Kristy Wright, with the Visiting Nurses of Western Pennsylvania, and Amy Berman, with the John A. Hartford Foundation, say it is.  I agree!  Studies show that home care interventions can improve the quality of care and reduce hospitalizations due to chronic conditions or adverse events.

Kristy told us in our recent position paper, “Home – The Best Place for Health Care,” that home care is no longer just about talking to patients, giving baths and taking their blood pressure.  It is about patients who have chronic conditions, take multiple medications and see many different physicians.  It is about working to improve patient safety in these situations.

Are you aware of someone who needed to return to the hospital because of a medication error or a fall?  I am sure that you felt that there must have been something that could have been done. Studies have found that 2.3 million hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries were readmitted to the hospital after 30 days.  That is nearly 20% of Medicare beneficiaries. That is why we at The Joint Commission are working to further improve home care interventions by including the prevention of avoidable readmissions, areas such as medication management and fall risk reduction. These are two difficult areas to control but our accredited organizations are working hard on the problems and finding solutions! The CHAMP web site’s tool library contains many free downloadable tools that you and your staff can use right away with patients to improve medication management, avoid rehospitalizations, and improve physical function to prevent falls.  Click here to visit the tools page and select “Medication Management,” “Rehospitalization” and/or “Physical Function” from the Topics drop-down menu to access these evidence-based tools.

Together we can work to improve communication and integrate the many home care services.  Home care includes home health care providers, suppliers providing home medical equipment, specialty and infusion pharmacy services, hospice, home maker and companion care.  The future holds few boundaries as we see a rapid advance in technology and innovative programs to improve patient safety and provide for better outcomes.  The patient and their safety are and always will be the center of this activity.

Wayne Murphy
Associate Director, Home Care Accreditation
The Joint Commission

www.jointcommission.org