Reliance Home Health Care is 1 of 5 home health care agencies in Florida that has been selected for Project IMPACT beta testing. Today I want to talk about what that means!
First, let’s talk about Project IMPACT. The Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 (IMPACT Act) requires that patient assessment data collected across post-acute care (PAC) settings be standardized. Standardized data will enable data collection from multiple places, outcome comparison, exchangeability of data, and comparison of quality within and across PAC settings.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are working with the RAND Corporation to implement the Standardized Patient Assessment Data Project.The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision making through research and analysis. Project IMPACT is being conducted over three years, from October 2015 – September 2018. The national beta test to evaluate candidate standardized patient assessment data elements will begin this Fall. For the national test, PAC providers will support the efforts to test the implementation of standardized data elements for reliability, validity and ease of use. The RAND team is currently recruiting PAC providers from Home Health Agencies, Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities, Long-term Care Hospitals, and Skilled Nursing Facilities to participate in national beta testing. Reliance Home Health Care has been recruited to be a part of this process.
Second, let’s address exactly what we’ll be doing at Reliance. We are being asked to assist with field data collection to test the standardized data elements for reliability, validity and ease of use. Patient assessment data element development and testing will focus on:
Cognitive Status
Mental Status (e.g., mood)
Medical Conditions (e.g., pain)
Impairments (e.g., incontinence and sensory impairments)
Other clinical topics (e.g., care preferences and medication reconciliation)
At Reliance, we are committing to:
Participation by at least two selected staff in training sessions on the national beta test.
Completing test assessments on 46-68 patients within a 29-week data collection period.
Accommodating research nurses as they complete their own assessments to evaluate reliability and validity of the assessment items.
Participation in “check in” calls with research nurses and periodic calls with research staff to discuss data collection experiences and feedback.
Third, we want to address why this is so important to us at Reliance. We are 100% committed to doing whatever we can to give our clients the best possible care. Currently, patients admitted to post-acute care (PAC) settings are evaluated using different clinical assessment instruments. Data from these varied assessments are used for quality measurement and improvement, care planning, regulatory oversight and payment. Standardizing this data has the potential to improve patient outcomes by improving the coordination of care across PAC settings and improving discharge planning.
Our nurses have already admitted a half dozen patients for the IMPACT study and we are moving along very well! To find out more about our involvement with Project IMPACT or how Reliance can serve your or a loved one, please contact us.