The vision for this blog is to create a community of harmonious professionals across the care continuum who encourage each other in exploring digital media as a way to support businesses and families dealing with elder care.
Written on March 22nd, 2011 by tasha
You may be deciding to wait a bit yet before you jump onto the social networking bandwagon. (Somewhere between 33-40% of American Boomers, are participating on sites like Facebook. You can probably afford to sit this out for another year or so, but I would not advise for much longer if the adoption curve keeps growing as it has.)
While you are waiting, however, your employees are not, at least in their personal lives. The younger your employees, the greater the chance that they are participating on Facebook, sending tweets or maybe even have their own blog. And though many may argue that what they say on their own pages is their private business, this IS the World Wide Web. It’s a new world out there. The rules are different.
“I am not a lawyer and I don’t play one on the Internet.” What I share below are principles and questions to consider. Social networking is a very young medium. It’s still evolving. But based on my swimming in this Internet ocean since its early days, and my work as a researcher needing to protect confidentiality and HIPAA rights of participating subjects, I mention in this blogpost issues I think it’s fair to address. How you address them will depend entirely on you, the flavor of your business, and what your lawyer advises.
Let’s start with the biggest issue: HIPAA
Written on March 21st, 2011 by tasha
Tomorrow (Tues 3/22) is the deadline to enter our drawing for a free Facebook setup at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Conference, April 7, 2011.
David Cherry and I are presenting Facebook and Hospice: A Beginner’s Workshop. During the session, we will actually construct a Facebook page for the hospice that wins our drawing.
To enter the drawing, email David at NHPCO: dcherry@nhpco.org by March 22nd.
To qualify to win, you must:
This opportunity is specifically for a hospice that does not yet have a Facebook presence. No prior experience with Facebook is required.
Enter the contest. Come see the results!
Written on March 10th, 2011 by tasha
A recent review of 120 hospital Facebook pages reveals that they are not using Facebook to its full potential. (The range of hospitals sampled was quite diverse, including large and small, rural and urban, different regions of the country, etc. The methodology was well thought out.)
The purpose of Facebook is to create relationships and community, to inspire conversation. Admittedly, it’s difficult to get people to break their silence and publicly post. Still, useful content that educates or inspires is more likely to prompt conversation than self-promoting announcements. That interchange and discussion—community-building if you will—is the spirit of social networking.
With community-building in mind, here is a summary of the hospital Facebook study: Read the rest of this entry »
Written on March 2nd, 2011 by tasha
The National Transitions of Care Coalition (NTOCC) has put together a superb, evidence-based crosswalk detailing essential elements needed for a successful program that eases a patient’s move from one care setting to another. Included in the document are seven intervention categories with descriptions and examples based on a very large compendium of research the coalition generously makes available free to the public.
As you have no doubt heard by now, CMS will be penalizing doctors and hospitals that have high 30-day readmission rates. A recent study demonstrated that within a month of discharge, over 20% of Medicare beneficiaries were re-hospitalized for the same condition they had been treated for earlier. This has been very costly for Medicare (and therefore us taxpayers!). The thinking is that patients are being released before they are fully stabilized, or being released to a home situation that is unable to cope with the demands of their serious condition.
The penalty is designed as an incentive to be sure patients are being discharged responsibly with adequate follow-up care. (Amen to that! Too often family members are called upon to perform fairly complicated care regimens with little to no training, or choice in the matter.)
This new penalty provides an excellent opportunity for elder care professionals to collaborate with doctors and hospitals by offering a home care team that is able to provide the necessary coaching and support to patients and their families.
There is a strong patient/family empowerment intent on the part of CMS. I’m pleased to say that my clients and those who read my blog share this ethic, which is also a key component in NTOCC’s outline. Since our mission is to help families and providers make better use of the Internet for superior care, I’ve included empowering tech suggestions here within this synopsis of the coalition’s crosswalk.
If you are planning to present yourself as a partner-in-care, here are the 7 intervention categories recommended to create a successful care transitions program:
