October 16, 2015 Edition of ASAP by Home Care Association of New York State

ASAP

A Weekly Publication Of HCA Home Care Association of New York State

Legislative Issues  Public Policy



News

Volume 20, No. 36 October 16, 2015

FLSA Overtime Rule Kicks-In as HCA Presses Funding Advocacy with State Officials, Country’s Largest NPR Affiliate Vital: Members must complete association survey on overtime impact, so that we have data to advocate for funding New federal overtime rules went into effect on October 13, now that the federal “companionship exemption” has been eliminated for third-party employers, including home care agencies. The October 13 implementation date came after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to issue a “stay” on the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) changes; plaintiffs who sought the “stay,” including the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC), are pressing forward with an appeal of the overtime rules in the nation’s highest court, armed with a supporting affidavit from HCA which is filed in the legacy of court documents throughout the case, including mention in papers before the Supreme Court. As the new rule kicked in this week, HCA continued to make the case for home care reimbursement to reflect new rising costs of the mandate, voicing our concerns in major media, including comments to NPR-affiliate WNYC (93.9 FM), which has the largest public radio audience of any affiliate in the United States. See FLSA p. 2

Match – and Exceed – Your Imagination with Soon-to-Come Quality Risk Tool, Previewed at HCA Symposium on Nov. 17 & 18 Imagine possessing a powerful new tool that allows you to track, benchmark and improve your quality and compliance measures in one thorough, dynamic and systematized rubric of best-practices and regulatory requirements. Imagine that this tool was honed over many months of development work,

In Memor iam: T racey Sokolof Memoriam: Tracey Sokolofff HCA was very saddened to learn news this week of the passing of Tracey Sokoloff, 62, See SOKOLOFF p. 4

See IMAGINE p. 4

Inside ASAP FLSA Overtime Rule Kicks-In................................................................1 Quality Risk Tool Preview at HCA Symposium.....................................1 HCA “Essential Personnel” Bill Delivered to Governor.....................5 Add NGS E-mail Addresses to List of Safe Senders............................5 HCA Meet-Ups Coming to You...........................................................6 Don’t Forget: HCA’s Member Forums.................................................6 Member Hiring Announcements..........................................................7 QIVAPP Update...............................................................................8 DSRIP..............................................................................8 ICD Contact List for Providers with Questions...................................9 CMS Issues 2 Transmittals Updating the State Operations Manual...9 NGS Webinar on Ordering Home Health Services for Medicare........9 Publications.................................................................................10

Helping New Yorkers Feel Right At Home

ASAP – a publication of the Home Care Association of New York State

Volume 20, No. 36 October 16, 2015 

FLSA from p. 1 In a report on Wednesday, WNYC noted that “home health agencies operate on thin margins and most actually lose money, according to Roger Noyes, a spokesman for the Home Care Association of New York State. Noyes said employers now will have even greater incentive to limit overtime by using more workers to cover shorter shifts.” “‘That affects the aide, and that affects the patient who might have multiple care-givers coming into their home — especially for those patients that require a lot of care,’ Noyes said.” Members can hear the report at http://www.wnyc.org/story/new-rule-increase-home-health-aides-wages-unlessit-doesnt/. HCA explained that capitated payments (under Medicare or Medicaid managed care), episodic payments (under fee-for-service Medicaid and Medicare), and, even, the dwindling slice of traditional fee-for-service home care payments, amid a Medicaid Global Cap and other cost-containment measures (not to mention rebasing initiatives), all are designed in such a way that the payment mechanisms, rates and premium schedules for home care do not accommodate these increased overtime costs, being shouldered by providers now. As WNYC correspondent Fred Mogul noted, “Home care agencies — and advocates for workers and patients — want higher reimbursement rates, saying that would attract better workers and reduce turnover. But the state and federal government pay for almost all home care through Medicaid and Medicare. Both are under pressure to reduce spending, so funding has lagged behind. And with payments typically pegged to data that’s two years old or more, it could take a while before the payment formulas reflect the new overtime reality.” This week’s WNYC press coverage follows press outreach by HCA Member Marki Flannery, Executive Vice President and Chief of Operations at the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, who recently penned an excellent

ASAP is a weekly publication of the Home Care Association of New York State (HCA). Unless otherwise noted, all articles appearing in ASAP are the property of the Home Care Association of New York State. Reuse of any content within this newsletter requires permission from HCA. President: Editor:

Joanne Cunningham, jcunningham@hcanys.org Roger L. Noyes, Director of Communications, rnoyes@hcanys.org Al Cardillo, Executive Vice President, Policy & Programs, acardillo@hcanys.org Patrick Conole, Vice President, Finance & Management, pconole@hcanys.org Andrew Koski, Vice President, Program Policy and Services, akoski@hcanys.org Alexandra Blais, Director of Public Policy, ablais@hcanys.org Laura Constable, Senior Director, Membership & Operations, lconstable@hcanys.org Celisia Street, Director of Education, cstreet@hcanys.org Mercedes Teague, Finance Manager, mteague@hcanys.org Jenny Kerbein, Director of Governance and Special Projects, jkerbein@hcanys.org Billi Hoen, Manager, Meeting and Events, bhoen@hcanys.org Teresa Brown, Administrative Assistant, tbrown@hcanys.org 388 Broadway, 4th Floor, Albany, NY 12207 Tele: 518-426-8764; Fax: 518-426-8788; Website www.hcanys.org

Volume 20, No. 36 October 16, 2015

ASAP – a publication of the Home Care Association of New York State

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op-ed for the Huffington Post, stating that “while the desired effect of the regulation … is laudable, it is missing one essential ingredient: a mechanism to pay for the increased cost.” The result, she says, “sadly, will be exactly the opposite of what was intended: Home health aides across the U.S. are likely to end up working fewer hours and earning less total income, while patients will have to endure fragmented care. We could even see a number of home healthcare agencies go out of business.” HCA and home care provider members are continuing our efforts to comply with the resulting increase in overtime expenses, amid ongoing appeals to the Governor’s office and Legislature – including recent HCA outreach to the fiscal staff in both the Senate and Assembly – for funding to meet the new costs. Agencies continued to review their cases and ways to minimize overtime without affecting the quality of services being provided and trying to minimize the impact on their patients and aides. In addition to funding increases, HCA has also sought further clarification from the state Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Labor and state Department of Health (DOH) on how to calculate overtime in areas affected by the state Worker Wage Parity Law and local wage parity laws. The intersection of wage laws at the state, local and national levels has created confusion for providers trying to calculate the base wage for sake of applying the new overtime requirement. As extensively reported in the past, this week’s new overtime rule means that providers must pay overtime at timeand-a-half of the aide’s regular wage, not time-and-a-half of the minimum wage; but the state’s Wage Parity mandate particularly complicates these calculations in the way it defines base minimum wage requirements versus supplemental amounts and other differentials. HCA is also trying to iron out how the rule affects wages for travel time, as providers voiced a range of intricate questions on these and other compliance issues during a statewide conference call that HCA held last week with our Counsel, Frank Fanshawe of Wilson Elser, to educate members further on the implications of the new overtime rules. Meanwhile, HCA has already initiated discussions with DOH on increasing premiums to managed care plans and rates to home care providers to cover increased overtime expenses now as well as to meet the higher state wage parity levels for Long Island and Westchester in 2016 – a priority of our advocacy. To effectively advocate on your behalf, we need data! HCA continues to urge members to complete the survey we developed with LeadingAge New York and the New York State Association of Health Care Providers to measure the overtime impact on agencies. The survey is at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FVG89PH. Please complete this survey as soon as possible. Your participation is absolutely vital. The state has also sent a survey to MLTC plans that requests information by October 30 on overtime and nonovertime services and live-in cases during the period of October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015. MLTC plans have started contacting their home care partners for such data. HCA has requested an extension of the October 30 deadline to allow adequate time for home care providers who have contracts with several plans. HCA will continue to keep you apprised of all developments and advocacy needs on this priority issue. For more information, contact Andrew Koski at (518) 810-0662 or akoski@hcanys.org. 3

ASAP – a publication of the Home Care Association of New York State IMAGINE from p. 1

Volume 20, No. 36 October 16, 2015 

SOKOLOFF from p. 1

tapping the intelligence of HCA’s leading home care members, whose own imagination has considered every possible angle you could think of – and more – for meeting the quality imperative of home care. Imagine that this tool was digitized by a leading home care software vendor, and has already garnered acclaim in the pre-development stages from officials at the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General’s office for its comprehensiveness in addressing your audit and Medicaid integrity risks. Well, imagine no more, as this tool is fast becoming a reality for your use in the home care field: Get your next preview of this exciting, first-of-its-kind initiative at HCA’s Quality Symposium on November 17 and 18 in Troy (near Albany). As reported to the membership, HCA’s pioneering “Quality Risk Tool” is now in the RFP stage of software development for statewide use by 2016. Once completed, the tool, developed by a subgroup of HCA’s Quality Committee, will offer a methodical roadmap for measuring risk areas in clinical, financial and operational quality oversight. The time is right for you to begin grasping the full extent of its possibilities by learning more at our Quality Symposium. Please register today for this important program! But that’s just the beginning of what we have to offer your imagination – and your thirst for information – on November 17 and 18. It doesn’t matter whether you are a CHHA, LTHHCP or LHCSA: you need to focus your energies, resources and intellectual capital to meet a vigorous new quality imperative under DSRIP, MLTC and value-based payments; and the HCA Quality Risk Tool is just one item in our quiver to arm you. While payment systems continue to result in partnership activities among community-based entities and payors, a strong quality program is becoming more and more important for purposes of your marketplace desirability (as you pursue relationships), payment opportunities (as you seek adequate payment under these relationships), and outcomes (as you continue to deliver the right care at the right costs for patients). With all of this in mind, our Quality Symposium will provide broad updates from state officials and quality of care experts; a look at federal Star Ratings and ways to improve your scores; a new technological app that will help you reduce costs and challenges associated with wound care; and a major focus on the quality imperative for LHCSAs, CHHAs and LTHHCPs operating in contract relationships with other providers, managed care plans and in new models. If you haven’t yet done so, please check out the full agenda and register for this blockbuster program using the PDF form at the back of ASAP or our online registration process at https://www.eventville.com/Catalog/ EventRegistration1.asp?EventId=1011709. 4

a longtime and active HCA member, staunch home care advocate, winner of HCA’s 2009 advocacy award, and a friend to New York’s home care community. Ms. Sokoloff, 62, had been battling for 18 months with metastatic breast cancer. She pursued a career in home care after receiving an RN and Master’s Degree from Columbia University. Her career began as a visiting nurse for the VNS of New York where she moved up through the management. After a few other positions, she came to Isabella Nursing Home where she built up a small home care division into a thriving organization. For the past two years, she was the Administrator of Elderserve. HCA will always remember Miss Sokoloff’s tenacity, especially on behalf of the Long Term Home Health Care Program and its patients, and we extend our sincere condolences to her family and colleagues during this difficult time.

ASAP – a publication of the Home Care Association of New York State

Volume 20, No. 36 October 16, 2015 

HCA Home Care/Hospice “Essential Personnel” Bill Delivered to Governor HCA’s “Essential Personnel” bill for home care and hospice has been delivered to the Governor for signature. The legislative signature process allows the Governor until October 26 to act on this bill. The legislation (5125-B/S.3482-B) was formulated by HCA with bill sponsors Assemblyman Michael Cusick and Senator Andrew Lanza. It unanimously passed the Senate and Assembly in June. The bill provides a solution to a major need in emergency response cited time and again in the debriefing reports following major public emergencies, including superstorms Sandy, Lee, Irene, the historic snow emergency last November in Western New York, the downstate storms in December, and others. Specifically, the bill requires local comprehensive emergency management plans to include procedures for access to patients by home care and hospice personnel, as well as physicians and other medical professionals. The emergency management plans must also include provisions enabling these individuals’ access to areas that are restricted or subject to curfew in declared emergencies. Home care and hospice personnel have heretofore often been prevented from delivering care to their patients during emergencies because the local emergency response system fails to formally recognize them as “essential personnel.” The bill also contains provisions to include home care and hospice in the formal input process for the development of local emergency management plans. This will help ensure that home care and hospice provider and patient needs are further considered and integrated into the local emergency planning and response process. For example, home care and hospice personnel are often not granted the priority status provided to other essential personnel when needing to access fuel for their vehicles to get to their patients. HCA will be activating our Legislative Action Center on Monday, providing guidance to assist providers to write to the Governor urging his signature of this legislation. Provider support will be critical to pressing the importance of this legislation. Last year, based on a misread of the bill, Governor Cuomo vetoed the legislation, ironically amidst weather emergencies with reports of both home care and hospice personnel being kept from delivering vital care due the absence of “essential personnel” designation. This year, all providers and supporters of this measure need to weigh in asking the Governor’s approval. For further information, please contact Al Cardillo at acardillo@hcanys.org or Alex Blais at ablais@hcanys.org.

Add Provider Enrollment E-mail Addresses to List of Safe Senders National Government Services (NGS) reminds all individuals listed as enrollment application contacts to routinely verify their spam or junk e-mail folder and add certain e-mail addresses to their list of safe senders to ensure all e-mail correspondence is received. Correspondence sent via e-mail from NGS’s Provider Enrollment department will display from the sender “PEDoNotReply@anthem.com” or “ customerservice-donotreply@cms.hhs.gov.”

ASAP – a publication of the Home Care Association of New York State

Volume 20, No. 36 October 16, 2015 

HCA Meet-Ups Coming to You, and a Request about Your DSRIP PPS Work! HCA’s first Regional Meet-Up meetings are coming very soon, starting next week in Rochester and Utica on October 22, followed by Patchogue (11/5), New York City (11/5) and Westchester (11/6). As you know, these Meet-Ups are bringing HCA’s team to your region for a focus on how the DSRIP networks and other payment models are working for you. We’ll use your feedback for future advocacy while also opening the floor for other payment or service issues affecting your region. These meetings are free of charge. Please RSVP, and let us know you’ll be at a Meet-Up location closest to you, by completing the online form at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HCAmeetups. Your information needed HCA has already heard several stories about the work of home care members on DSRIP regional planning committees. Some truly great innovations are bubbling up within your organizations, but we need to learn more as we prepare for the Regional Meet-Ups, and as we continue to develop informational resources on DSRIP generally. One current area of focus is an analysis of home care’s position under DSRIP, with specific attention to the project areas selected by each regional PPS as they relate to the provision of home care services. To further inform this effort, we have one simple question: Is your agency engaged in PPS activities in your area (i.e. regional planning committees or subgroups)? If so, please e-mail HCA’s new policy staff person, Alex Blais, at ablais@hcanys.org with the name and contact information of the individual(s) from your agency who are most directly involved in these efforts. Alex will follow-up with them directly once she hears from you, as she works to compile information on the larger scope of home care DSRIP participation. While you are e-mailing Alex, please also be sure, again, to sign up for one of our Regional Meet-Ups to further the discussion!

Don’t Forget: HCA’s Member Forums In addition to our Meet-Ups, HCA is continuing our series of Member Forums for specific segments of the HCA membership. These forums provide a custom-tailored focus on issues affecting LHCSAs, LTHHCPs and MLTCs. We’ve designed these forums recognizing that each subset of our membership has a unique scope of technical issues and advocacy needs that demand our attention. To register, download the form at http://hca-nys.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/09/HCA-Combined-Forum-Registration-Form-2015.pdf and pick a forum meeting (or more than one) that you would like to attend based on the program area that represents your agency or health plan type. For MLTCS, our MLTC Forum is coming first, on October 30; our LTHHCP Forum is on November 1; and our Downstate LHCSA Forum is on November 23.

ASAP – a publication of the Home Care Association of New York State

Volume 20, No. 36 October 16, 2015 

HIRING VP Chief Financial Officer at Strong Home Care Group Leads and manages operations that drive the financial performance for Strong Home Care Group (SHCG), including Visiting Nurse Service of Rochester and Monroe County (VNS), Community Care of Rochester (CCR) – dba Signature Care, Finger Lakes Visiting Nurse Service (FLVNS) and Finger Lakes Home Care (FLHC). Proactively provides oversight and leadership to all financial activities of the combined agency that maximizes reimbursement, controls costs, and fully utilizes agency resources. Additionally provides executive management oversight for Information Technology Services and selected support operations as assigned by the CEO. “PLEASE VISIT www.vnsnet.com FOR A FULL DESCRIPTION” Qualified candidates please send résumé to: Human Resources, 2180 Empire Blvd., Webster, NY 14580 Fax: 585-787-8369; Email: employment@vnsnet.com. VNS values diversity and encourages minorities to apply. E.O.E.

Chief Financial Officer & Director of Business Development and Marketing The Visiting Nurse Service of Northeastern New York is a dynamic, progressive home health organization dedicated to delivering the highest quality level of care through industry best practice. The 195 employees of VNS deliver skilled healthcare in the Capital District. VNS has openings for two positions: CFO: The CFO reports to the CEO and serves as an integral member of the senior management team. The right candidate will provide the leadership, management and vision necessary to ensure that the agency has the proper operational controls, administrative and reporting procedures, and people systems in place to effectively grow the organization and to ensure financial strength and operating efficiency. This position will provide useful financial insights to help make better decisions about formulating and executing strategy. Requirements: Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university or college; finance background, federal government reimbursement experience and an MBA in Accounting, Finance or Business are preferred; minimum of 10+ years of experience in senior level finance management; progressive knowledge of current financial and accounting computer applications; excellent verbal, analytical, organizational and written skills. The Director of Business Development and Marketing plans, organizes, directs, and provides the leadership to achieve the agency’s business development and marketing objectives. The position is responsible for providing leadership and direction throughout the sales and marketing function, and successfully directs the resultant business through the admissions process. The candidate develops and sustains strong relationships with agency, network, and hospital system providers to support growth and patient care objectives; and oversees the work of the Intake Coordinator and Liaisons who monitor and evaluate referral trends, market shifts and specialty service needs to assure highest levels of service delivery and to track and anticipate future program requirements and opportunities. In conjunction with Intake, this position develops strategic marketing plans to realize objectives of growth and promoting the exceptional care provided by the VNS; has ultimate responsibility for meeting goals and objectives of marketing plans; assures the development of action plans for Marketing and Sales positions that are effective and efficient; executes annual marketing, development and communication plans; conducts direct one-on-one follow-ups; and develops and maintains relationships with managed care organizations and networks, physicians, hospitals and other real or potential referral sources and business partners. Requirements: Experience in healthcare marketing or related field with an entrepreneurial perspective and a proven ability to get to ‘yes’. Bachelor’s degree required. Send résumé and cover letter for either position to: Fax: 518-382-5699; E-mail: porcellik@vnshomecare.org. Human Resource VNS, 108 Erie Blvd. Schenectady, NY 12305.

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ASAP – a publication of the Home Care Association of New York State

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QIVAPP Update The state Department of Health (DOH) has released draft, preliminary lists of those MLTC plans and their home care contractors who will be eligible for the federally-funded portion of the Quality Incentive Vital Access Provider Pool (QIVAPP) program. The lists include: any funding received in the first round; the total funding each provider was eligible for under the first and second rounds (subject to federal approval); and amounts being “held for validation.” HCA is seeking clarification on the amounts, IPRO’s audit work related to QIVAPP (see below), any “takebacks,” and other issues. We will be meeting with the Department next week to obtain information on these issues. IPRO audits Meanwhile, IPRO is conducting desk and onsite audits of certain agencies to determine their eligibility for QIVAPP. The information in the aforementioned lists of draft QIVAPP eligibility awards will be adjusted depending on the IPRO audits. The federal share of QIVAPP must be approved by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and this process can take a few months. For more information, contact Andrew Koski at (518) 810-0662 or akoski@hcanys.org.

DSRIP The state Department of Health (DOH) announced that the Medicaid Members section of its website is now live and can be accessed at https://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/redesign/dsrip/consumers.htm. At this link, you can find the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) Opt-Out Letter & Form, as well as the PowerPoint Slide Deck presented on October 6. (See last week’s ASAP for information on the opt-out process.) DOH is working to put together an FAQ document that will recap and answer some common questions it has received regarding this process. All Performing Provider Systems (PPS) Implementation Plans and First Quarterly reports are now posted to the DSRIP website at: http://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/redesign/dsrip/ first_quarterly_report.htm. PPSs seeking payment under the DSRIP program are required to submit reports to the state demonstrating progress on each of their projects as measured by the milestones and metrics described in their approved DSRIP plan. Based on the reports, the state will calculate the incentive payments for the progress achieved according to the approved DSRIP project plans.

ASAP – a publication of the Home Care Association of New York State

Volume 20, No. 36 October 16, 2015 

ICD Contact List for Providers with Questions Now that the October 1 ICD-10 implementation date has passed, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a new ICD-10 Resource Guide and Contact List to assist providers. The Guide and List are at https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coding/ICD10/ICD-10-Provider-ContactTable.pdf. CMS suggests that agencies first check its website at https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coding/ICD10/ index.html and http://www.roadto10.org/. Next, you can contact your Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) at https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Monitoring-Programs/MedicareFFS-Compliance-Programs/Review-Contractor-Directory-Interactive-Map/ for Medicare claims questions. Lastly, you can contact the ICD-10 Ombudsman by sending an e-mail to ICD10_Ombudsman @cms.hhs.gov.

CMS Issues Two Transmittals Updating the State Operations Manual The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released two Transmittals involving updates to the State Operations Manual (SOM), with one impacting home health and hospice providers and the other just impacting hospices. Transmittal 148 entitled “Revisions and Deletion to the State Operations Manual (SOM) Chapter 9 Exhibit,” provides example letters sent to deemed and non-deemed providers in various termination situations as well as reflecting changes in procedures for submitting appeals to the Departmental Appeals Board. (Transmittal 148 can be downloaded at: https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Transmittals/ Downloads/R148SOMA.pdf.) Transmittal 149, entitled “State Operations Manual (SOM) for All Types of Providers and Suppliers Subject to Certification” clarifies the meaning of the terms “marriage,” “spouse,” and other terms that define the spousal relationship wherever used in the appendices of the SOM, applicable specifically to hospices. Transmittal 149 can be downloaded at: https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Transmittals/ Downloads/R149SOMA.pdf. For further information, contact HCA’s Patrick Conole at (518) 810-0661 or pconole@hcanys.org.

NGS Webinar on Ordering Home Health Services for Medicare National Government Services (NGS), New York’s Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC), has recently posted a new webinar on “Ordering Home Health Services for a Medicare Beneficiary/Patient” (October 30; November 20; and December 4, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. on all 3 dates). This webinar is designed specifically for every entity that may order or monitor home health services, (hospitals, SNFs, rehabilitation centers, Part B physicians) in Jurisdictions 6 and K. Staff members that should attend this educational session include those who order home health services, monitor home health care, develop or assist in development of the home health plan of care, develop, review or document home

ASAP – a publication of the Home Care Association of New York State

Volume 20, No. 36 October 16, 2015 

health face-to-face encounter documentation, evaluate or audit home health documentation for accuracy, and physicians or any other staff that are involved with documentation in the Medicare patient medical record. Registration is required to participate at www.ngsmedicare.com. Website users will need to enter their User ID and Password and make sure they are in the Jurisdiction 6 HH&H home page before clicking on the Training Events Calendar link under the Education and Training tab. For further information, contact Patrick Conole at (518) 810-0661 or pconole@hcanys.org.

Publications •

“Signature Requirements,” by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Transmittals/Downloads/R615PI.pdf

•

“Five Steps to Implementing the New Federal Home Care Rule,” by PHI, http://phinational.org/sites/phinational.org/files/phi_nyflsa_brief-webfinal.pdf

For more information, contact Andrew Koski at (518) 810-0662 or akoski@hcanys.org.

The Quality Imperative: Raising the Bar in Home Health Care

November 17 & 18, 2015 Hilton Garden Inn 235 Hoosick Street Troy, NY 12180

www.eventville.com/hcanys

November 17 & 18, 2015 Hilton Garden Inn 235 Hoosick Street Troy, NY 12180

The Quality Imperative: Raising the Bar in Home Health Care Quality outcomes have always driven your work in home care. But today’s environment is making quality deliverables a more commanding imperative, and a linchpin for the success of your agency. CAHPS surveys, Home Health Compare, HQRP, OASIS … in many respects, these are the first legacy of quality improvement leverage points. They remain important concerns. But today, home care is faced with new and even bigger machinery for inducing quality enhancement that demand an equally vigorous response from CHHAs, LTHHCPs, and LHCSAs alike. All home care providers must focus their energies, resources and intellectual capital to understand and retool their organizations for the new quality imperative. HCA’s Quality Symposium presents an opportunity to learn the broad strokes and inner workings of New York State’s quality home care imperative. You’ll hear about concrete tools, resources and information that will arm agencies to effectively compete in this environment. You’ll also learn about interventions for specific clinical areas that align with the demands of MLTC, DSRIP, Value Based Payments and other new care models.

AGENDA

Tuesday, November 17 – Day 1 8:30am

Registration Opens with Light Breakfast

9:00am

HCA Welcome

9:00 – 10:00am

State Update on Quality & Payment Innovation Patrick Roohan, Director, Office of Quality and Patient Safety, NYS Department of Health Hear from one of New York State’s most influential and thoughtful policymakers about the plans and vision of the State in designing state policy to encourage and promote quality health care. Mr. Roohan will discuss the State’s vision for quality innovation and improvement through policy changes that will affect how all health care providers (including home care) participate in the Medicaid marketplace.

10:00 – 10:45am

HCA Quality Risk Tool Laurie Neander, Chief Executive Officer, Bassett Healthcare Network: At Home Care Al Cardillo, Executive Vice President, HCA HCA, working with key home care leaders across New York State, has formulated and developed a quality of care risk tool that is currently in the RFP stages of development. This session will offer a look at this unique HCA quality risk tool that will be available to members in 2016. It will arm agencies with a thorough, methodical tool to measure risk areas in clinical, financial and operational quality oversight.

November 17 & 18, 2015 Hilton Garden Inn 235 Hoosick Street Troy, NY 12180

The Quality Imperative: Raising the Bar in Home Health Care Tuesday, November 17 – Day 1 - continued 10:45 – 11:00am

Break

11:00am – Noon

Wound Care: There’s an App for that Nathan Ie, CEO, Co-Founder, Healogram Lorraine Poliey RN, WCC, DAPWCA, Wound Care Program Manager, Montefiore Home Care This session will offer insights on a new App designed to help providers reduce the cost of and challenges associated with wound care. Healogram enables providers to more effectively and efficiently measure, monitor, and manage wound patients. Healogram CoFounder Nathan Ie and wound care program manager Lorraine Poliey, RN of Montefiore Home Care will outline details on Healogram’s functionality and share practical insights on ease of implementation, impact on care delivery and potential for enhanced patient outcomes.

Noon – 12:45pm 12:45 – 1:45pm

Lunch

Hotel Information

Promotion of Quality in Managed Long-Term Care

Hilton Garden Inn 235 Hoosick Street Troy, NY 12180

Tracy Langlais, Vice President, Medical Affairs Operations, CDPHP As New York’s health care system evolves, health plans, including MLTCs and MCOs, feel enormous pressure to meet the highest quality outcomes and benchmarks. Aligning home care’s emphasis and priorities on quality innovations and outcomes with the benchmarks that are of utmost importance to managed care plans can lower cost and improve care for patients. Learn from one of the state’s most innovative managed care plans about its priorities for quality innovation and alignment with home care partners. 1:45 – 2:45pm

VBP Clinical Spotlight: TBA

2:45 – 3:00pm

Break

3:00 – 4:30pm

CMS Star Rating System and NYS Home Care Quality Indicators

HCA has reserved a limited block of rooms at the rate of $129 per night. To make a reservation for the evening of Monday, November 16 or Tuesday, November 17, please call (877) 782-9444 before November 2, and ask for the HCA Quality Symposium group rate.

Sara Butterfield, RN, BSN, CPHQ, CCM, Director, Upstate Health Care Quality Improvement, IPRO Learn from one of New York State’s most knowledgeable quality innovation experts about the impact the Star Rating System has had on New York’s home care provider community, and steps that can be taken by agencies to improve their scores. 4:30 pm

Wrap Up and Adjourn Day 1

Day 2 Agenda continued on next page…

November 17 & 18, 2015 Hilton Garden Inn 235 Hoosick Street Troy, NY 12180

The Quality Imperative: Raising the Bar in Home Health Care

REGISTRATION FORM Registration Deadline is November 2.

Wednesday, November 18 – Day 2 8:00am

Registration and Light Breakfast

Name: _____________________________________________ Title:_______________________________________________ Agency:____________________________________________ Address:____________________________________________

8:30-10:00am

Quality Care Values in Contracted Home Health Care Services Marki Flannery, Executive Vice President and Chief of Provider Operations, Visiting Nurse Service of New York Maureen Forster, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Plus This session will offer insights, tools, and innovative program models for enhancing the quality of your home health care services in areas valued by health plans and contracting agencies. Learn from health plan and contracting agency representatives about their current quality initiatives and the quality related indicators/ measures they are seeking in an optimal contracted Licensed Home Care Service Agency to inform your strategic planning toward sustainability and growth in an increasingly competitive service delivery environment. Attendees will have an opportunity for questions and answers with panelists.

10am – 10:15am

Break

City/State/Zip:_______________________________________ Phone:_____________________________ Ext._____________ Email: ______________________________________________ (Required)

www.eventville.com/hcanys

FEE SCHEDULE Full Symposium (Nov 17 & 18) HCA Member Rate Per Person

$259 □

HCA Member Group Rate (3 or more)

$239 □

Non-Member Rate

$339 □

November 17 Only HCA Member Rate

$199 □

Non-Member Rate

$279 □

November 18 Only

10:15am – 11am Quality Care Innovations in LHCSA Delivery James P. Rolla, Vice President, People Care, Inc. Michelle Mazzacco, Vice President/Director, Eddy Visiting Nurse Association/St. Peter’s Health Partners (invited) An executive panel from agencies providing licensed home care services will outline their quality care innovation efforts and provide guidance, tools and tips for planning and implementing quality initiatives. Attendees will have an opportunity for question and answers with panelists.

11:00am – Noon Common Areas of Quality Risk

(and Remedy) Identified in Surveillance Rebecca Fuller Gray, Director, Division of Home and Community Based Services, NYS Department of Health (Invited) This session will provide invaluable insights from the state surveillance of home care agencies and proactive opportunity for quality promotion/risk mitigation from the State’s Director for home care services. In this presentation, Ms. Fuller-Gray will examine areas of quality risk and/or deficiency identified in DOH surveys and present recommendations for remedy, and most importantly, prevention/mitigation of these risk areas and overall quality promotion.

Noon

Wrap Up and Adjourn

HCA Member Rate

$ 89 □

Non-Member Rate

$159 □ TOTAL: $___________

PAYMENT Please check method of payment: (Checks must be received by date of program).

____MC ____VISA ____ AM EXP

____ Check*

*Make checks payable to : HCA Education and Research and mail to: 388 Broadway, 4th Floor, Albany, NY 12207 Credit Card #: _________________________________ Exp. Date:______________ Security Code: _________ ______________________________________________ Name and/or Company Name on Card

______________________________________________ Billing Address of card (including City, State and Zip Code)

______________________________________________ Authorized Signature

Cancellations received in writing via email to info@hcanys.org by November 2, are refundable less a 25% administrative fee. No refunds after this date or for no shows. Substitutions are permitted.

Please fax to: (518) 426-8788