Home Health Assignment 2
Home Health Assignment 2
You are the manager at a home health agency. One of your elderly patients has insulin-dependent diabetes. He has no family support, speaks limited English, and has little understanding of his disease. He lives alone. Your reimbursement from a government agency pays $90 per visit. Because he needs so much care, you find that the actual cost to your agency is $130 for each visit. What will be the impact to your agency if this patient is seen twice a
week for 3 months? How can you recover the lost revenue? How can you make each visit cost
less and still meet the needs to the patient?
Home Health Student 2 Post
According to the scenario, the home health agency will visit the patient 24 times during the next
three months. With the current payment of $90 for each visit and a total cost of $130 each visit, the
agency will be in a financial deficit of $960 after the visits. To recover lost revenue the agency
the agency needs to either increase payment or decrease the cost of each visit. Looking at
payments we need to understand value-based purchasing. According to Marquis and Huston
(2017), value can be broadly defined as a function of quality, efficiency, safety, and cost. By
focusing on quality, efficiency, safety, cost, and improved patient satisfaction the agency can
increase payment in a value-based purchasing system. To decrease the cost of each visit the nurse
needs to assess the patient for his direct needs. The patient may not need all the services
provided at the initial cost. Also over time the patient will become more self-sufficient and will
not require the same level of care. The home health agency may also use other agencies for
supplemental education. There are many classes available to the patient free of charge both
online and in-class forms that can supplement the teaching done by the agency. Many classes
can be found on the Healthy Texas website such as Si, Yo Puedo Controlar Mi Diabetes, and
others that focus on the Hispanic population. Also, local churches and hospitals will provide free
classes for diabetic education. These classes can range from basic diabetic teaching all the way
to nutrition and physical activity. Supplementing these classes can reduce the amount of time
spent with the patient and reinforce the material taught by the agency. Also if needed the
agency can increase the number of days per week the patient is seen. This can help the agency
by reducing the amount of time per visit and the cost can be spread out over more days.
Reference
Marquis, B., & Huston, C. (2017). Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing:
Theory and Application (9 th ed.). Philadelphia, PA:Wolters Kluwer.
Healthy Texas (n.d.). Diabetes. Retrieved from https://healthytexas.tamu.edu/diabetes/
Rubric Reply to Student2 post with References APA format 6 th Edition
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