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Southcoast Awarded for
Home Care Excellence

When Cecelia Brown lost her ability to walk last year because of severe arthritis, all she wanted to do was remain at home. “I didn’t want to go into a nursing home,” said the 77-year-old New Bedford resident.

Thanks to outstanding home care, Brown has been able to stay in her apartment. Each day a home care aide from Southcoast Home Care, Hospice & Palliative Care & Infusion Services visits her, helps her shower and dress, and brings her lunch. “Every little bit helps,” said Brown.

Southcoast Home Care recently received the MassPRO Excellence Award for significantly reducing the number of its patients who needed readmission to a hospital over a 30- day period. MassPRO is the Medicare quality improvement organization for Massachusetts.

Southcoast took part in the Home Health Quality Initiative, a national effort created in part by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to improve home health care. Agencies taking part must publicly report quality measures.

“When we learned of CMS’s mandate to reduce readmissions, we immediately began a number of initiatives to address the issue,” said Paula Shiner, RN, CHCE, Director of Southcoast Home Care, Hospice & Palliative Care & Infusion Services.

Staff enacted a “Call Your Nurse First” program and began to respond to patient concerns 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Southcoast also strengthened its telehealth program by using structured telephone calls and telemonitors in patients’ homes.

MassPRO encouraged agencies to share information with their peers through e-mail lists, Web-based training, audio conferences and workshops. The group also gave agencies taking part in the Home Health Quality Initiative technical assistance to develop plans of action.