Hospice
What is Hospice?
Hospice is a program of palliative care (relief from pain and suffering) and supportive services provided in both home and inpatient settings which provides for physical, psychological, spiritual care for the dying persons and their families. Services are provided by a medically directed interdisciplinary team of professionals and volunteers.
Menu of Hospice Consulting Services
HealthCare Consultlink provides innovative services and products to help hospice programs manage operational and regulatory challenges. Services are tailored to meet the needs of your agency. Services include:
- Accreditation Preparation
- ADR or ZPIC support
- Clinical Due Diligence: pre-acquisition
- Compliance Assessment/Mock Surveys
- Corporate Compliance Program Development
- Educational Opportunities offered for Administrator, Nursing, and Social Worker hours
- QAPI Outsourcing
- Plan of Correction
- Startup of new agencies
Accreditation Preparation
HealthCare ConsultLink maintains an in-depth knowledge of the latest accreditation standards and other requirements in an effort to help you achieve full accreditation in a timely and cost effective manner.
Accreditation consultation is available for:
The Community Health Accreditation Program (CHAP)
The Joint Commission for Accreditation (TJC)
ADR or ZPIC Support
HealthCare ConsultLink can assist you by reviewing clinical records, writing letters summarizing patient eligibility, and providing support throughout the appeal process.
HealthCare ConsultLink provides staff education specifically designed to address documentation-related issues.
Clinical Due Diligence
An acquisition may provide you with entry into the hospice industry; however, it is not without its risks. Therefore, conducting a comprehensive pre-acquisition due diligence is essential. HealthCare ConsultLink assess the internal workings of hospice programs:
- Auditing operations, both clinical and administrative;
- Auditing medical records both active and discharged for eligibility and documentation;
- Reviewing the level of regulatory compliance and identifying potential risks.
Compliance Assessment/Mock Surveys
Due to the increase in state and federal surveys for fraud and abuse, HealthCare ConsultLink will conduct a comprehensive assessment of specific risk areas and assist you in developing a plan to address any problem areas. The survey includes:
- Assessment of Administrative and Clinical Processes
- Audit of clinical records, both active and discharge
- Review of patient eligibility and length of stay
- Audit of all levels of hospice care provided
- Evaluation of compliance with State and Federal rules and regulations
- Review of practices in relation to the risk areas identified by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG)
Corporate Compliance Program Development
In today’s culture of intense governmental scrutiny, a corporate compliance program can assist you in mitigating penalties and in helping you create an organizational culture of quality and compliance.
HealthCare Consultlink will assist you in compliance education, policies, forms, and oversight, to create a pro-active, open environment for your patients, staff and volunteers.
Educational Opportunities
HealthCare Consultlink will provide administrator training that meets the Department of Aging and Disability Service’s regulations. CNE’s for nurses and CEU’s for social workers are also available on a multitude of topics, ranging from understanding regulations to documentation to support patient eligibility.
Quality Assessment Performance Improvement Outsourcing (QAPI)
Federal and most State regulations require hospices to develop, implement, and maintain an effective, ongoing, hospice-wide data-driven QAPI program.
HealthCare ConsultLink can offer you monthly or quarterly assistance to meet these regulations:
- Audits of active and discharge clinical records
- Review of infection reports, adverse events, incidents and complaints
- Review of contracts, policies, personnel and volunteer records
- Monitoring of Volunteer and Bereavement programs
- Monitoring of performance improvement plans (PIPs)
- Development and aggregation/trending of indicators with established targets
- Establishing action plans for correction of identified areas in collaboration with your staff
- Quarterly QAPI reports with recommendations to management
Plan of Correction
HealthCare ConsultLink will assist you in reviewing and completing your plan of correction for State and Federal regulatory issues and for Accreditation for CHAP and The Joint Commission.
Startup of new agencies
HealthCare ConsultLink will assist you with all aspects of starting an agency:
- Assistance with Initial applications for State, Medicare, and Accreditation
- Policy, Forms, QAPI, and Orientation manuals
- On-site education for management and staff on rules and regulations with step-by-step instruction
- Assistance with and education on QAPI
- Assistance with set-up of required meetings, contracts, etc.
- Personnel – sample personnel file with forms and job descriptions
- Mock survey prior to accreditation survey
HealthCare ConsultLink has package prices for startups. Call or email us for your free consultation.