Brand New to Home Health

oceanblue52 · Feb 8, 2017

Medication reconcililiations themselves can take that amount of time. I do not think it is feasible to do the entire OASIS in that time frame, especially when you are meeting a patient for the first time and wanting to be accurate. Not to mention having to evaluate for home safety and their knowledge base, playing phone tag with the provider to get orders, designing the care plans...$100 is good pay for a Start of Care though, at least in the Denver metro area. Probably not so much in SoCal though. What is cost of living like?

There are some online tutorials about OASIS floating around the internet, and a few threads on this forum about book recommendations. Your company should provide adequate training, because the OASIS is the foundation of patient care and reimbursement criteria. Make sure your company has a plan in place to orient you before accepting.

Libby1987 · Feb 8, 2017

An independent contractor with no HH experience?

Those are starting rates for a benefitted employee and a good quality admission including a thorough assessment, med reconciliation, teaching, and any treatments will be minimum 1 hr for a simple stable post op patient, 1.5 hrs minimum for a medical patient and 2 hrs for the complex patient. I would bet any HH nurse will tell you an hour on top to complete the OASIS, enter meds, develop your care plan and schedule.

No mileage? Contractors usually receive higher rates in lieu of benefits/mileage, and are efficient because they come with experience. I'm wondering how much orientation they will provide and pay you when not an employee?

I don't understand why you took this position, nurses are in demand for home health. You could have gotten on with a solid organization with benefits and that would have trained you.

VegGal, BSN, RN · Feb 8, 2017

Medication reconcililiations themselves can take that amount of time. I do not think it is feasible to do the entire OASIS in that time frame, especially when you are meeting a patient for the first time and wanting to be accurate. Not to mention having to evaluate for home safety and their knowledge base, playing phone tag with the provider to get orders, designing the care plans...$100 is good pay for a Start of Care though, at least in the Denver metro area. Probably not so much in SoCal though. What is cost of living like?
There are some online tutorials about OASIS floating around the internet, and a few threads on this forum about book recommendations. Your company should provide adequate training, because the OASIS is the foundation of patient care and reimbursement criteria. Make sure your company has a plan in place to orient you before accepting.

OceanBlue, thank you for all the info. I will look for the OASIS tutorials that you mentioned, as well as the book recommendations. I agree that they should provide adequate training. I'm beginning to realize that it's not as simple as they made it sound. I'll be sure to ask for additional training again.

Re: cost of living, it's pretty expensive out here, but I know Denver's housing is expensive too. Thanks again for all the info.

VegGal, BSN, RN · Feb 8, 2017

An independent contractor with no HH experience?
Those are starting rates for a benefitted employee and a good quality admission including a thorough assessment, med reconciliation, teaching, and any treatments will be minimum 1 hr for a simple stable post op patient, 1.5 hrs minimum for a medical patient and 2 hrs for the complex patient. I would bet any HH nurse will tell you an hour on top to complete the OASIS, enter meds, develop your care plan and schedule.
No mileage? Contractors usually receive higher rates in lieu of benefits/mileage, and are efficient because they come with experience. I'm wondering how much orientation they will provide and pay you when not an employee?
I don't understand why you took this position, nurses are in demand for home health. You could have gotten on with a solid organization with benefits and that would have trained you.

Libby, thank you for all the info. I realize from your post that I need to look for another company, and a full time position with lots of training. It's just that these guys are the only ones who've called me back. Anyone else whom I've been able to speak to have told me that firstly, I need at least a year's experience in HH, and next, I don't speak Spanish (we're in LA county). I'm learning Spanish, and I was hoping that working part-time with the above company would help me get some experience. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like they're going to offer me much training at all. I realize that now.

Thanks again for all the info, especially the assessment time info. It's much appreciated.

Libby1987 · Feb 8, 2017

Libby, thank you for all the info. I realize from your post that I need to look for another company, and a full time position with lots of training. It's just that these guys are the only ones who've called me back. Anyone else whom I've been able to speak to have told me that firstly, I need at least a year's experience in HH, and next, I don't speak Spanish (we're in LA county). I'm learning Spanish, and I was hoping that working part-time with the above company would help me get some experience. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like they're going to offer me much training at all. I realize that now.
Thanks again for all the info, especially the assessment time info. It's much appreciated.

Home Health has been the most amazing fulfilling career for me, but with the degree of difficulty rising over the years I know that the wrong agency can suck the soul out of you. If HH is a goal of yours, it would be better to wait for a better saner opportunity to enter the field.

Best to you.