Home Health Acceptance to Service Policy

  1. Anticipated needs of the prospective patient:

    1. The HHC/Hospice Supervisor or designee will review each referral for the needs of the prospective patient. The Agency is unable to accommodate patients that require more than 1 visit per day. The Agency may be able to accommodate daily visits for a short period of time. The HHC/Supervisor will review the patient’s information and determine if the Agency will be able to accommodate daily visits depending on staffing. The Agency can provide “As Needed” visits.

  2. The Agency can carry a caseload of at least 70 skilled home health patients, but as the Agency provides Hospice services and private duty services as well, this number may fluctuate based on the census of Hospice and private duty patients. Generally, the maximum number of patients between the Home Health Agency, Private Duty Agency, and Hospice Agency would be 110.

  3. The Agency employs eight full time RN Case Managers, one full time LPN, and three full time CNA’s. The Agency contracts with Greenfield Rehabilitation Agency to provide physical, occupational, and speech therapy. The RN Case Managers are responsible for case managing patients from all the agencies, with a total caseload of nine to seventeen patients each.
  4. The Agency’s Registered Nurses are competent in the following:
    1. Wound care including wound vac management and teaching
    2. IV administration and teaching, and injection administration and teaching
    3. Chronic disease management and teaching including Diabetes, Congestive Heart Failure, COPD, Pain, Atrial Fibrillation
    4. Assessment and monitoring of acute conditions
    5. Lab draws and INR’s
    6. Urinary catheter management and teaching including the changing of Foley and Supra-pubic catheters
    7. Ostomy management and teaching including urostomy and colostomy
    8. Fall Safety
    9. Infection prevention teaching
  5. The Agency does reserve the right to delay admission of a referral due to the following:
    1. Limited staff availability. In this case the referral source would be notified to find another agency, or this Agency would alert the referral source of when the referral could be admitted.
    2. Inability to obtain specific specialty supplies. The Agency does keep frequently used items stocked at the agency, but if specific supplies are necessary, the Agency may collaborate with the referral source to delay the admission until the necessary supplies or equipment are available if no substitutions can be made.
    3. Inability to obtain authorization from patient’s payer source.
    4. Lack of necessary documents or records.
  6. The Agency does reserve the right to decline a referral based on the following:
    1. Lack of payer source or the Agency is not contracted with the patient’s payer source
    2. Abuse of staff, which includes physical, verbal, or sexual.
    3. If the referral causes a conflict of interest for the Agency’s staff, which could include the referral being a family member of multiple staff members.
  7. This policy will be made public via the Calumet County Home Health and Hospice website.
  8. This policy will be reviewed at least annually, and when changes arise, by the Home Health QAPI committee and the Administrator.