First Care Medical Services ranked in top 25 percent of Home Health providers
First Care Medical Services announced that it has been named to the 2008 HomeCare Elite, a compilation of the most successful Medicare-certified home health care providers in the United States. This annual review identifies the top 25 percent of agencies, ranked by an analysis of performance measures in quality outcomes, quality improvement and financial performance. First Care provides home care from offices in Fosston, Thief River Falls and Fertile.
"The 2008 HomeCare Elite winners exemplify a commitment to providing their patients with optimum care while performign at the highest level," said Nancy Buller, Senior Director of Marketing Communications at OCS, Inc. "We congratulate First Care Medical Services on being one of the top home care agencies in the country."
Jodi Nelson, Director of Nursing in Home Health at First Care for the past three years, credits the educution and commitment of her staff with the company's ability to rank as one of the HomeCare Elite. She said, "To improve the quality of care for our clients, we have developed specific patterns of care for clients who have conditions such as chronic heart, lung or diabetes problems. Through this process we have been able to decrease the number of times clients have needed hospitalization.
"Our staff has enlisted the help of other specialities at First Care such as Respiratory Therapy, Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy. With their help and information staff has been able to improve our clients' breathing, control urinary incontinence and assist them in the ability to walk, go up stairs and get in and out of chairs. Clients have learned techniques to dress themselves, tips for moving about in their homes, and activities that give them strength and confidence.
"We also have looked to quality improvement organizations outside First Care for additional information on how to help our clients improve their health conditions. By providing knowledge to our clients on how to improve or stabilize their health conditions, we help them to be independent and stay in their homes longer." said Nelson.
Mary Steinbrenner is a Home Health nurse who has been with First Care for 12 years. "In the last three years we have learned a great deal more about quality care and reimbursement measures. We want to do everything we can to make our clients' days at home safer and more comfortable. Working as a team is very helpful."
"Home Care depends on insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid to cover expenses, the same as nursing homes and hospitals do. Those funds continue to be reduced, so we have been examining our expenses very carefully over the last three years. We watch closely the benchmarks of successful national home care agencies and try to emulate their practices. We are pleased with the progress we've made to stabilize the health of our clients and we work closely as a team toward that end.
"To improve our service to clients and our financial performance, we reassessed our nurses geographical area, and tried to reduce the number of miles our nurses were driving each day. By grouping clients in certain areas with one nurse we not only cut the number of miles, we also reduced the traveling time. That enabled our staff to spend more time providing care to clients and less time on the road.
"We have two registered nurses that have successfully completed coding classes and are Certified Home Care Coding Specialist. When we were able to link the accurate and complete diagnosis with the correct financial code, we received increased reimbursement," said Nelson.
Liz Brouse is a physical therapist with the Home Health team. " The people who work for First Care Medical Services Home Health are a closely knit team of good staff people who would do anything for their clients. Jodi Nelson is very aware of financial constraints, but does not let this impede delivering good care. She is always looking to the future, but still makes sure we are doing as well as possible in the present.:
Pat Wangler, Chief Executive Officer at First Care, commended the Home Health staff at First Care, "We are proud of our staff that never compromise quality, but are also mindful that without cost control a service cannot be viable. I commend the efforts of Ms. Nelson and her staff in providing services of excellence to our community.
The 2008 HomeCare Elite is the only performance recognition of its kind in the home health industry. The 2008 HomeCare Elite is brought to the industry by OCS, Inc., the leading provider of healthcare informatics, and DecisionHealth, publisher of home care's most respected independent newsletter...Home Health Line. The entire list of the 2008 HomeCare Elite agencies can be viewed by visiting the OCS website at www.oscys.com/HCE.
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First Care Medical Services has been named to the 2008 HomeCare Elite, a compilation of the most successful Medicare-certified home health care providers in the United States. Back Row Left to Right: Jodi Nelson, Director of Home Health, Dianne Watne, Danielle Paradis, Hollie Stewart, Elayne Sundberg, Liz Brouse, Jackie Rendahl, Marilyn Donarski, Joann Shaver, Pam Mattson, Sheryl Payne, Jamy Fuglseth, Leslie Handyside, Kelly Rogalla, Marinell Waterworth, Gloria Carver, Patricia Wangler, CEO First Care Medical Services. Front Row left to right: Jackie Salvhus, Mary Steinbrenner, Kathy Dahl, Diane Faldet, Stephanie Skadsem, Rachel Carlson, Jody Heide. Not pictured: Shaunna Olson, Terisa Vig.