Help Choose Home

According to Betty Greaver, RN, LMT, it's a common myth that aging means a person gains weight, has chronic pain and can't continue living a productive life. Rather, Greaver says, and research shows, there are simple lifestyle changes that people can make in order to remain active and have the capacity to enjoy life to its fullest, no matter what a person's age. Greaver says that it's important to pay attention to your health in the middle years so that you have optimum health in your later years and she shares three lifestyle changes that are important in establishing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Paul Kusserow, President and Chief Executive Officer for Amedisys, the largest independent provider of home health, hospice and personal care services in the United States, recognizes the growing pains and opportunities associated with change in the home health industry. In this Help Choose Home interview, Kusserow highlights two changes in the home health industry: one, the introduction of patient data grouping models (PDGM) in January 2020, and two, the influence of technology. Both of these factors are not only reshaping the home health landscape, but are also impacting individual agencies and their approach to delivering quality care.

Tarrah Lowry, president and CEO of Sangre de Cristo Hospice and Palliative Care in Pueblo, Colorado, emphasizes the importance of reaching out to hospice early and discussing goals of care during each health care interaction – from home health and palliative care to hospice care. The goals at each stage may change, but having these conversations early removes some of the discomfort that we inherently feel when discussing aging and death, and importantly, it enables the individual to make his/her goals known and provides the family with comfort knowing they are honoring their loved one's wishes.

In this episode of Help Choose Home, we'll hear from Jamie Summerfelt, M.Ed, MSPT, president and CEO of Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) in Omaha, Nebraska. With more than 28 years of healthcare at home experience, Summerfelt is passionate about home care. Harnessing the power of community relationships is something that he sees as integral to the success of extending the capacity to provide health care at home. In establishing partnerships with hospitals, physicians and others in the community, home care agencies are integral to help ensure success in transitional and chronic care.

In this Help Choose Home podcast you'll hear from Luke James, chief strategy officer of home health and hospice at Encompass Health, as he discusses the ways in which predictive analytics are both informing home care strategies for clients as well as predicting effective client care in the future.

Every day, companies and organizations generate copious amounts of data. "Big data" though isn't so much about the amount of data generated, but rather, what a company or organization does with the data. In analyzing data, businesses can use those insights to save money, to target marketing and advertising dollars, or, in the case of home health care, to better understand patient care and patient health outcomes. Join our discussion with Dr. Max Topaz to learn about research he is conducting specifically focused on home health care, with the goal of using data to help clinicians make better decisions about patient care, and to help home care patients achieve better health outcomes.