Administrative Memos

200505

FROM: Theodore O. Will, Chief Executive Officer
DATE: Oct 14, 2005
SUBJECT: Home Health Quality Initiative: Acute Care Hospitalization Planning Packet
IPRO CONTACTS:

Sara Butterfield, RN, BSN, CPHQ, CCM, Upstate Director, HCQIP (800) 233-0360 Ext. 104

In support of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 8th Scope of Work initiative to reduce avoidable acute care hospitalizations, IPRO is pleased to provide an Acute Care Hospitalization Planning Packet to assist your agency in the design, development and implementation of a Plan of Action addressing this quality measure.

The Acute Care Hospitalization Planning Packet, designed to provide all of the initial components to support the initial steps of Plan of Action development, includes the following materials:

Hard copy of the Risk-Adjusted and Descriptive Outcome Reports and corresponding Case Mix Report for your agency
A CD ROM containing a Patient Tally Workbook that combines your agency Outcome Tally Report and Case Mix Tally Report into a workbook intended to assist you in selecting records for a Process of Care Investigation of patients hospitalized during the report period. The Patient Tally Workbook is password protected as it contains patient specific information. The password for your agency to access the Patient Tally Workbook will be forwarded to you in separate correspondence.
Instructions for navigation through the Patient Tally Workbook
A chart audit tool to utilize for the Process of Care Investigation
A Case Mix Analysis Tool that identifies the risk factors associated with hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients for your agency
A sample Risk Assessment Tool that can be utilized at Start of Care / Resumption of Care to identify patients at high risk for re-hospitalization. This enables earlier implementation of interventions which may prevent an avoidable hospitalization.
A CD ROM containing the Acute Care Hospitalization Improvement Matrix and corresponding tools and resources. These provide evidenced based strategies that can be incorporated into your Plan of Action. A hard copy of the Improvement Matrix is also provided for your reference during the upcoming Webex teleconference calls in October.
The Plan of Action template which provides all of the important components that need to be incorporated into the development of your plan to address this quality measure.

We encourage you to review these materials prior to the October 20th and October 27th Webex teleconference sessions. At that time, we will describe them in more detail, which should assist you in using them in the outcome enhancement process. These tools will also be utilized during the upcoming regional workshops IPRO will be offering in November to assist agencies in finalizing their Plans of Action for implementation.

If you have questions regarding this memorandum or would like additional information, please contact Sara Butterfield at 1-800-233-0360 Ext.104.

Thank you for your continued collaboration on this valuable initiative!