Gather insights from house call programs across the country with our new Practice Spotlight series, in which you’ll hear about their challenges, successes, and why they love house calls. For the first installment, we spotlight Lightways Hospice and Serious Illness Care, an independent, nonprofit Joliet, Illinois-based practice that serves 250 seriously-ill patients in their homes.

For Sara Dado, LCSW, senior director of clinical programs of Lightways (pictured), house calls build essential trust with the community. “As a community-based provider,” Dado says in the interview, “we have a different perspective about caring for people versus a provider seeing patients in an office, clinic or acute care setting. When you're sitting at the kitchen table with someone, looking through their 18 pill bottles and talking about what's in their refrigerator, you get to see the individual and their issues and challenges in a different light. That's what I love about community-based work—that’s where the best work happens, where the real care should be provided, and where people want their care to be provided.”

The Better Care Playbook, led by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS), recently introduced a home-based primary care “Collection” site. According to CHCS, the Playbook is an online resource center intended to “provide health care stakeholders with the best available knowledge about promising approaches to improve care for people with complex needs and spread best practices.” The new site includes a link to our HCCIntelligence™ Tools and Tip Sheets and a blog post about Rush@Home, an HCCI Practice Excellence Partner, which offers a two-day HCCI House Call Practicum™ shadowing field experience.

The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) and HCCI will offer The CAPC Payment Accelerator: A Joint Virtual Workshop for Home-based Care Teams, on Thursday, September 23, 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Central Time). The workshop will help groups that specialize in the care of high-need, seriously ill patients prepare for and pursue value-based payment opportunities. Learn how to build sustainable financial partnerships with health insurance plans, accountable care organizations, and others — both to secure initial support and to operate effectively within value-based contracts. Due to the nature of the topic and content covered, for maximum benefit, it is highly recommended that teams attend the workshop together, including representatives from clinical, finance, and contracting/managed care.

Special Discount: A discounted rate of $145 per attendee is available for teams of 3 or more from the same practice/organization.

Please contact HCCI at education@hccinstitute.org for additional information or to enroll 3+ team members at the discounted rate. 

This HCCI preconference, Level Up! Take Your House Call Operations to New Heights, is designed for providers, practice managers, and other staff interested in enhancing the efficiency, productivity, and ultimately the bottom line of their house call program. Expert HCCI faculty will present actionable tips and strategies that can be quickly implemented to yield measurable results. The preconference will lead into the American Academy of Home Care Medicine’s 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting.

HCCI is offering a 15% discount on its new Procedures in HBPC bundle of

on-demand courses. These interactive and case-based courses provide step-by-step instructions for each procedure along with useful downloadable resources.

Learn more about all HCCI online courses, which include a variety of clinical, practice operations, and leadership topics.

Please visit the HCCIntelligence™ Resource Center to learn more.

Did you know Medicare reimburses for a comprehensive Cognitive Assessment and Care Plan visit for patients who would benefit? A recently published CMS webpage offers additional guidance about the requirements. The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule increased the national payment amount for this service to $282 in 2021.

For template creation guidelines and other ways to maximize reimbursement for your practice, refer to the guidance included in HCCI’s Advanced Coding Opportunities resource.

AAFP (6/16/21) – PC Win: CMS Boosts Payment for At-home COVID-19 Vaccination

HCCI (6/28/21) – Florida Health Providers Named House Call Champions

The Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC) launched the Louisville Pilot Project in August 2020 to improve the quality of life in a neighborhood where the average annual income is $12,880. C-TAC aimed to help community members deal with serious illness by changing the care model and investing in trusted partners − such as faith-leader-driven coalitions − to address disparities in access to care. The four-month program was a success, and plans are underway to expand to other Louisville neighborhoods in need. To learn more about the project, click here.  

The National Home-Based Primary Care Learning Network works to improve medical practice in the home and expand the evidence base for home-based medical care by fostering communities of best practice engaging in quality improvement and conducting applied research. The organization is now seeking applications for its next network of 11 practices, funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation. Apply here by August 30.

are funded in part by a grant from The John A. Hartford Foundation.

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