Analysis of Home Health Agencies Payment Proposal
Proving Quality of Care?
Who Determines How to Measure Quality of Care ... and How?
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To review a recent article on the proposal calling for proof of quality care, made by US Department of Health and Human Resources, the division of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, see Daily Health Policy, dated May 2 2007. Quoting directly from this article: A series of changes CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) proposed last week to Medicare payments for home health agencies would lead to payment cuts totaling more than $7 billion by 2012, according to an analysis by the National Association for Home Care & Hospice, CQ HealthBeat reports. CMS on Friday proposed increasing payments by 2.9% for home health agencies that report quality-of-care data and by 0.9% for those who did not provide quality data. The question then arises, how does one determine quality of care? More to the point, on what basis will the federal government qualify a home care service as being one providing quality care in order to receive the 2.9% increase? And what about the issues surrounding quality of care within institutions such as nursing homes that also receive Medicare and Medicaid payments and as such, are subject to state surveys? Clearly the existing system does not work. Review this article recently published by the organization “Justice for All” Titled How Many More Disabled People Must Be Injured in Nursing Homes? When Senior Approved Services was founded, this very question was tantamount to the development of the consumer-driven survey process. 'We asked ourselves the same question. Our simple solution was derived by conducting focus group studies with adult children of aging parents and the senior citizen receiving care from an outside services,' says Barbara Mascio, founder. The consumer and care recipient of in home care, assisted living, nursing homes, adult day services (and so forth) reported that experience is the best indicator. Meaning, if you want to determine which companies are indeed providing excellent quality of care, ask the senior, ask the family members involved in the senior’s care. Ask, in other words, the very clients that this business serves. Can a business use the report received after completing the consumer-driven survey process with Senior Approved Services to prove quality of care? 'Though we can’t say whether or not a government body will accept this independent report, we can say, with all certainty, that potential clients find it extremely valuable,' states Mascio, pointing to the fact that the Senior Approved Certification clearly relays that this business does indeed, have a proven history of quality care. Each business awarded the Senior Approved Certification adheres to a higher code of ethics in its daily practices. The goal of Senior Approved Services is to help seniors (and their families) avoid contracting with less then desirable companies and does so by featuring only those that have obtained a minimum of a 90% satisfaction rating derived by surveying a combination of current and past clients. One of the advantages that a business has after completing the survey process with Senior Approved Services is the extension of offering third-party validation. With spending being cut on all fronts within the health and elder care industry it is unlikely that any system the government comes up with will include this feature. A feature that is extremely valuable to a potential client wading through the enormous amount of choices available within the health and elder care arena. To learn more about this innovative method to prove quality of care businesses are invited to review the process at Quality Elder Care
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