Archives for February 2023

 

Welcome to the April Compliance Blog Post!

Welcome to the April Compliance blog post! This month, we are talking about Variances.

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What is a Variance?

A variance is an undesired outcome not expected within the normal course of care or treatment. HealthPoint encourages open and honest reporting of actual or potential injuries or hazards to patients, visitors, and employees at all sites and services and at all levels of care throughout the organization as a continuing effort to promote a safe environment for all involved. You can learn more about variance reporting here.

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How many did we have in the last year?

In 2022, HealthPoint had a total of 328 variances submitted. Of those, the highest number of variances received occurred in May. This was due to the weather-related closures. We entered a separate variance for each clinic closure which caused the total number of variances in May to be unusually high.

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What’s the leading cause of variances at HealthPoint?

The top 5 categories of variances were medication, “other”, patient complaints, lab-related, and service interruptions.

• Within the medication category, most of those had to do with wasted medication,
• In the “other” category, most of them were non-patients seeking care. In many situations, we have to call 911 to assist those individuals because they are not established as patients and need a high level of immediate care,
• The patient complaints mostly related to clinical issues,
• Lab variances were related to preparation errors and
• Service interruptions had to do with power outages.

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Overall, how did HealthPoint do in 2022?

The compliance rounding for all of 2022 averaged between 98-99% for every location. This is amazing and you get all the kudos from the Compliance Team! Since we can always be better, Compliance is working on a new checklist for 2023 rounding. Once completed, it will be shared with all of the clinic managers.

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We are Here to Help!

As always, if you have any questions about this material, please reach out to either Fatima Naeem (fnaeem@healthpoint-tx.com) or Katherine Hall (KHall@healthpoint-tx.com).

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Welcome to March 2023 Training Tips!

Welcome to the March Training Tips blog post.

We’re back with a few Training Tips from the Training and Development department! This month, you’ll find instructions and reminders for injections and social history tracking in eCW. 

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Clinical

Tip #1)

• Unless advised differently by the manufacturer’s guidelines, multidose vials are only good for 28 days after the first dose has been withdrawn.

Tip #2)

• REMEMBER your six rights of medication administration for ALL medications

Tip #3)

• Single-dose vials and prefilled syringes are for single-patient use. DO NOT use them for more than one patient.

Lab

• Don’t forget to check your outstanding labs DAILY!

PM

Tip #1) Information on the Federal Poverty Level

• What is FPL (Federal Poverty Level), and who does this apply to?

Tip #2)

• Where do I find the FPL/SFS (Sliding Fee Scale) in eCW?

• Remember to utilize the non-clinical staff urgency triage/BUZZ WORDS!

• Remember to link the responsible party and utilize the copy demographics option! Additional information can be found in your manual. Please contact the Director of Training or PM Training and Development Specialist if you have additional, specific questions!

We are Here to Help!

For any questions or concerns, please contact Jeannie Delgado jedelgado@healthpoint-tx.com.

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Welcome to February 2023 Training Tips!

Welcome to the February Training Tips blog post.

We’re back with a few Training Tips from the Training and Development department! This month, you’ll find instructions and reminders for injections and social history tracking in eCW. 

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Clinical

Tip #1)
Remember to preload lot numbers for injections into ECW. This step helps you verify you have selected the correct medication. It would be best if you did this before preparing the injection. Leave the injection as “pending” in ECW until you administer it.

Tip #2)
You must fill out social history at every WCC, every adult wellness appt, and once a year if it still needs to be done.

• If the chart timestamp says 1/10/22 and today is 1/20/23, even if it’s not a wellness appointment or a WCC, the social history needs to be updated because it has been more than a year.

PM

Tip #1)
Give GFE to our patients that are on one of our programs: SFS, FP, PHC, Title V, or are Full Fee.

GFE also applies if the patient has 3rd party coverage but will not be using their insurance coverage to pay for the visit.

Tip #2) Remember only to put the first name, last name, and middle initial where it belongs. Do not put extra names in these boxes.

We are Here to Help!

For any questions or concerns, please contact Jeannie Delgado jedelgado@healthpoint-tx.com.

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Welcome back to the Behavioral Health Blog!

Welcome to the February Behavioral Health Blog!

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HealthPoint Behavioral Health Summit Updates:

Behavioral Health just wrapped its’ second Behavioral Health Summit. Organization-wide integration of Behavioral Health is progressing and gaining momentum as we’ve added more resources to expand the services offered and increase patient access to Behavioral Health-related care. The Behavioral Health team is doing this by utilizing the Collaborative Care Model, which emphasizes the importance of Team-Based Care. We are also partnering with a tele-psych company called Integrative Health Centers (IHC). IHC will be credentialed along with all other HealthPoint employees and will document their visits in eCW. IHC will provide a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner for medical management, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) for traditional counseling services, and a psychiatrist to serve as a professional consultant for our PCPs. 

 

Our internal Behavioral Health is also growing to include LCSWs, who will be available for “warm-handoffs”/brief interventions. We’ve also just hired a Behavioral Health Services Coordinator Medical Assistant who will be housed in our internal Behavioral Health Department at our BCS Clinic, which is moving to the far east end of the building and into the old TAMU CAC space. More support is on the way to help our PCPs care for our patients with Behavioral Health-related issues, but it will be a few more months before all the resources are in place and IHC is fully on-boarded. Please reach out to our Complex Care Management and Behavioral Health Program Manager, Charise Troncin (ctroncin@healthpoint-tx.com), with any questions!

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