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It's the ninth
day of an eleven day trip and I'm writing to you from Albany, New York,
where I will be speaking to the New York State Association of
Health Care Providers on Navigating the FOG of Health Care
Reform. I flew up here from Charlotte, NC where I spoke on
Monday, to the Association of Home & Hospice Care of North
Carolina. Before that, I was in Huntsville, AL to lead a
strategic planning process for a local Hospice.
This fall has been a whirl wind of speaking, consulting, coaching and
strategic planning. One of the more interesting aspects of this
busy schedule has been the number of engagements I've been doing with
hospice; either speaking at state hospice organization meetings, or
leading strategic planning.
One of the highly enjoyable, interactive activities in the Hospice
strategic planning process is Visioning the Future.
We divide the board of directors and management team into
four groups of five people. We give them a sheet of flip
chart paper, felt markers, glue sticks, colored paper, post-it notes,
tape and scissors. Their assignment is to create a picture of
their hospice organization in the year 2015. The visioning
process is designed to help them see their "ideal future" in
five years. They need to take into account the discussions we've
already had about their current reality, the forces and trends shaping
the future of hospice care, the effects of health care reform, and
their organization's source of competitive advantage.
The result is a series of large posters depicting the ideal future
of the hospice organization in the eyes of board members and
leaders. Each group gives a presentation of their
vision for the future and the specific elements of their vision.
Vision without
Action is Hallucination
Then each group is asked to develop a very specific list of
strategic actions the hospice team will need to take over the next
three to five years to move from where they are now - their
"current reality" - to where they want to be - their
"vision". This interactive discussion then leads to
focused strategic plan with strategic initiatives, action steps, target
dates, who-to-do and resources required. It also leads to
identifying the metrics, or "Critical Measures of
Success", they will use to measure the progress of the
organization toward their vision.
Action without
Vision is Chaos and Confusion
Many organizations in home health & hospice go through some
form of annual strategic planning process. However, many of them
are based on some intuitive SWOT analysis and a long list of goals
that are really "to-do's". Then they put the plan
document in a desk drawer and keep doing what they've always done
and keep getting the same results they've always gotten.
The Three Keys
to Strategic Success
The three things that move your organization
from 'now' to the 'future' are:
1. Leadership - that's YOU!. You are the leaders of
your home health and hospice organizations and the actions you
take and the decisions you make have a huge impact on determining the
future.
2. Focus - there are a thousand things you could do to grow
your agency, but only a few things that will really lead you to
your desired future. Focus. Focus. Focus.
3. Action - Vision without Action is Hallucination and Action
without Vision is Confusion. Focused action drives you from
where you are to where you want to be.
If you are interested in Visioning the Future
of your existing
home health agency or hospice organization, give us a call to
discuss the process and talk about how we can tailor it to meet your
specific needs.
Serve
More Patients - Follow-up Webinar to NAHC Presentation on Selling
Home Health to Physicians
If
you attended my presentation at NAHC in Las Vegas, I promised a
follow-up webinar with Dr. Tray Dunaway so you could ask him directly
about some of the things he talked about on the video we played.
Those of you who were in attendance have already received an invitation
and a complimentary registration for this event.
If you missed this powerful program at NAHC, you can still get some of
the benefits by tuning into the webinar. It will be held on
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 1:00 p.m. EASTERN time. Registration
is $149.00 for those who did NOT attend the NAHC presentation by clicking
here to register. This link also provides you with additional
information about the webinar without having to register, so click on
the link for answers to your questions and the option to register
for the $149.00 follow-up webinar.
Get
Ready for Revalidation of Medicare Provider Enrollment
CMS
will hold a National Provider Call to discuss the revalidation of
Medicare provider enrollment information. Most providers and
suppliers who are enrolled in the Medicare program will have to revalidate
their enrollment, which will be reviewed under the new risk screening
criteria required by the Affordable
Care Act Section 6401(a). Learn what you can expect
and how to prepare for this process.
Registration
information: In order to receive the call-in
information, you must
register for the call. Registration
will close at 12:00 p.m. EST October 27, 2011 or when
available space has been filled, NO EXCEPTIONS will be made so please
register early! For more details including instructions on registering for
the call, please visit www.eventsvc.com/blhtechnologies. Or you
may call Registration
Support at 1-800-493-1594. The audio recording and
written transcript will be posted after the call.
(Leading Home Care is not hosting or conducting this event, so to have
your questions answered or receive additional help, please click
on the weblink or dial the 800 number provided above. THANK YOU!)
Here
are some highlights of trends and data that will affect the future of
home health and hospice:
- The National
Quality Forum (NQF) has released its draft report: National Voluntary
Consensus Standards: Palliative Care and End-of-Life
Care: A Consensus Report and is seeking comment on it
from the public until 6 p.m. November 8, 2011.
- Section
302 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes provisions related
to Medicare payments to providers of services and suppliers that
participate in Accountable Care Organizations (ACO's).
Providers of services and suppliers who participate in ACO's
will continue to receive payments under Parts A and B of the
Medicare Program but will also be eligible for additional payments
if they meet certain requirements related to quality of care
and cost savings. Proposed regulations to implement
these provisions were published in the Federal Register on April
7, 2011. Final regulations have
now been released and will be published in the Federal Register
soon. The first agreements with ACO's will take effect on
April 1, 2012.
- The
Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG)
released its Work Plan for Fiscal
Year 2012 with descriptions of new or continuing Medicaid
projects. Several home health projects and one hospice-specific
project are planned or currently underway. The plan
identifies targeted activities under both the Medicare and
Medicaid programs.
If you are involved in home health, hospice or private duty home care
sales and marketing, you may be interested in joining the National Home Health Sales Network.
Here are the hot topics in this discussion group:
- What's
your procedure for collecting face-to-face encounter forms?
- Does
sales training work in home health care?
- Are
you killing referral relationships?
- What
role does accreditation play in selling home health and hospice?
Also, don't forget to log in to the Leading Home Care Network
on LinkedIn. Hot topics for this week are:
- A
report documenting the post-acute care continuum
- Upcoming
events in home health and hospice
- The
Five Drivers of Happiness at Work
- Is
there something in the water, or is client management in home care
becoming more difficut?
We Have What You're Looking For!
Whether you are looking for help with marketing, selecting the best
caregivers, improving your process for phone inquiries or new revenue
sources, one of the e-books or e-tools listed below will be sure to
help you achieve your goals in 2011!
To order any of these outstanding products or learn more about them,
just click on the title.
Our most popular e-books:
Our most popular e-tools:
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Stephen
Tweed, CSP, is Chairman and CEO of Leading Home Care ... a Tweed
Jeffries company. For over 25 years he has been a recognized leader
in strategy and leadership development for home health care &
hospice companies and associations. He is the author or co-author of
seven books, five of which were written specifically for the home
care industry. He has served on the boards of directors of three
not-for-profit home care agencies, and has served as interim
President & CEO of a $25 million home care company. 