Selected Podcast
How Home Health Care Can Help
In this episode Deb Bradley, a clinical manager at Riverside Healthcare, leads a discussion on home health care and its benefits, as well as some of the misconceptions that often come with it.
Featured Speaker:
Deb Bradley, RN, MSN
Deb Bradley, RN, MSN, is the Riverside Home Health Clinical Manager. Transcription:
Intro: Riverside Healthcare, puts the health and wellness information you need well within reach.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): Welcome back to Well Within Reach, brought to you by Riverside Healthcare. I'm Gabby Cinnamon. And today, I'm joined by Deb Bradley, the Home Care Clinical Manager at Riverside to talk about home health care. Thanks so much for joining us today, Deb. So can you kind of talk about your experience and your background? This is your first podcast you've done with us, which is really exciting.
Deb Bradley: Thank you for having me. Yeah, sure. I've been in home care for a greater than 25 years now. Traditionally started out as a field RN nurse, taking care of all types of patients in the home. I've had experience with pediatric and adult patients caring for complex ventilator patients at home. From there, I transitioned into the office as an assistant director of nursing and then a clinical director prior to coming to Riverside in 2002 as the clinical manager. So I've been with Riverside for 20 years this year in April, and currently as the manager for Riverside Home Health Care. I work closely with our quality educator, our intake staff, and provides direct supervision for all the clinical staff out in the field. I've been involved over the years in the Illinois HomeCare Home Health and Hospice Association, participating on the education committee, best practice council, and served as the regional chair for the Illinois HomeCare and Hospice meetings.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): Wow. That's awesome. So you have a lot of experience, so I'm really excited to learn more about home care from you today in this podcast. But can you explain what home health care is?
Deb Bradley: So home health care does encompass a wide variety of meanings. For Riverside Home Care, we actually provide skilled home health services. So there are some misconceptions as we'll talk about later. We do provide direct skilled care for patients needing medical services in the home, usually and generally under a doctor's order. The goal of our home health care is to treat the illness or the injury and to help the individuals recover, regain independence and become self-sufficient in the home.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): So who might benefit from home health care or is there certain kinds of patients that tend to get home health care more frequently than others?
Deb Bradley: Home care is for all ages. With Riverside Home Care, we provide care to the adult population 18 and over. Generally, that care is ordered by a physician after a hospital stay, or it can also be ordered after a doctor's office visit. So individuals with complex needs, such as any special treatments that they may need such as wound care. We teach patients and families how to give IV meds at home, tube feedings, nutritional support. We provide direct medical care and/or supervision with that teaching and the treatments like I said. Patients with chronic illness, and try to get them to be able to live independently with some help, of course, from their loved ones at home. We also do provide care for patients that are terminally ill with goals to transition them to Next level of care, which would be palliative care and/or hospice care.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): So it kind of leads into my next question, which is how long can someone receive home health care for? Is there a timeframe or do you kind of try to transition them out of home health care?
Deb Bradley: Home health care is generally covered by Medicare or different insurances, Medicaid. The care is generally certified for 60 days. We provide care based on the clinical need of the patient. So a patient may only have 30 days worth of care, a patient may have two weeks of care. It depends on what is a skilled need for the patient. So home health care under the Medicare benefit and under most insurances is not something that's considered long-term care. So of course, our goal is to go in and teach again the patient, the family, the caregivers how to take care of their loved ones safely at home.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): It sounds like there are a lot of options, which is great, because every patient's needs are different. I'm sure. So you kind of touched on some of the services that Riverside Home Health Care offers. Can you go into a little bit more detail about that? Because you guys have a whole team of people that offer services.
Deb Bradley: Riverside Home Healthcare provides skilled nursing services, physical therapy services, occupational therapy services, social work services, and home health aid services. From a skilled nursing perspective, the nurses can provide wound care, pain management, nutrition therapies, such as tube feedings, teaching and training activities, infusion therapy, telemedicine, home safety education and advice, and supportive care for families for the chronically ill and/or terminally ill patients.
Physical therapy can provide services such as home exercise programs, gait training, balance training, transfer training. They do outside training, getting in and out of the car to get those patients safely out of the home to the next level of care, occupational therapy basically works on upper body strengthening, cognitive training, improving patient's activities of daily living within the home. The home health aid can provide assistance for support with bathing, eating, dressing, and grooming.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): Recently, I think it was last fall, home health care launched remote patient monitoring, which is a really cool service. Can you talk a little bit more about that and who qualifies for remote patient monitoring?
Deb Bradley: Sure. In September of 2021, Riverside Home Healthcare partnered with Healthcare Recovery Solutions and we provide a remote patient monitoring kit to patients that are chronically ill. Specifically, we're targeting our COPD, our CHF population with plans to extend that to all patients as we go forward. The patients do receive a kit in the home. It contains an iPad, a blood pressure cuff, a scale, a pulse oximeter. Depending on which kit they get, it can have a thermometer in it, there are also other peripherals that we can also get. But at this time, we're only using those peripherals. They get the tablet in their home. We go in and set that up and teach them how to use it. It's very easy to use. The patients monitor their biometrics daily. And we have a nurse in the office that can look at those results daily and track and trend those results for any changes. Our goals again are to teach the patients to become more healthier, have them watch their diet, their weight, report any changes in their condition to the physician as soon as possible to prevent a hospital stay and keep them healthy at home.
That's really exciting. And I'm sure it's empowering too for the patient to be able to track all that on technology and to have that in our community is really cool. It's been very interesting. We just recently had a patient that we started. I think he was on for 30 days initially. And he really wanted to keep the equipment. We're not keeping that in there long-term, of course, but, again, trying to transition those patients into getting their own equipment at home. But he was just so happy with it. Really started to change some of his behaviors, quit smoking, started to change his diet, kept him out of the hospital for greater than 60 days, which is amazing. So it does work, but it's just changing those behaviors and creating those healthy lifestyles.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): Yeah. That's awesome. That's really exciting. So kind of switching gears a bit, let's say, you know, someone is wanting to get home care for a loved one who maybe needs some extra help with medications or managing a condition, what advice do you have for the loved one or maybe the primary caretaker currently seeking home care for their loved one.
Deb Bradley: Skilled home health care does require an order from a physician. I would advise any family members or loved ones to start to prepare that prior to discharge from either the hospital or the skilled nursing facility, get involved, start that process early and get more information about what home care can and cannot provide. From a skilled home health perspective, we can provide, like I said earlier, nursing physical therapy and aid services intermittently for a short period of time. We're not going to be there for four or five hours a day. We're not going to come daily. So our goals are to teach a family member and/or the patient how to care for themselves effectively at home.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): When working with families or patients, are there any misconceptions that they come in with commonly or ones that you see more than others maybe?
Deb Bradley: Yeah, Riverside Home health Care, again there's a difference between the private duty sector and the skilled home health benefit. There are other agencies within the community that do provide the private duty care and that's care again, that is generally provided three to four hours per day or whatever the patient may need and they can have it eight hours a day. That is a service that we do not provide. Our care is skilled, intermittent. We are not going to be there for eight hours a day. We're not going to be out there daily. So it's very important that we have that involvement either with the patient and/or with their caregivers.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): Yeah. That sounds like it's really important to know for someone who might be looking into home care for a loved one.
Deb Bradley: Under the Medicare benefit, the patient has to meet certain qualifications for home health care. So they have to have a skill need. The care has to be reasonable and necessary, meaning that it takes the skills of the nurse or a therapist to provide the care. And the patient has to be home-bound. so the patient has to have an illness or an injury or something that really prohibits them from leaving the home safely.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): Right. So not just anyone can get home care. Got it.
Deb Bradley: Correct. So our job is to go out and do that evaluation and do an assessment and make sure that we're following those guidelines for the home health benefit.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): How can family members support a loved one who's getting home care or maybe help them with their treatment plan? Because as you said, you guys aren't there 24/7, you stop by and you do what you need to do. But maybe a family member is there during the times when the clinicians aren't there, how can they help their loved one?
Deb Bradley: We try to get patients and their families involved early on as best as possible. Sometimes that's not always possible, either the family member's not available, they live out of town. Families just don't live together like they used to years ago. So it does become a challenge for some patients. We do try to find that support. We have a social worker also on staff that can assist the families and trying to find some support. We do recommend private services. So we do support the family in trying to get them referred to other community resources to help them with their loved ones at home.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): Yeah, I'm sure sometimes for families, maybe it is a family member that lives close by, you know, like the boundaries of the clinicians are there to help. So I'm sure that there can sometimes be issues with that, of knowing what to do and that kind of thing.
Deb Bradley: And we train all of our staff to go in with those expectations and to really have that conversation with a family member and/or the patient, and let them know what the expectations are from a home health perspective and how we can involve everybody in their care to provide that care at home safely.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): Is there anything else we should know about home health care?
Deb Bradley: Home health care was a recipient of the Press Ganey 2021 Guardian of Patient Excellence Award. It's a nationally recognized symbol of achievement in healthcare, presented annually to hospital and healthcare systems that achieve performance in the top 5% of Press Ganey clients. Riverside Home Health Care achieved the award by reaching the 95th percentile in patient experience and in employee and physician engagement in providing quality clinical care. So I'm very proud to have the opportunity to work with our home health care team in achieving this award. If anyone would like any more information regarding home health care services, you can visit us at riversidehealthcare.org or you can call the home healthcare office at 815-935-3272.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): That's very exciting. I'm so happy for you guys winning that award, because I think there are only five awards given out in the entire state of Illinois. So that's very exciting to have award-winning home health care in our community. So thank you so much for coming on the podcast today, Deb. We learned so much.
Deb Bradley: Thank you, Gabby.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): And thank you listeners for tuning in to Well Within Reach brought to you by Riverside Healthcare. We would love if you would leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to our podcast.
Intro: Riverside Healthcare, puts the health and wellness information you need well within reach.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): Welcome back to Well Within Reach, brought to you by Riverside Healthcare. I'm Gabby Cinnamon. And today, I'm joined by Deb Bradley, the Home Care Clinical Manager at Riverside to talk about home health care. Thanks so much for joining us today, Deb. So can you kind of talk about your experience and your background? This is your first podcast you've done with us, which is really exciting.
Deb Bradley: Thank you for having me. Yeah, sure. I've been in home care for a greater than 25 years now. Traditionally started out as a field RN nurse, taking care of all types of patients in the home. I've had experience with pediatric and adult patients caring for complex ventilator patients at home. From there, I transitioned into the office as an assistant director of nursing and then a clinical director prior to coming to Riverside in 2002 as the clinical manager. So I've been with Riverside for 20 years this year in April, and currently as the manager for Riverside Home Health Care. I work closely with our quality educator, our intake staff, and provides direct supervision for all the clinical staff out in the field. I've been involved over the years in the Illinois HomeCare Home Health and Hospice Association, participating on the education committee, best practice council, and served as the regional chair for the Illinois HomeCare and Hospice meetings.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): Wow. That's awesome. So you have a lot of experience, so I'm really excited to learn more about home care from you today in this podcast. But can you explain what home health care is?
Deb Bradley: So home health care does encompass a wide variety of meanings. For Riverside Home Care, we actually provide skilled home health services. So there are some misconceptions as we'll talk about later. We do provide direct skilled care for patients needing medical services in the home, usually and generally under a doctor's order. The goal of our home health care is to treat the illness or the injury and to help the individuals recover, regain independence and become self-sufficient in the home.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): So who might benefit from home health care or is there certain kinds of patients that tend to get home health care more frequently than others?
Deb Bradley: Home care is for all ages. With Riverside Home Care, we provide care to the adult population 18 and over. Generally, that care is ordered by a physician after a hospital stay, or it can also be ordered after a doctor's office visit. So individuals with complex needs, such as any special treatments that they may need such as wound care. We teach patients and families how to give IV meds at home, tube feedings, nutritional support. We provide direct medical care and/or supervision with that teaching and the treatments like I said. Patients with chronic illness, and try to get them to be able to live independently with some help, of course, from their loved ones at home. We also do provide care for patients that are terminally ill with goals to transition them to Next level of care, which would be palliative care and/or hospice care.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): So it kind of leads into my next question, which is how long can someone receive home health care for? Is there a timeframe or do you kind of try to transition them out of home health care?
Deb Bradley: Home health care is generally covered by Medicare or different insurances, Medicaid. The care is generally certified for 60 days. We provide care based on the clinical need of the patient. So a patient may only have 30 days worth of care, a patient may have two weeks of care. It depends on what is a skilled need for the patient. So home health care under the Medicare benefit and under most insurances is not something that's considered long-term care. So of course, our goal is to go in and teach again the patient, the family, the caregivers how to take care of their loved ones safely at home.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): It sounds like there are a lot of options, which is great, because every patient's needs are different. I'm sure. So you kind of touched on some of the services that Riverside Home Health Care offers. Can you go into a little bit more detail about that? Because you guys have a whole team of people that offer services.
Deb Bradley: Riverside Home Healthcare provides skilled nursing services, physical therapy services, occupational therapy services, social work services, and home health aid services. From a skilled nursing perspective, the nurses can provide wound care, pain management, nutrition therapies, such as tube feedings, teaching and training activities, infusion therapy, telemedicine, home safety education and advice, and supportive care for families for the chronically ill and/or terminally ill patients.
Physical therapy can provide services such as home exercise programs, gait training, balance training, transfer training. They do outside training, getting in and out of the car to get those patients safely out of the home to the next level of care, occupational therapy basically works on upper body strengthening, cognitive training, improving patient's activities of daily living within the home. The home health aid can provide assistance for support with bathing, eating, dressing, and grooming.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): Recently, I think it was last fall, home health care launched remote patient monitoring, which is a really cool service. Can you talk a little bit more about that and who qualifies for remote patient monitoring?
Deb Bradley: Sure. In September of 2021, Riverside Home Healthcare partnered with Healthcare Recovery Solutions and we provide a remote patient monitoring kit to patients that are chronically ill. Specifically, we're targeting our COPD, our CHF population with plans to extend that to all patients as we go forward. The patients do receive a kit in the home. It contains an iPad, a blood pressure cuff, a scale, a pulse oximeter. Depending on which kit they get, it can have a thermometer in it, there are also other peripherals that we can also get. But at this time, we're only using those peripherals. They get the tablet in their home. We go in and set that up and teach them how to use it. It's very easy to use. The patients monitor their biometrics daily. And we have a nurse in the office that can look at those results daily and track and trend those results for any changes. Our goals again are to teach the patients to become more healthier, have them watch their diet, their weight, report any changes in their condition to the physician as soon as possible to prevent a hospital stay and keep them healthy at home.
That's really exciting. And I'm sure it's empowering too for the patient to be able to track all that on technology and to have that in our community is really cool. It's been very interesting. We just recently had a patient that we started. I think he was on for 30 days initially. And he really wanted to keep the equipment. We're not keeping that in there long-term, of course, but, again, trying to transition those patients into getting their own equipment at home. But he was just so happy with it. Really started to change some of his behaviors, quit smoking, started to change his diet, kept him out of the hospital for greater than 60 days, which is amazing. So it does work, but it's just changing those behaviors and creating those healthy lifestyles.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): Yeah. That's awesome. That's really exciting. So kind of switching gears a bit, let's say, you know, someone is wanting to get home care for a loved one who maybe needs some extra help with medications or managing a condition, what advice do you have for the loved one or maybe the primary caretaker currently seeking home care for their loved one.
Deb Bradley: Skilled home health care does require an order from a physician. I would advise any family members or loved ones to start to prepare that prior to discharge from either the hospital or the skilled nursing facility, get involved, start that process early and get more information about what home care can and cannot provide. From a skilled home health perspective, we can provide, like I said earlier, nursing physical therapy and aid services intermittently for a short period of time. We're not going to be there for four or five hours a day. We're not going to come daily. So our goals are to teach a family member and/or the patient how to care for themselves effectively at home.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): When working with families or patients, are there any misconceptions that they come in with commonly or ones that you see more than others maybe?
Deb Bradley: Yeah, Riverside Home health Care, again there's a difference between the private duty sector and the skilled home health benefit. There are other agencies within the community that do provide the private duty care and that's care again, that is generally provided three to four hours per day or whatever the patient may need and they can have it eight hours a day. That is a service that we do not provide. Our care is skilled, intermittent. We are not going to be there for eight hours a day. We're not going to be out there daily. So it's very important that we have that involvement either with the patient and/or with their caregivers.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): Yeah. That sounds like it's really important to know for someone who might be looking into home care for a loved one.
Deb Bradley: Under the Medicare benefit, the patient has to meet certain qualifications for home health care. So they have to have a skill need. The care has to be reasonable and necessary, meaning that it takes the skills of the nurse or a therapist to provide the care. And the patient has to be home-bound. so the patient has to have an illness or an injury or something that really prohibits them from leaving the home safely.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): Right. So not just anyone can get home care. Got it.
Deb Bradley: Correct. So our job is to go out and do that evaluation and do an assessment and make sure that we're following those guidelines for the home health benefit.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): How can family members support a loved one who's getting home care or maybe help them with their treatment plan? Because as you said, you guys aren't there 24/7, you stop by and you do what you need to do. But maybe a family member is there during the times when the clinicians aren't there, how can they help their loved one?
Deb Bradley: We try to get patients and their families involved early on as best as possible. Sometimes that's not always possible, either the family member's not available, they live out of town. Families just don't live together like they used to years ago. So it does become a challenge for some patients. We do try to find that support. We have a social worker also on staff that can assist the families and trying to find some support. We do recommend private services. So we do support the family in trying to get them referred to other community resources to help them with their loved ones at home.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): Yeah, I'm sure sometimes for families, maybe it is a family member that lives close by, you know, like the boundaries of the clinicians are there to help. So I'm sure that there can sometimes be issues with that, of knowing what to do and that kind of thing.
Deb Bradley: And we train all of our staff to go in with those expectations and to really have that conversation with a family member and/or the patient, and let them know what the expectations are from a home health perspective and how we can involve everybody in their care to provide that care at home safely.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): Is there anything else we should know about home health care?
Deb Bradley: Home health care was a recipient of the Press Ganey 2021 Guardian of Patient Excellence Award. It's a nationally recognized symbol of achievement in healthcare, presented annually to hospital and healthcare systems that achieve performance in the top 5% of Press Ganey clients. Riverside Home Health Care achieved the award by reaching the 95th percentile in patient experience and in employee and physician engagement in providing quality clinical care. So I'm very proud to have the opportunity to work with our home health care team in achieving this award. If anyone would like any more information regarding home health care services, you can visit us at riversidehealthcare.org or you can call the home healthcare office at 815-935-3272.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): That's very exciting. I'm so happy for you guys winning that award, because I think there are only five awards given out in the entire state of Illinois. So that's very exciting to have award-winning home health care in our community. So thank you so much for coming on the podcast today, Deb. We learned so much.
Deb Bradley: Thank you, Gabby.
Gabby Cinnamon (Host): And thank you listeners for tuning in to Well Within Reach brought to you by Riverside Healthcare. We would love if you would leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to our podcast.