Session 1...10:30am to 12:00 pm

Presented By: Aaron Little, BKD Health Care Group, LLP

This workshop will reveal national, state, and provider specific performance from the most recent studies conducted by BKD on Medicare home health prospective payment system refinement data. This newly available data will compare the overall performance of Northern New England home health agencies to other states and the nation and will highlight overall data trends suggesting performance improvement opportunities. Each attendee will also receive provider-specific dashboard reports based on key performance measures compiled from Medicare cost report data received by BKD directly from CMS.

Biography:

A leading national home care and hospice consultant, Aaron is a CPA with over 10 years of experience with BKD, LLP. He routinely performs general financial and operational consulting services for home care and hospice organizations, including operations reviews, productivity assessments, benchmarking, budgeting and Medicare cost report preparation. He also oversees the operations of BKD Health Care Billing Services, which manages more than $50 million in revenues for home care, hospice, and senior living organizations.

Handouts are Now Available

Presented By: Margaret Franckhauser, Community Health & Hospice

Many agencies provide care to patients whose service needs or demands escalate to a point where the agency cannot meet the demand without negatively affecting the care of other patients or agency function. Based on her agency's experience transiting high utilization patients effectively, Ms. Franckhauser will identify the PR, HR and legal risks associated with managing, negotiating care and discharging high utilization patients and identify effective tools for communicating and negotiating discharge or transitions in care.

This session is intended to assist home care directors, managers and clinicians to understand the risks of long term care provision and craft policies and systems that allow organizations to establish resource boundaries that meet regulatory standards, client needs and community expectations in a time of increasing demands.

Biography:

Margaret Franckhauser, RN, MS, MPH, APRN, is the Executive Director for Community Health & Hospice.Margaret has worked in the health care field since 1978 in roles including nurse practitioner, Program Chief of the Communicable Disease Epidemiology Program for the N.H. DHHS, and Director of Ambulatory Services at Lakes Region General Hospital. For the past 11 years, she has served as the CEO of Community Health & Hospice in Laconia. She has also held many leadership positions in the state around key issues affecting nursing and nursing practice.

Handouts are Available Now

Presented By: Merrily Orsini, corecubed

Marketing in 2010 is all about using strategy and integrating all communications. This integration includes traditional marketing and sales information, plus networking and the new social media and secure communication Web portals. Understanding the strategy behind a truly integrated marketing communications program is key to understanding HOW social media and social networking work to inform and attract. Ms. Orsini will look at and explain the different components of social media and explore how to determine if there is a good fit for your agency. And, if you understand the strategy, then you can allocate a cost to it, and benefit from whatever is done.

Biography:

Merrily Orsini's unique background combines skills in technology and people. Her business roots, however, began in private pay home care. She started a geriatric care managed in-home care agency, grew and then sold it, garnering her the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for that venture. She is now the Managing Director and founder of corecubed, a strategic integrated marketing communications company that specializes in monthly marketing communications programs for the home care industry. In 2009 Orsini's MOSTSM Program (specifically for the home care market) was a finalist for the Stevie Awards Marketing Campaign of the Year. Working Woman Magazine named corecubed one of the 25 Best Woman Owned Companies in America in 2008, and Orsini was honored as Louisville Magazine's Digital Age Entrepreneur in its 2008 "Best of Louisville Awards."

Recognized nationally for her expertise in strategically marketing home care and home health services, Orsini is involved in numerous organizations within the home care industry. She is Chair of the Private Duty Homecare Association of America, and serves on the board of the National Association for Home Care and Hospice. A regular speaker at conferences across the country where she has solidified her place as the industry leader in topics related to marketing communications.

Orsini earned a master's degree from the University of Louisville. She has served as a workshop leader and speaker on the local, regional and national levels since 1988. She has marketing and PR clients around the country and her company builds Web sites, creates branded marketing collateral, and offers resources on starting and growing a home care company. Her clients operate locally, nationally and internationally. Orsini is profoundly committed to educating the home care industry on how best to use marketing to increase revenues. Visit her blog www.MerrilyOrsini.com to follow her weekly insights and read where she is speaking, and the articles she writes for national publications. Tweet her @MerrilyO and find her on FaceBook.com/merrily.orsini.

Handouts are Available Now