faculty: Jeff Lewis, President/CEO, Lewis, Inc, Baton Rouge, LA;

Course Level: Intermediate; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending); 1.0 CPEs (NASBA/SKA);

Leadership, Telehealth & Technology, Management & Human Resources, Hospice

Don't Pull Your Hair Out: Implementing Technology and Process Change

Successful introduction of new technology in the operation of a home care organization is dependent upon three key factors. The organization must apply the principles of change management, address the organizational culture change required by the technology initiatives, and plan an implementation that addresses both the technology and the process changes throughout the organization. In this presentation, home care leaders intending to implement major change initiatives, particularly those involving information technologies, will learn basic change management principles, and key elements of the model used by the presenter to successfully apply these principles.

Objectives:

• Identify change management principles that impact technology application in a home care setting.
• Describe and discuss the activities that are essential to preparing an agency's culture for large-scale technology implementation.
• Provide a case study and discuss the project management approach that resulted in a successful technology implementation.

Faculty: Linda Scott, MSHA, RN, BSN, General Manager, Professional Healthcare Resources, Inc., Annandale, VA; Kate Jones, MSN, Principal, Health Care and Human Resources, MSC Consulting, Inc., Laurel, MD; Wanda Strickland, BSN, CHPN, HCS-D, COS-C, Director of Performance Improvement Program Development, Professional Healthcare Resources, Inc., Annandale, VA;

Course Level: Intermediate; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending); 1.0 CPEs (NASBA/SKA);

Hospice, Leadership, Quality & Outcomes

Innovative Methods for Patient Comfort and Caregiver Satisfaction

This workshop will focus on skills and techniques for implementing integrative therapies within the confines of the routine home care or hospice visit; improved outcomes for patient pain and symptom management when patients are unable to tolerate or more traditional methods fail to be effective; And improved outcomes of caregiver satisfaction in managing patient symptoms using a combination of traditional methods of pain and symptom management along with CAM methods. Workshop participants will be guided through hands-on experiential exercises to determine how they may broaden the scope of their practice to include these valuable tools in daily practice.

Objectives:

• Identify five integrative therapies appropriate for your setting.
• Cite three reasons why integrative therapies are an effective method to use with traditional pain and symptom management strategies.
• Identify clinical applications of at least three integrative therapies that can be implemented within 10 - 15 minutes during a routine home visit.

Faculty: Esther Johnson, RN, BSN, PHN, Hospice Nurse Case Manager, Integrative Therapies , Pathways Home Health, Hospice & Private Duty, Sunnyvale, CA;

Course Level: Intermediate; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending);

Leadership, Marketing & Business Development, Management & Human Resources

The Three Faces of Satisfaction: Patients, Referral Sources, and Staff

Satisfaction surveys are the single, best tool for helping agencies assess the perceptions of their key customer groups and target specific areas for improvement. Learn from a national leader who has created three of home care's most respected and used satisfaction survey tools. Learn how agencies use these tools to increase patient satisfaction, referrals and staff satisfaction and retention.

Objectives:

• Review the three major satisfaction tools used by home care and hospice leaders throughout the country.
• Describe strategies for using findings to improve patient, referral source and/or staff satisfaction.
• Identify real life examples for how agencies can successfully use patient, referral source and staff satisfaction surveys for improved outcomes.

Faculty: Carleton Townsend, BA, MEd and EdD, Principle and Director of Quality Measurement, Fazzi Associates, Northampton, MA; Susan Faris, RN, MPH and CHCE, President and CEO, VNA Community Healthcare, Guilford, CT;

Course Level: Intermediate; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending); 1.0 CPEs (NASBA/SKA);

Telehealth & Technology, Leadership

EMR/EHR: A Case Study for Implementation/EHR: An Overview of the HL7 Specification

Citizens Memorial Healthcare, named the Organizational Davies Award Recipient for 2006 by HIMSS and the Most Wired Small and Rural Hospitals and Most Wireless Hospital lists in 2005, has created one electronic medical record (EMR) that crosses the continuum of care, including home care, hospital, long term care and physician offices.Topics include the background and planning for the EMR, the functionality of the EMR, and the value the EMR brings to patient care.This session will also provide an introduction to the HL7 draft Electronic Health Record (EHR) standard, its functional specifications, and how it might be applicable to a home care agency.

Objectives:

• Formulate an implementation strategy for an EMR system.
• Recognize the value that an integrated EMR brings to patient care.
• Explain how the HL7 EHR functional and content standards apply to home care agencies.

Faculty: Denni McColm, Chief Information Officer, Citizens Memorial Healthcare, Bolivar, MO; Valerie Noblitt, RN, BC, Clinical Manager, Citizens Memorial Healthcare, Bolivar, MO; Rob Swenson, BS, CCP, Sr. Solution Designer, Cerner BeyondNow, Overland Park, KS; Peter Kress, Vice President & Chief Information Officer, ACTS Retirement-Life Communities, Inc., West Point, PA;

Course Level: Intermediate; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending); 1.0 CPEs (NASBA/SKA);

Leadership, Quality & Outcomes, Management & Human Resources

Corporate Culture: The Six Sigma Approach

This program will describe how a multi-product line organization changed from a silo oriented focus to one of interdisciplinary collaboration through systematic change in the corporate culture and leadership style. By shifting from a traditional culture to a Six Sigma/Lean culture focusing on quality at all levels, the organization produced significant results in employee empowerment, customer service focused outcomes, quality and integration of services, and a shift in thinking from "we-they" to "us". As a result, the organization experienced a $1.5 million dollar turnaround in 18 months.

Objectives:

• Describe the difference between traditional culture and Six Sigma/Lean Culture.
• Illustrate the impact of using a talent management system.
• Identify the leadership role in organizational change.

Faculty: Nancy Martin, MSN, RN, President & CEO, VitalCare, Cheboygan, MI; Shari McLennan, BSN, RN, Director of Quality Improvement, VitalCare, Cheboygan, MI;

Course Level: Advanced; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending); 1.0 CPEs (NASBA/SKA);

Leadership, Marketing & Business Development

Self-Directed Care: A New Business Line for Home Care Providers

With the growth of self-directed care across the country home care providers need to be ready to be entrepreneurial in order to avoid missing opportunities in this growing care delivery model. There are a variety of roles available to home care providers in the self-directed care arena, including having full responsibility for the entire self-directed care program or contracting the agency out for specific functions such as acting as fiscal intermediary, conducting patient screening, engaging in quality assurance activities; providing care management services, and conducting caregiver screening, training and or oversight. This program will provide an overview of the self-directed care options open to home care providers.

Objectives:

• Describe major trends in self-directed home care.
• Identify issues and opportunities for providers.
• Describe the options that home care providers have to participate in self-directed care delivery models.

Faculty: Joie Glenn, RN, MBA, CAE, Executive Director, New Mexico Association for Home and Hospice Care, Albuquerque, NM;

Course Level: Advanced; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending); 1.0 CPEs (NASBA/SKA);

Telehealth & Technology, Leadership, Hospice

Push to Paperless: A 5 Year Project

This program will discuss the five year implementation process of an electronic medical record in a freestanding, non profit, home care and hospice. This will include the administrative, clinical, and business office operations of a paperless model and the impact on efficiencies, performance improvement, and pay for performance. The content will include the selection of the system, implementation and training of the staff, and deployment of technologies including point of service, intake, electronic verification and authorization for services, physician web portal, scheduling, supply management on line, telephony, telemedicine, general ledger, Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance billing, electronic remittance advice, HIPAA auditing, and payroll.

Objectives:

• Identify process for developing a strategic plan to automate home care processes.
• Identify the role of electronic health records in performance improvement.
• Express the business advantages of a paperless model.

Faculty: Carol Conrad, RN, BSN, MEd, Manager of Quality Improvement, Neighborhood Health Agencies, West Chester, PA; Andrea Devoti, MSN, MBA, RN, Vice President/Chief Operating Officer, Neighborhood Health Agencies, West Chester, PA; David Berman, CPA, Principal, Simione Consultants, LLC, Hamden , CT;

Course Level: Intermediate; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending); 1.0 CPEs (NASBA/SKA);

Leadership, Financial

The Balanced Scorecard as a Means to Pay-for-Performance Success

This interactive workshop will help the home care and hospice leader learn how to overcome the barriers to measurement and begin to understand what financial and non-financial performance measures to select in order to help their agency achieve its unique competitive advantage, drive strategic change throughout all levels of the organization and better position the agency for Pay-for-Performance. The workshop will also highlight how one home care and hospice agency used such an approach and the results that were achieved.

Objectives:

• Discuss the barriers to measurement inherent in the leadership and management processes.
• Introduce an approach to overcoming these measurement challenges and position the agency for pay-for-performance.
• Highlight how one home care and hospice agency adopted such an approach.

Faculty: Paul Breaux, Managing Director , SBS Partners , Desthrehan, LA; Donna DeBlois, MSB, RN, Executive Director, Kno-Wal-Lin Homecare & Hospice, Rockland, ME; John Houllahan, President, Houllahan & Associates, Winthrop , ME;

Course Level: Intermediate; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending); 1.0 CPEs (NASBA/SKA);

Managed Care, Leadership, Financial

What a Plan Wants: Medicare Advantage Plans' Perspectives on Home Health

Home care providers express frustration that managed care organizations fail to recognize that home care is highly valuable - it saves money by keeping patients out of costly institutions and provides care management, as well. So, what's the resistance to paying adequately for these important services? In this session a panel of managed care organization (MCO) representatives will provide their views on the role of home care in managed care, and what they look for when contracting with home care agencies.

Objectives:

• Explain the value of home care from a MCO's point of view.
• Identify characteristics that increase a home care agency's attractiveness to a managed care plan.
• Describe management issues MCOs must deal with in contracting for and overseeing home care services.

Faculty: Panel of Medicare Advantage Plan Representatives ;

Course Level: Intermediate; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending); 1.0 CPEs (NASBA/SKA);

Leadership, Emergency & Pandemic Preparedness, Hospice

Leadership in Times of Change

Changes often completely turn an agency upside down. These changes include things like the death of a co-worker, a change in ownership, or even having the agency closed. One of the ways to examine the concept of change and its impact is to look at the common skill sets of leaders who led their organizations through major challenges. In this program we will examine leaders' personal traits and skills and assess whether these can be taught.

Objectives:

• Discuss participant's personal processing and coping style.
• Assess employee communication styles to present messages that are truly understood.
• Identify and develop leaders who have the skills to manage in times of change.

Faculty: Mary Argo, BA, MPA, Administrator, Universal Home Health and Hospice Care Inc., Bellefontaine, OH; Kathy Christiansen, Executive Director, Patient Care, Oak Park, IL;

Course Level: Advanced; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending); 1.0 CPEs (NASBA/SKA);

Leadership, Marketing & Business Development

Navigating for Success: Impact of the Model of Care on Agency Success

Affinity Visiting Nurses (AVN) has been recognized for excellence in clinical outcomes while achieving fiscal success. A member of Ministry Home Care, AVN is currently ranked in the upper 10% for selected clinical outcomes while realizing a profit for fiscal year 2005. This presentation will detail the challenges faced by AVN leadership, the strategies for process improvement employed by agency and corporate leadership, and the outcomes achieved.

Objectives:

• Describe the challenges and the driving forces that signaled in the need for a change in the model of care.
• Discuss the model of care and the strategies to facilitate agency transition.
• Share the key critical indicators that demonstrated the agency's success.

Faculty: Linda Brown, RN, BSN, Home Health Director, Ministry Home Care, Appleton, WI; Jaime Potopinski, RN, BSN, MBA, Home Health Supervisor, Ministry Home Care, Appleton, WY; Dorothy Flees, RN, MSN, Manager of Quality Services, Ministry Home Care, Marshfield, WI;

Course Level: Advanced; 1.8 nursing CEs (MNA Approval Pending); 1.0 CPEs (NASBA/SKA);