-Encore Rehabilitation’s monthly publication, designed to give you updates on trends we are seeing in the Post-Acute Care industry.-
American Heart Month
With so many Americans celebrating love and friendship on Valentine’s Day each year, making February, the American Heart Health Month is extremely fitting. The heart, both emotionally and medically, can be a perplexing matter. Since the beginning of time the heart has been written about and studied, yet still to this day, there continues to be more that we can learn about it.
The heart itself is a small but mighty organ. Weighing in at just 8 to 12 ounces, it boasts a significant role in pumping the blood throughout our body and maintaining its rhythmic contractions, humming along ensuring each cell within our body is replenished with oxygenated blood throughout our lifetime.
By the time residents reach our SNF communities just imagine how much love, heartache, and work their hearts have been through. Depending on how well our residents have taken care of their heart health over the course of the years it will have made a significant difference in how well their hearts and overall wellness is today.
The number one cause of deaths for most groups is heart disease, with more than 600,000 Americans dying from it every year. The risk factors include high cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, and excessive alcohol use. With our hearts being such a vital component of our health and wellbeing in every aspect of our lives, the attention heart health gets throughout the annual American Heart Health month observance is well deserved.
Although we cannot turn back time and undo any damage our residents’ health choices have created, we can work to promote healthy living while they are in our care. We can encourage health and wellness through our dietary offerings, encouraging positive relationships amongst residents and staff, through regular medical observation and changing interventions as needed, and through promoting physical activity via activity department events or therapy interventions.
Residents who participate in physical and occupational therapy individualized treatment programs, can significantly reduce the negative impact heart disease potentially has on their long-term wellness. Some examples of the effect therapy have on residents includes, improved mobility, energy conservation and work simplification strategies, tailored exercise plans, pain management through posture and utilization of movement and other therapy strategies implemented as a measure to avoid opioid use, which has been found to have a direct connection to cardiovascular issues such as heart disease.
Interdepartmental collaboration in our SNF communities can create environments of health and wellness that will help our residents maintain quality of life and enjoy many years of celebrating love and friendship this Valentine’s Day, and for many years to come.
Rehab Roundtable
Tips for Reducing Denials and Recoupment
- Brief overview of systems for audit and appeal
- Identify common reasons for denials and claim rejections
- Discuss strategies to reduce risk of denials/takebacks
- Promote awareness of resources for questions
NASL 2022 Class of Emerging Leaders
Encore Rehabilitation Services congratulates Noell Gibson Cleveland, MA, CCC/SLP, RAC-CT, CCM & Masha Cherpakov M.S.,CCC-SLP, RAC-CT for their NASL 2022 Class of Emerging Leaders recognition!
(Click for more information)
Encore celebrates all of the achievements of African Americans and their role in U.S. history. In 1976, President Ford recognized Black History Month by urging Americans “to seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor through our history.”
Encore is committed to providing all employees with an environment of diversity, inclusion, and equality while encouraging diverse perspectives, ideas, and life experiences.
In celebration of Black History Month, Encore will be sending a daily email and posting, on Facebook and NetHealth, daily questions related to Black History.
Each day, a winner will be randomly chosen from among all of the correct answers. Prizes include Encore swag. Please submit your answers to contests@encorerehabilitation.com no later than by the end of the day. Winners will be informed via email, and each winner is only eligible to win once during this giveaway.
Recent Study in JAMA Health Forum
The study sought to assess whether implementation of the PDPM was associated with changes in therapy utilization or health outcomes (rehospitalization, SNF length of stay, and functional scores at time of discharge). They performed a cross-sectional study of 201,084 patients admitted to an SNF after hip fracture between January 2018 and March 2020.The study found that those admitted post-PDPM received about 13% fewer therapy minutes than those admitted pre-PDPM. However, the decrease in therapy minutes did not appear to be accompanied by consistent changes in key patient outcomes, including rehospitalization, SNF length of stay, or functional scores at time of discharge. The authors state the findings suggests that the PDPM resulted in a “right-sizing” of therapy provision in SNFs and reversed prior incentives under the RUG system to provide therapy when there was minimal clinical benefit.JAMA Health Forum. 2022;3(1):e214366. doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2021.4366. Authors: Momotazur Rahman, PhD; Elizabeth M. White, APRN, PhD; Brian E. McGarry, PT, PhD; Christopher Santostefano, BSN, RN; Peter Shewmaker, ScM; Linda Resnik, PT, PhD; David C. Grabowski, PhD
Walk Around The World Update
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – Cleveland, OH
- Fallingwater House – Mill Run, PA
Where will we go next? Stay tuned!
