Hospice Aide Services: Enhancing RN Supervision

A hospice agency is responsible for numerous services, including ongoing assessments, care planning, coordination, monitoring, and care provided by the hospice interdisciplinary group (IDG). The IDG determines if hospice aide services are necessary and hospice aides are assigned to a specific patient by a registered nurse (RN). An RN oversees the hospice aide, including supervision and preparing written patient care instructions as part of the plan of care. A recent report by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) determined that registered nurses did not always visit hospice patients’ homes at least once every 14 days to assess the quality of care and services provided by hospice aides or document the visits in accordance with federal requirements.

The webinar will look at how CMS identifies disparities in compliance, frequent survey deficiencies related to compliance and aide supervision, how to keep your agency compliant, and how to enhance RN supervision of aides. CMS has temporarily waived the requirement for both the two-week and annual supervisory visits for the duration of the Public Health Emergency (PHE). But as more people are vaccinated, the PHE expiration draws closer. That means resumption of supervisory visits! Now is the time to initiate visit planning and documentation which are critical to complying with this Medicare requirement. This webinar refresher is a terrific way to get your staff motivated to begin meeting this key condition of participation again.

This informative session is beneficial for all hospice staff, including administrators, DOPCSs, clinical leadership, QAPI teams, case managers, RN coordinators, and scheduling staff.