PERHAM HOME CARE AGREES TO PARTICIPATE IN NATIONAL HOME HEALTH QUALITY IMPROVEMENT CAMPAIGN

Perham Memorial Home Care was one of the first agencies in the country to volunteer to participate in a campaign that will focus on improving the quality of patient care in the home health setting. The goal of the campaign, which is a collaborative effort of the home health community, health care leaders, and quality improvement organizations, is for home care patients to remain in their home settings, resulting in fewer avoidable hospitalizations.

Perham Home Care is already sharing best practices at the state level and was recently recognized by Stratis Health, Minnesota’s quality improvement organization, for its success in low hospitalizations of clients. Now, the local agency has a forum to share those practices at the national level and to also learn from other home health agencies what they are doing to keep clients in their homes.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has established a nationally acceptable benchmark for hospitalizations of 28%. Perham Home Care’s hospitalization average is 20%.

“Even though the frequency with which our clients need hospitalization is well below the national average, we’re not content with sitting back and not looking for ways to improve even further,” said Dan Peterson, Perham Memorial Hospital Senior Director for Community Services. “Participating in this nationwide sharing of what works, what doesn’t, and what we can do better, will keep even more people in their homes which is our ultimate goal.”

Peterson adds that for every one percent decrease in the national hospitalization rate of 28%, there is a savings to Medicare of approximately $305 million. “This is just one more way to measure the value and effectiveness of home care,” he continued.

The quality improvement campaign was launched January 11, 2007, and takes an interdisciplinary approach to improving the quality of care provided to home health patients. By interdisciplinary, this means information and educational resources will be shared with home health staff at every level – from administrators and management to social workers, therapists, and home health aides – to improve the quality of home health care.

Perham Memorial Home Care is the oldest home care agency in Otter Tail County and is Joint Commission Accredited, state-licensed, and Medicare-certified. The agency serves clients in Otter Tail, Wadena, and Becker Counties and is affiliated with Perham Memorial Hospital and Home. For information on Perham Memorial Home Care, please call 218.346.1192.

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