tnava

I apologize for the delay in responding. Yes, he is an RN, in fact, he's touted he has attended several coding seminars in the past and is familiar with the coding process. This is his only duty so I'm a bit skeptical in how it could take so long to complete one chart. Why is he still here? good question... One of our partners who is "very familiar with the HH industry" and has contacted several of her friends with their own agencies has stated "that's how it is." I've brought up the idea of replacing him but it's fallen on deaf ears. I'm trying to gather my facts to make sure I'm not off base. Thanks for the responses.

Our agency is starting to get into the swing of things. We currently have one experienced coder that works part time in the office,

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.

We're anticipate getting our provider number in the next few weeks. Throughout the certification process we've been using Visitrack for patient tracking (OASIS, scheduling etc). Based on our nurse's feedback, the software has met our needs. As far as their tech support goes -- based out of California, we're in the midwest -- they've been pretty responsive. What I like is their ability to troubleshoot software issues via remote Internet access. There are no long term contracts to sign, payments are quarterly based and they're a listed vendor on Palmetto's site. We'll probably go with Visitrack, but I was just curious to know what application(s) other HHA's are using before I pull the trigger. Thanks

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.