Netsmart CareThreads

Hospices around the country are dealing with a similar issue – staffing shortages. It’s forced some to reduce services while others have shut down. One expert has some ideas on how to retain staff and how to prepare hospice nurses for the rigors of the job.

Barbara Karnes, RN has devoted decades towards educating, caring and supporting those who are dying and their loved ones. She wrote the iconic booklet “Gone from My Sight.” It is recognized as an important tool for hospice nurses. In this episode, she talks with Amy Wilson, Netsmart Senior Solution Strategist, about the biggest challenges and opportunities facing hospice agencies.

Join us as we discuss:

• Retaining staff
• Preparing the next generation of hospice nurses
• Advice for hospice clinical leaders
• Technology’s impact on hospice care

• Tom Herzog, COO, Netsmart

• Dr. Eleanor Castillo-Sumi, Senior Vice President of Strategy, Innovation & Growth for Pacific Clinics.

Organizations from all communities of care are faced with the challenge of navigating a sea of change, while at the same time trying to scale services to those in need. From taking a proactive approach to new payer models, to focusing on a strong organizational culture, providers can continue to cultivate their mission.

In this podcast, we’ll discuss how Pacific Clinics has learned to anticipate changes and transform accordingly. By focusing on strategy, innovation and growth, they’ve managed to serve 40 million people over the last 155 years and continue to adapt and grow through an ever-changing landscape.

Listen as we discuss:

• How to keep existing teams aligned and working closely together through change
• What makes a strong culture that is flexible and motivated about change
• Strategies to help scale services and improve the lives of both staff and clients

To make sure you never miss an episode of the CareThreads podcast, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website. Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for CareThreads in your favorite podcast player.

Health and human service organizations are confronted with the challenge of maintaining and improving care coordination, clinician satisfaction, and client outcomes with shrinking resources. Faced with staff shortages and an increase in demand for services, organizations are looking for ways to help clinicians do their job better, quicker, and easier, as well as improve the efficacy of their work.

In this episode, hear from executives of two of the largest and most complex providers in the country, Chief Information Officer of Institute for Community Living, Hao Wang, and Uday Madasu, Chief Administration Officer of Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, how emerging technologies, like artificial intelligence, have the power to simultaneously transform the client and staff experience, making their lives easier and enabling better outcomes.

Listen as we discuss:

• How the power of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing are being leveraged by providers to drive efficiency, boost staff retention and recruitment, and improve care delivery.
• How advanced technology is making strides in population health, workforce management, consumer engagement, and data analytics
• Technology in the emerging stage that will play a large role in the future of care.

To make sure you never miss an episode of the CareThreads podcast, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website. Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for CareThreads in your favorite podcast player.

In this episode, Chuck Ingoglia, President and CEO at National Council for Mental Wellbeing joins Kevin Scalia, Executive Vice President at Netsmart, to discuss the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act recently passed by Congress that provides funding for the expansion of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs). Join them as they discuss how this Act came to be and how the efforts over the past decade demonstrate the importance of advocacy.

When it comes to advocacy, even one person’s voice can make a difference. From letters and phone calls to Congressional home district visits and Hill Days, building relationships with members of Congress is key to driving change. In the case of CCBHCs, the collaboration and consistent efforts of individuals and organizations across the human services community led to the passage of this much-needed legislation. Even though this Act provides the most funding for mental health in 60 years, it still falls short of what is truly needed to support the increase in demand for mental health services. The work that has been done on CCBHCs is just the beginning.

Join us to hear their experiences as they discuss:

• What it took to get this CCBHC legislation passed
• The importance of the Behavioral Health IT Coalition and Hill Day within advocacy efforts
• What the hope is for the future of mental health

Online resources:

National Council for Mental Wellbeing analysis of Bipartisan Safer Communities Act

National Council for Mental Wellbeing CCBHC Impact Report – May 2021

Netsmart summary of Healthcare Legislative Advocacy | Netsmart (ntst.com)

Speak with a Netsmart CCBHC Specialist

If you want to hear more episodes like this one, look for the Netsmart CareThreads podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or anywhere you get your podcast content.

Home healthcare providers face an uncertain future following a proposed rate cut by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The proposal would implement a permanent -7.69% cut to Medicare home health services beginning in January 2023. The Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare (PQHH) says the rate cut proposal would equal $1.33 billion in 2023 alone. More cuts have also been proposed for the years to come which could reach $18 billion over the next 10 years. Providers and home health advocates are fighting back, urging passage of the Preserving Access to Home Health Act of 2022. The legislation seeks to delay cuts to allow time to implement a payment system update based on full, current and accurate information. Advocates say CMS should treat home health consistently – and apply the same budget methodology principles as it does in analyzing budget neutrality in the skilled nursing facility payment system.

In this episode, Netsmart EVP of Corporate Development Kevin Scalia talks with Joanne Cunningham, CEO of PQHH, about the proposed rate cuts to home healthcare services, which come at a time of increasing interest in care at home.

Listen in as we discuss:

• How the proposed cuts would have a devastating impact on home healthcare access and growth
• The Preserving Access to Home Health Act of 2022…and the urgent need for advocacy to pass it
• What you specifically can do to support efforts already underway in Washington
• The increased use of technology in post-acute care delivery…connecting clinicians and caregivers for patient-centric care

Click here to read more about PQHH’s detailed analysis of the proposed home health rate cuts.

You can also visit a Take Action link to ask your representatives in Congress to support the Preserving Access to Home Health Act of 2022.

To make sure you never miss an episode of the CareThreads podcast, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website. Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for CareThreads in your favorite podcast player.

Tim Rowan, Editor of “Healthcare at Home: The Rowan Report"

Mike Dordick, President of McBee and SVP Post-Acute Strategy of Netsmart

Dawn Iddings, SVP of Post-Acute, Netsmart

It is projected that in two years 50% of Medicare beneficiaries will be enrolled in a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan, and by 2040 that number is expected to rise to 70%.

As MA grows its market share among seniors, home-based care providers are battling two business decisions: accept the MA contract and what they feel are unfair reimbursement rates, or reject the rates and lose out on MA contracts and the revenue that comes with it.

In this episode, we unpack the biggest challenges and opportunities for home health agencies as they grapple with whether to engage with MA contracts and take on risk.

To hear more episodes like this one, look for the Netsmart CareThreads podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast player.

Palliative care is growing at an accelerated pace with providers beginning to unlock the keys to profitability through value-based contracts. By taking a deep dive into one of the most rapidly growing fields of healthcare in the U.S., we can understand why these predictions for growth point to palliative as one of the highest demand and most needed services in the post-acute care continuum and what the future of palliative care includes.

In this episode hosted by Mike Valentine, CEO of Netsmart, we explore the expansion of palliative care services as well as some of the challenges facing providers. Joining us in the dialogue to unlock success for palliative care is Dawn Iddings, Senior Vice President & GM of Post-Acute and Jim Parker, Editor of Hospice News. Jim is a journalist who has covered healthcare and public policy since 2000 and has a deep understanding of the hospice and palliative care industry. The collective of post-acute care industry leaders discuss improving access to palliative care, building the infrastructure to support new programs and understanding the benefits and pitfalls of new payment models.

Join us as we share key factors to unlocking success:

• Team skills and interdisciplinary care positioning hospice agencies to broaden service offerings
• A robust technology system to collect and interpret data demonstrating positive outcomes
• Mobilizing data through interoperability to pursue value-based contracts
• The importance of ONC-certification for providers to realize the full potential of reimbursement
• Pursuing value-based contracts through programs like Medicare Advantage, ACOs and other alternative payment arrangements
• Leveraging value-based partnerships to offer additional support to patients and share costs for care delivery
• How to use insightful data to drive partners, referral organizations, payers and other providers to collaborate and arrive at a win-win contract

Thank you to Jim Parker for joining the discussion and for your thought leadership in the industry which can be found online at Hospice News: https://hospicenews.com/

For additional technology resources visit: https://www.ntst.com/Solutions/By-Community/Post-Acute-Care/Palliative-Care

If you want to hear more episodes like this one, look for the Netsmart CareThreads podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher.

In this episode, AJ Peterson, vice president and general manager of CareGuidance, talks with Jennifer Miller and Hank Watson about how their organizations are incorporating integrated care into their services and what integrated care means to them. Learn about the importance of looking at interconnectedness and the whole health of a person. Social determinants of health (SDoH) are also discussed and how the right model of care can overcome the barriers keeping people from getting appropriate treatment and services.

Telehealth, remote therapy and group sessions, and how technology can be an enabler of value-based models of care are covered. Miller and Watson also share how forming partnerships and data sharing among organizations can be helpful in developing effective treatment plans.

Hear their experiences as they discuss:

• How to define integrated care and what success looks like
• How integrated care is being delivered through the lens of different organizations
• Lessons, challenges and opportunities around implementing integrated care models
• Technology needed for integrated care and the role it plays in forging community partnerships

If you want to hear more episodes like this one, look for the Netsmart CareThreads podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher.

The past several years have seen accelerated technology application for healthcare organizations across the continuum of care, yet we're going to see more change in the next ten years than most of us have seen in our collective lifetime. To understand where we are going, we should reflect on the history that brought us to where we are today. The origins of healthcare IT adoption for providers stemmed from the financial compliance era for electronic health records (EHRs). Historically, behavioral health providers across the country had been slower to adopt healthcare IT in comparison to other care settings; but the shift of bringing consumers and clinicians to the technology table has driven rapid innovation and development of solutions and services.

At no other time in our history has person-to-person collaboration been more important to the outcomes of those we serve. Technology adoption requires more than just the IT team. Success requires that every function of an organization needs a seat at the table. The caregivers, clinicians, administration, operators, financial billing and more because these technology systems are dependent upon each other to work extraordinarily well. Each stakeholder, their perspective or persona is absolutely valid, and each influences the others as a cross representation team at the table designing not only for today but for tomorrow.

In this episode, Tom Herzog, Chief Operating Officer, speaks with Dr. Dennis Morrison, Chief Clinical Officer about his unique experience adopting and applying healthcare technology throughout his career. A psychologist by training, Dr. Denny has been in various corners of the healthcare landscape over the last 30 years, running a community mental health center (CMHC) and leading a research institute before landing at Netsmart. The thought leaders unpack the past, present and future of behavioral health care delivery including the intersection of clinical and technology, improved outcomes and next-generation healthcare IT on the horizon.

Join us to hear their experiences as we discuss:

• History of healthcare IT and the financial compliance era
• Accelerating technology adoption for behavioral healthcare organizations
• Designing workflows with the patient and clinician in mind
• Perspectives of peers and the recovery movement
• Treatment and recovery models for acute problems, chronic illness and addiction
• Predictions for augmented intelligence, predictive analytics, DNA and big data
• Future technology innovations transforming healthcare

Finally, Denny shares a suggestion on the latest reads that he’s found fascinating. Denny recently finished a series of articles for the Netsmart CareThreads blog (https://www.ntst.com/Blog) on the pure movement, and he found inspiration and background in a book about the history of addiction treatment in the United States called Slaying the Dragon. Denny states, “It’s a fascinating read about how we have used peers in health care, particularly in addiction treatment and how that came about – it’s absolutely fascinating.”

Download Slaying the Dragon Today!

To hear more episodes like this one, look for the Netsmart CareThreads podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts.

Rachelle Casto, VP of Administration, McLeod Addictive Disease Center

Melanie Conforti, VP of Medication Assisted Treatment, McLeod Addictive Disease Center

Christy Majors, VP of Finance, McLeod Addictive Disease Center

Mary Ward, President, McLeod Addictive Disease Center

Tricia Zerger, Director of Child & Family and Developmental Services, Netsmart

In this episode, representatives from the McLeod Addictive Disease Center and Netsmart discuss where addiction treatment is now and how the use of technology can take treatment to a whole new level. While the COVID pandemic created challenges for treatment, it also provided many opportunities, creating many roads to recovery.

The McLeod Addictive Disease Center has been operative throughout many areas of North Carolina since 1969, caring for up to 2800 individuals at any given time. The pandemic drastically changed the ways in which treatments were viewed. Thankfully, being deemed an essential location, the treatment centers did not close, however, Telehealth and other online treatments got created for caregivers and patients alike. Finding that many patients enjoyed and preferred Telehealth as opposed to in-person treatment, the focus became more centered on asking the patients how they themselves think they can receive the best care. During a time of fear and uncertainty, this organization embraced opportunity because of the pandemic, leading to more innovation ideas and greater success of everyone involved.

Join us to hear their experiences as we discuss:

• Factors that have and continue to contribute to the addiction crisis in our society
• The challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic
• The advantages of technology in Telehealth and other online services and how they related to overall patient satisfaction.
• How the pandemic shaped their organization, bringing about great new ideas and success
• What the future looks like without having strict regulations

If you want to hear more episodes like this one, look for the Netsmart CareThreads podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you stream your podcasts.