Lifecycle of patient care

[tnava]

I must begin by saying I have no healthcare experience whatsoever. My background is in computers and I'm simply a partner in a startup HHA. All I can contribute is my support ...oh, and my money .

A couple of my partners are nurses with HH experience from different agencies. We want to layout our life cycle of patient care -- from start of care through discharge -- and assign ownership to each process to ensure we have a solid process in place once we get going. Hopefully, by putting it in flowchart form we can better visualize where the potential gaps may be.

My first thought was to create a flowchart from scratch by sitting down with the clinicians as we step through the process, but then I thought, does one already exist? I realize it could vary from state to state, but is there a 'general' one we can use as a starting point?

I searched through this great site as well as the CMS website, I couldn't find one.

Thanks in advance.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

your computer knowledge and workflow design will certainly come in handy with this agency.

i am unaware of any schematic/flowchart that outlines entire patient care processs from admission >>patient visits >>>generating oasis to state>>>processing 485 plan of treatment and verbal orders>>>>patient followup care>>>discharge>>>> qi chart>>>>billing visits>>>>collection of monies>>>administative/regulatory concerns

often, each agency builds staffing based on volume patients and assigns jobs to handle day to day agency activities. one person leaves, next steps in, and trained in-house but crucial patient care tasks prior person assigned and responsible for may be missed cause nothings written down-------no work flowchart exists in department! i'm unaware of any flowchart publically on the web.

your smart to lay this out and assign responsibilites to job titles, just not a persons name for what will work in your startup.

requiring a $$$ fee to access info(about $500.00 last i looked), [color=#061f4b]home health interactive is a web based home health community started by decision health within past 2 years. site contains training materials, industry updates and trends, along with discussion forums. their newsletter home health line is a reliable source of industry info that i've read for past 15 years. it would be prudent for management to join this site and newsletter for insider info. they may have

a flow chart in their materials.

i'd be willing to offer my on anything you design...send pm/email.

[tnava]

NRSKarenRN,

Thank you for your comments. I've been reading your helpful replies throughout this site. I did a trial of 'Home Health Interactive' a while back and found the site very helpful. It's definitely on our list of resources to apply for once we start billing.

I may take you up on your offer once we have a chance to put pen to paper .

Thanks again.