Understanding Your Quarterly Compliance Call with The Home Health Consultant

You’re the owner or administrator of a small home health (HH) or hospice (HSP) agency. You have maybe five staff members total, and maybe three or four clinicians out seeing patients. Your team is incredibly capable, but due to your agency’s small size, administrative tasks are piling up. 

You can’t blame your team. Your staff are too busy actually caring for patients, and you’re dealing with a backlog of to-dos. You’re understaffed and your team is doing everything they can, but you’re constantly anxious about passing your surveys as a result. What can you do? Who can you call to ask questions? Who is there to help you?

At The Home Health Consultant (THC), we’ve developed and streamlined a program to help tackle administrative tasks at your agency. The Administrative Compliance program acts as an assistant to your Administrator, taking the stress off of regulatory compliance and freeing your time to focus on patient care. 

In this article, we’ll dive into:

• why we hold a quarterly call

• who should attend the quarterly call

• the difference between a productive and unproductive quarterly call

• why that quarterly call is integral to our services

How the Admin Compliance Program Supports Your Agency’s Efficiency and Compliance

THC’s Administrative Compliance program supports HH and HSP agencies enrolled in the Medicare program:

• meeting regulatory standards

• improving patient outcomes

• enhancing overall administrative efficiency

The program provides agencies with resources and guidance on managing essential compliance tasks. These tasks include:

• Quality Assurance Performance Improvement (QAPI)
• Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs)
• incident reporting
• emergency planning
• and governing body meetings

Admin Compliance is especially beneficial for agencies that may lack the in-house resources or knowledge to stay fully compliant with constantly changing regulations.

The goals of Admin Compliance are to:

• act as an Administrator’s assistant
• take on critical tasks that help agencies maintain smooth operations
• stay on top of compliance requirements
• prepare effectively for surveys or audits. 

As a member of the Admin Compliance program, you are always welcome to call us with questions. One of the things that makes THC stand out is our quarterly call, where you can speak face-to-face with our experts.

What Is Your Admin Compliance Quarterly Call?

The Admin Compliance Quarterly Call is a structured meeting that brings agency leadership and consultants together to review the agency’s performance, identify key areas for improvement, and strategize for the coming quarter. The call consists of three main phases:

1. Preparation: Before the call, consultants gather incident reports, patient data, and any relevant metrics like fall rates or medication errors, This is done to create a custom performance improvement plan (PIP) for the agency.
2. Meeting: During the hour-long call, consultants and agency leaders review recent OBQI data, discuss QAPI initiatives, finalize plans for emergency preparedness, and other program maintenance. The call also serves as a QAPI and governing body meeting if the required representatives attend.
3. Follow-Up: After the call, agencies receive detailed reports and resources. These resources are provided to help the agency implement strategies discussed in the meeting.
   

Quarterly calls are pivotal to THC’s Admin Compliance program. They provide a structured opportunity for agencies to 

• assess performance
• discuss challenges
• access expert guidance in real time. 

This allows agencies to focus on daily operations while THC manages the administrative heavy-lifting.

Do I Need to Attend My Admin Compliance Quarterly Call?

Attending your Admin Compliance quarterly call is highly recommended to ensure your agency reaps the program’s full benefit. The key representatives on these calls are:

1. The Administrator: Oversees much of the compliance program and gains insight into regulatory requirements and improvements
2. Compliance Representative: Acts as the primary point of contact between your agency and THC, gathering and sharing relevant data.
3. The Owner: Offers feedback and makes strategic decisions based on insights provided.

Attendance is vital because it makes sure everyone is aligned on compliance goals and plans are communicated clearly. This reduces the risk of miscommunication. It also ensures all team members are prepared to handle surveys, audits, and patient safety initiatives.

If any of these people do not attend your quarterly call, you risk

• action items getting lost in translation
• misunderstanding the needs of your agency and staff
• and trouble executing efforts towards improving compliance. 

While the quarterly call can seem like a daunting, time-consuming, and maybe even hair-pullingly boring task, we assure you it’s not. THC has streamlined the process for quarterly calls, fitting the entire discussion into just one hour. While our compliance representatives are happy to stay on longer to answer all your questions, calls rarely exceed the one hour mark. This drives home the purpose of our admin compliance program: saving you time, saving you money, and keeping you stress free. 

If at least two of these three key representatives—the owner, administrator, and compliance representative—cannot commit to attending the call, this program is likely not a good fit for you.

Admin Compliance & Quarterly Call Benefits

The Home Health Consultant Admin Compliance Program offers more than just help passing surveys. The advantages of subscribing include:

1. Consistent Compliance Support: With quarterly check-ins agencies stay up-to-date on regulations, avoid compliance issues, and are better prepared for surveys.
2. Customized Data Analysis and Planning: Each quarterly call reviews agency-specific data. This data is then used to create PIPs tailored to the agency’s unique needs. This proactive approach allows agencies to implement changes that directly improve their patients.
3. Education and Accountability: The program emphasizes education, making sure agency leaders understand compliance requirements and the importance of regular performance checks. Quarterly calls establish accountability and serve as a check-in. This keeps agencies progressing toward compliance goals.
4. Improved Survey Preparedness: The program offers hands-on guidance, practical training, and resources. This helps agencies confidently navigate the survey process. It also reduces the likelihood of costly re-surveys or penalties.

Is THC’s Admin Compliance Program Right for My Agency?

There are a lot of factors to consider when choosing the right consultant for your HH or HSP agency. Many consultants base their services only on passing surveys. There is nothing wrong with this approach. Many agencies simply want to ensure they can pass their surveys, and this could be all your agency needs.

At The Home Health Consultant however, we take a slightly different approach. Instead of focusing on just passing surveys, we focus on the actual issues that could cause you to fail. Our emphasis is on education and establishing stronger internal processes, so compliance doesn’t remain a box you have to rapidly check before survey. Instead it becomes integrated with how your agency operates. 

If you think your agency is a good fit for our administrative compliance program, you can contact us for a free consultation.

*This article was written in consultation with Mariam Treystman, Sarah Allen, & Kaylee Villegas.