Leverage Telehealth to Earn More Referrals

Liz Powell, COO of the VNA of Western Pennsylvania presented a very effective program on how their agency has used telehealth in increase referrals, improve patient outcomes, and grow the bottom line. This was a delightful program for me because VNA of W. PA. in Butler, PA was my second home health care client when I started working with home health agencies back in 1982. (The first was the VNA of Venango County in Oil City, PA)

Liz Presented a Step-by-Step case study of how they did it:

• Set Goals
• Select the right system ( VNA uses HomMed)
• Implement a Home Health Model
• Work out the logistics
• Develop Marketing Strategies to Assure Success
• Allocate Funds for Marketing
• Define Target Markets
• Create Marketing Materials
• Select Target Markets

The results of their program:

• Referrals to the agency increased by 22%
• Home Health PPS visits per episode decreased from 19 t0 11
• Nurses were able to carry larger case loads
• Census increased with the same number of nursing staff
• ER visits decreased 61.7% for CHF patients
• Rehospitalizatin decreased by 65.9% for CHF patients
• The agency made an amazing financial turnaround

For more information on this program, visit their web site: http://www.vna.com/html/hommed.html