1. Home health agencies have a legal responsibility to respond to emergencies in accordance with licensing standards and state and federal law. Make sure you are paying attention to the public health notices from the governor, the CDC, federal government and DSHS/HHSC.
2. NOW would be a great time to document exercises required to be disaster prepared- activate your Emergency Planning and Response Procedures.
3. INFECTION CONTROL:
4. If anyone is concerned about whether or not the agency policies are up to date with requirements as revised in the last year, we can help.
5. If anyone is concerned about whether or not the agency policies are up to date with requirements as revised in the last year, we can help.
6. 123 Consulting Solutions has recently updated infection control policies and EPRP policies and related forms/tools for compliance. These policy sections can be purchased without having to buy an entire expensive policy manual. (Although a complete Licensed HH manual is available as well)
7. State surveyors will increase focus immediately on surveys to ALF and SNF facilities with recent history of infection control deficiencies. Home health agencies will similarly be prioritized most certainly, just as we saw dramatic increases to Survey focus on Disaster response plans after Hurricane Harvey. So, reinforcements of your Emergency planning and infection control practices should be high priority.
8. All staff should have access to ACCURATE and non panic, non inflammatory information to share with patients to educate effectively. Your clinical documentation should reflect any additional teaching. Please be certain to document and communicate clearly to staff your expectations about communicating schedule changes, missed visits, patient concerns, and illnesses.
9. All staff should be provided with appropriate PPE- by OSHA standards, the agency must supply to all employees.
123consultingsolutions.com also offers an extensive library of caregiver training courses on topics that include general infection control, emergency preparedness, and hand-washing. Click this link to browse our caregiver training library quire.123consultingsolutions.com.
