Access Receives Award for Excellence in Patient Care

On April 21st, in Salt Lake City, Utah, Access Home Care and Hospice was the recipient of the HealthInsight Quality Award. The HealthInsight Quality Award program was launched in September of 2004 to promote transparency in healthcare. By using available quality data to identify high performing providers and publicizing the results, HealthInsight aims to help providers improve health care and help patients become more active and informed participants in that care. Access Home Care and Hospice was one of only a few selected agencies for demonstrating high quality health care and excellence in performance on publicly reported quality of care measures and quality markers. These measures are voluntarily reported by Access. Access engaged in advancing care in one or more of the following topics designated as "national healthcare priorities" by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS):

• Percentage of patients who had to be admitted to the hospital
• Percentage of patients who get better at walking or moving around
• Percentage of patients who get better at getting in and out of bed
• Percentage of patients who have less pain when moving around
• Percentage of patients whose bladder control improves
• Percentage of patients who get better at bathing
• Percentage of patients who get better at taking their medicines correctly (by mouth)
• Percentage of patients who are short of breath less often
• Percentage of patients who stay at home after an episode of home health care ends
• Percentage of patients whose wounds improved or healed after an operation
• Percentage of patients who need unplanned medical care related to a wound that is new, is worse, or has become infected

"HealthInsight commends Access Home Care and Hospice for its commitment to excellence in improving patient care, " said Marc Bennett, President and CEO of HealthInsight. HealthInsight is a private, non-profit community based organization dedicated to improving the healthcare systems of Nevada and Utah. They represent agencies such as the Healthcare Research and Quality Chartered Value Exchange, Medicare Quality Improvement Organization, and the Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center in Nevada and Utah. For more information on HealthInsight, go here.

Access Home Care and Hospice believes in using proven, evidence-based practices to assure that consistent medical care for all patients is carried out. We are very honored and proud to be recognized for our quality improvement initiatives that we have implemented over the years. We hope to continue this quest for quality care for many years to come.

Access is Going Green

Starting July 1st, 2010, Access Home Care and Hospice will become one of the few agencies in the inter-mountain area to be an entirely paperless company. Currently, the Access ownership and IT Department are being trained on a new computer system from HealthMEDX. From a web-based system, Access Home Care and Hospice will be able to address the entire care process of its patients, as well as specific care segments from within that process, without using one piece of paper.

Besides "going green" by not using thousands of pounds of paper a year, many may ask, "What does this mean for me?" This new system will have a significant effect on the patient, the caregiver, doctors' offices, facilities, Access employees, and pretty much anyone that associates with Access Home Care and Hospice.

As a patient, you will see an improvement on overall quality of care, timeliness of visits, and communication from our staff. Access employees will spend less time doing paperwork and scheduling, and more time doing what they love - meeting the needs of patients. Doctors' offices and facilities will be able to have real time updates through web-based faxes and emails. With electronic charting and automatic updates, Access will be able to get approval for orders through electronic signatures. This will speed up the process of getting the patients what they need, while at the same time being more efficient for doctors, Assisted Living Facilities, and Skilled Nursing Facilities. Access employees will see an efficient schedule and simple, electronic documentation that is updated in real time. Faster documentation and communication between home health aides, nurses, therapists, and doctors will then translate into more effective and efficient care to the patient.

Access is proud of its partnership with HealthMEDX. We believe in taking care of our employees with the best tools in technology. This advantage in technology allows patients to become the benefactors of extraordinary care, while at the same time making it easier for doctors and facilities to work with Access Home Care and Hospice. We look forward to officially "going green" on July 1st, 2010.

Access Medical Director Receives Award

The Hospice Medical Director for Access' Pocatello office has been recognized by a national organization for his role in urgent care medicine. This month, Physician's Immediate Care received the Urgent Care of the Month award. The accolade is awarded by the American Academy of Urgent Care Medicine (link), which is the national body for urgent care medicine. He has received this award because of his excellent service and growth in Southeastern Idaho.

Dr. Willey moved to Idaho about six years ago. Not long after operating the first Physician's Immediate Care office in 2006, he became the Medical Director for Access Home Care and Hospice. He has been practicing medicine for about 11 years, specializing in geriatrics, family medicine, urgent care medicine, and holistic medicine. He states, "It's quite an honor. We're obviously taking care of patients good enough so we can grow our business."

For more information on Dr. Willey, visit his profile here.

Access Home Care and Hospice joins the community in congratulating Dr. Willey for being such a positive influence in the lives of his patients. We are honored to have him part of the Access team!