Are 15 Minute Visits Possible?

[athomemom56]

There is an agency that sends nurses to do visits and I was told that a lot are 15 minute visits, basically med setups and vitals, barring not problems once you are there. Has anyone done visits in this amount of time, and if so, how??? This seems to be a very reputable company. Would love to hear from you.

[purpledaisies]

The only time I have a 15" visit is when it is just VS, LS, and maybe a weight on a stable pt. Otherwise, my visits are usually 20-30" long.

[kwagner_51]

I have one pt that is stable. I go in give his meds, give his eye gtts and take his BP. I am there about 15 min. I wouldn't be there that long but I have to wait 10 min between eye gtts.

Hope this is helpful!

[bshaw96]

I have a few 15 minute visits on my stable patients that I just see for once a month assessments, or for my prefills with vitals. But that is just the visit, no documentation included. Since we are not allowed to do less than a 30 minute visit, I'll generally do my charting in the home on those patients (that don't mind) and get my 30 minutes that way. But most of my visits average about 30 minutes. My wound cares/wound vacs take up to an hour.

[HmarieD]

I don't understand how these visits are considered skilled per Medicare and Public Aid requirements. I have never done a visit without a complete head to toe assessment and some skilled instruction. Med prefills and BP are not considered a skilled need.

[bshaw96]

I don't understand how these visits are considered skilled per Medicare and Public Aid requirements. I have never done a visit without a complete head to toe assessment and some skilled instruction. Med prefills and BP are not considered a skilled need.

For Medicare, no, for Medicaid, yes. Most of my medicaid monthly patients are what we call CAP assessments. They have CAP in, but they contract us out to do the monthly assessment that keeps the CAP aide in the home. And most of my CAP patients are not very sick, and their assessment takes very little time unless something new is going on. Same meds, same routines, etc. My other medicaid assessments are incontinence assessments. We simply provide their incontinence supplies and do an assessment every 2 months. That takes a little longer bc I do a full skin assessment, but still can be done rather quickly.

[HmarieD]

Wow, I've never heard of that. I don't think we have that program in Illinois.

[homehealth43130]

There are several payers that don't pay for a visit that is less than 30 min. For our agency, our average visit is around 40 min. We treat all patients the same and each note must be able to stand alone. Just because it is a med box fill doesn't mean we are not responsible for any other issues that may come up, especially skin breakdown. We also require that all our charting be done in the home. For us, a visit of that length would be looked at indepth to make sure all our standards of care were being met.

[athomemom56]

It looks like the visits are more like 30 minutes, and more complicated visits 45min to an hour.

[mo-mo]

All of our visits are by medicare guidelines. Even so I can get a good head to toe and VS in 15 to 20 min on stable pt who doesn't care for small talk.That said, I have a pt who never takes less than 75 min: Draw labs, PICC dsg change, portacath needle and dsg change, gtube site assessment, duoderm dsg to coccyx, check PCA and TPN settings...I could shoot the idiot who put a SINGLE LUMEN PICC in this woman!!!

[GrumpyRN63, ADN, RN]

My visits are 45'' to one hour on'' avg '' Occasionally, I have a 30'' visit, many are also 75''. I don't have 'simple' visits as all of my pts are hospice/ oncology/ palliative/terminal prognosis involved , all complete head to toe assessment and lots of teaching.