When it comes to ensuring regulatory compliance for home health and hospice agencies, our administrative compliance program is a powerful tool. However, like any service, it’s not a perfect fit for everyone.
With years of experience helping agencies with surveys, applications, and compliance challenges, we created this program to tackle common issues. It simplifies processes and ensures regulatory adherence. Many home health and hospice organizations have used it to boost efficiency, avoid penalties, and build patient trust.
While all agencies are unique, we’ve noticed many challenges are the same. In this article, we’ll explore the 7 common challenges agencies face with our administrative compliance program. We’ll also demonstrate how our solutions address these issues.
If you’re considering our program, this article will help you determine if we’re the right fit for your agency.
Misconception 1: Your Administrator is Not Participating in Quarterly Calls
Some agencies assume that since we handle the bulk of compliance tasks, administrators won’t need to be involved. However, we do require minimal involvement, particularly for quarterly meetings.
Why This Is Important:
- Quarterly meetings provide critical insights from the administrator regarding performance improvement projects (PIPs) and agency-specific needs.
- Without the administrator’s input, the customization of projects becomes less effective.
Our Solution:
- Meetings are limited to 45 minutes to an hour, with scheduling that accommodates your availability.
- If the administrator cannot attend, other team members (e.g., the compliance contact or DPCS) can contribute, though this adds back-and-forth coordination later.
Misconception 2: Misalignment on the Scope of Work
“You’re my consultant, why won’t you do this?” is a question we get all the time. While our program focuses on administrative compliance management, some agencies mistakenly expect us to handle other tasks like filing credit balance reports, cost reports, or BOI (Beneficial Ownership Information) filings.
Why This Is Important:
- These tasks require specialized professionals (e.g., CPAs for cost reports) and are outside our service scope.
Our Solution:
- We focus exclusively on high-level compliance programs, ensuring your agency maintains organizational compliance.
- For excluded services, we can often provide vendor contacts who handle these processes
Misconception 3: Calls Will be In-Person
Some agencies request in-person meetings for quarterly reviews. However, as a national service, we conduct all meetings virtually.
Why This Is Important:
- Virtual meetings allow us to allocate more time to preparing your materials and addressing your agency’s specific needs, instead of wasting time commuting.
Our Solution:
- While we can’t physically attend, virtual meetings are structured for maximum efficiency and effectiveness. Additionally, we are always available to answer questions or concerns between meetings.
Misconception 4: Understanding Your Monthly Retainer
Agencies sometimes question why they pay monthly when meetings occur quarterly. The misconception here is that quarterly meetings are the only deliverables.
Why This Is Important:
- Between meetings, we handle critical tasks like data analysis, PIP and resource development, COP’s evaluation and program management like emergency management guidance, and influenza vaccination program oversight.
Our Solution:
- Our work is ongoing, even if it’s not always visible. Monthly billing reflects the continuous effort to keep your agency compliant every day, not just during meetings. To find out more about what you get out of our program, check out our article explaining our solution to administrative compliance.
Misconception 5: We’re Responsible for the Quality of Vendors on Our List
We often receive requests for vendor recommendations, such as billing services or software providers. While we share these lists, we do not endorse or guarantee the quality of specific vendors.
Why This Is Important:
- We can give your agency a list of vendors our clients have liked in the past. However, vendor performance can vary over time. We don’t maintain relationships or monitor their quality continuously.
Our Solution:
- We provide initial lists to help agencies start their search. However, it’s the agency’s responsibility to vet vendors for suitability and performance.
Misconception 6: We Review Your Existing Compliance Materials
Some agencies ask us to review their existing materials for compliance. Unfortunately, this isn’t feasible due to the complexity and time involved.
Why This Is Important:
- Reviewing thousands of pages of existing documentation would demand significant time and expense
Our Solution:
- We provide a comprehensive suite of pre-vetted materials, including admission packages, infection control programs, and other compliance tools. These materials are customizable and align with regulatory requirements.
Agencies can choose not to use our provided materials, but this risks compliance holes since each provided document covers important requirements.
Misconception 7: You’ll See Immediate Compliance When you Start the Program
Occasionally, agencies sign up shortly before their survey and expect immediate compliance.
Why This Is Important:
- Achieving full compliance is a long-term process. While some improvements can happen quickly, the program typically requires six months to a year for optimal results.
Our Solution:
- We prioritize immediate concerns and provide tools to help with survey preparation. However, the program’s goal is to foster ongoing compliance, not just short-term fixes.
Of course you will be better off after 3 months of targeted compliance work than before you started. But it might not be enough to make you fully survey ready. Ultimately, your agency’s ability to complete assigned tasks will be the best indicator of how quickly full compliance is achieved.
How Do You Know if Our Administrative Compliance Program Is Right for Your Agency?
Our administrative compliance program is designed for agencies committed to building a sustainable compliance culture. While it isn’t without its challenges, these potential issues can be managed with clear communication and collaboration.
We realize that you might have questions after reading this article. If you’re already talking with us about this service, we encourage you to ask questions when we meet next.
If there isn’t a meeting scheduled, reach out with your questions so that we can address them. If you’re still unsure, check out our article on who's a good fit for our program to learn more.
*This article was written in consultation with Mariam Treystman.
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