A Note From The RVNA & Hospice CEO

Carol Wood, R.N., CEO
As the only Not-for-Profit home health and hospice agency located in the Hemet-San Jacinto Valley, Ramona VNA & Hospice is committed to providing quality care to the patients we serve. One of the best indicators for someone evaluating a home health or hospice agency is whether or not the agency has achieved accreditation.

The Community Health Accreditation Program, Inc. (CHAP) is an independent, non-profit accrediting body.  It was the first accrediting body for community-based health care organizations in the United States and was created in 1965 as a joint venture between the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the National League for Nursing (NLN).  These organizations brought to fruition the futuristic view that accreditation was the needed mechanism for recognizing excellence in community health practice. In 1988, CHAP became a separately incorporated, non-profit subsidiary of the NLN under the CHAP name.  In 2001, it was spun-off by the NLN and became an independent, non-profit corporation.
CHAP was granted “deeming authority” by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in 1992 for home health and in 1999, for hospice. This means that instead of state surveys, CHAP has regulatory authorization to survey agencies providing home health and hospice services, to determine whether they meet the Medicare Conditions of Participation (CoPs). In 2006, CMS granted CHAP full deeming authority for Home Medical Equipment (HME). Recently RVNA & Hospice received CHAP Accreditation following a very comprehensive review of the Agency, which objectively validates the excellence of community health care practice through a consistent measurement of the delivery of quality services.

As discussed in our Podcast with a CHAP surveyor following the survey process, few agencies in the country meet the National Standards as identified in the CHAP guidelines (Listen to the Podcast interview HERE). She commented that most people look for good quality of care but don’t know how to evaluate it. She said people should look for CHAP designation when selecting an agency; because CHAP accreditation means the agency provides high quality of care and meets National Standards. She further commented that many start up companies, new to communities, don’t provide good quality, which is bad for the community.

Comments during the survey by members of the survey team included… that our (Agency) was, “in the top 5% of Agencies I have surveyed in the country”; that “if I lived in this area I would want to work here”; and finally after evaluating our quality improvement process stated, “your patients and their families are very pleased about your agency and the quality you provide”.

Our agency success is directly related to the efforts of the entire staff. Leadership directs the orchestra, but it is the entire team that makes the music. Please join me in congratulating the staff and leadership for their excellence, and Ramona VNA & Hospice on their receipt of CHAP Accreditation.

The Advantages of "In Home & Community Based Care"

I was recently interviewed for our podcast, Healthcare Insights where I talked about a recent position and advocacy paper written by advocacy staff at The Visiting Nurses Association of America. Healthcare in America is changing. It must. Medical costs and medical needs are rising dramatically. We at Ramona VNA & Hospice feel that the best way to receive care (in most cases) is at home, where the pt. is comfortable and the Medical Community comes to the pt., not the other way around. Homecare lowers the cost dramatically for the pt. and for the taxpayer. To illustrate these issues, at the time of posting this podcast and blog entry, I received the following information:

"U.S. residents with chronic diseases are more likely to forgo medical care because of high costs and experience medical errors than residents of other nations with such conditions, according to a study published in the journal Health Affairs, Reuters/Boston Globe reports. For the study, conducted by the Commonwealth Fund, researchers surveyed 7,500 adults, each of whom had at least one of seven chronic diseases-- high blood pressure, heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis and depression. Participants include residents of Australia , Canada , France , Germany , the Netherlands , New Zealand , Britain and the U.S.

Fifty-Four percent of U.S. residents with chronic illnesses said that they did not receive recommended medical care, fill prescriptions or visit a physician at some point because of high costs, compared with 7% of participants in the Netherlands , the country with the lowest rate of foregone care. In addition, 41% of those in the U.S. said that they spent more than %1,000 on out-of-pocket medical costs last year, compared with lows of 4% in Britain and 5% in France , the study found.

According to the study, one-third of U.S. residents with chronic illnesses said that they had experienced a medical or medication error, received incorrect laboratory test results or experienced delays in test results, the highest rate among participants in any nation involved in the research. Almost half those in the U.S. said that they wasted time because of disorganized care or had received care of limited or no value during the past two years, the study found."

Home and Community Based Care, we strongly believe, can be one stirling answer to these issues.

Please take a few minutes and listen to our Podcasts and read the VNAA's paper entitled "Home and Community-Based Care: Building a More Effective Healthcare System"(This is a large download).

Thank you for all of your support.