Dear Mountain Home Health, I have recently had a discussion with some family members, as a relative of ours is getting older and declining in health, about hospice. Upon having this discussion one of my relatives made the statement that hospice is giving up. I know several people who have been through hospice and my relatives statement struck me as wrong. I did not have the words to respond and hoped you might, is hospice giving up?                                     Thankfully,                                     Someone Curious

Curious, Thanks so much for your inquiry! This is something that comes up quite often for those of us who work in end of life care. Let me be clear, hospice is not a decision to quit living. Let me unpack what I mean when I say that. When someone qualifies for hospice, they are within six months, given that the terminal illness takes is assumed course, of end of life. Whether the person chooses to elect the hospice benefit or not they are in fact terminal. The hospice philosophy is not a philosophy of hastening death or of encouraging the process of death to come more quickly than it would given a terminal illness’ natural course. Rather, hospice seeks to improve the quality of life that a person may have left despite the quantity of life that a person may have. Now this idea of hospice at a decision to ‘give up’ or to ‘quit living’ is in fact almost a moot point when speaking about hospice because the hospice philosophy does not attempt to prolong or shorten life. Rather, hospice attempts to enrich life for the remaining time that a person may have. In fact, the idea that hospice is a decision to quit living is, in reality, antitheoretical to the hospice philosophy. Hospice attempts […]

Dear Mountain Home Health,     Recently I took my mother to see her primary care physician and they mentioned that it might be time to begin considering hospice care for my mother. I am not entirely sure what is involved when someone chooses to have hospice services. How could hospice care benefit my loved one?                                   Yours,                                    a Nortena.

Nortena,      Thanks so much for your inquiry. I also want to offer my understanding as I know how confusing this time can be when one is caring for a loved one. It is never easy to navigate this stage of life with one’s own self and can be even more difficult to navigate it with a loved one in mind.      To give a brief description of what hospice is before I speak on what hospice looks like; Hospice is an end of life philosophy that seeks to provide physical, mental, emotional and spiritual care to persons who are within six months of end of life. The hospice philosophy attempts to provide meaning to this time and to allow a person to engage in their own process as they begin to transition from this life to the Big Journey. It is a wholistic philosophy that looks to not only treat physical symptoms of a terminal illness, but also treat the whole person as they traverse this last experience.      The hospice approach is interdisciplinary and uses not only clinicians, such as physicians and nurses, but utilizes social workers, spiritual personnel, volunteers, and other disciplines that might need to be called upon to treat the patient’s symptoms or concerns. This approach supports not only the loved but those that are ‘walking’ their loved one through this most profound process. The hospice team is there to support the patient when new feelings, symptoms, or circumstances arise, and does […]

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Mountain Home Health Care is currently seeking a full-time Billing Specialist to provide support to our billing department. The position will ensure that required clinical documentation is completed in a timely manner to support the timely and accurate billing of clinical services, with a focus on, regulatory compliance, process flow, and billing support production.

Duties include: • Printing, tracking, logging and following up on physician orders. • Calling physicians’ offices and following up on delinquent orders and face-to-face documentation. • Assist in verifying insurance eligibility • Follows up with on unpaid claims, and takes action to correct issues delaying payment. • Demonstrates excellent communication skills when communicating with patients, and facilities. • Completes special assignments and projects with minimal supervision and consistently meets the department’s performance, production and quality standards • Demonstrates knowledge and compliance with insurance local state and federal regulations related to billing. • Maintain knowledge of functional area and company policies and procedures. • Communicate with Clinical staff about missing or inconsistent information for claims submission process. • Analyzes and respond to payer rejections, gathering more information as required to resubmit claims. • Communicate with Clinical and Operational staff about implications of payer rejections. • Collaborate with colleagues on claims generated through submitted documentation by clinical staff. • Generate weekly and monthly reports on claim status. • Data entry. • Provide administrative support to billing team and Intake. • Cross-training for other positions within the Billing Department and Intake Department.

Qualifications: • Minimum High School Diploma […]

Mountain Home Health Care was recently named a Top Agency of the 2019 HomeCare Elite®, a recognition of the top-performing home health agencies in the United States. For 14 years, HomeCare Elite has annually identified the top 25 percent of Medicare-certified agencies and highlighted the top 100 and top 500 agencies overall.

HomeCare Elite agencies are determined by an analysis of performance measures in quality outcomes, best practices implementation, patient experience (HHCAHPS), quality improvement and consistency, and financial health. In order to be considered, an agency must be Medicare-certified and have data for at least three outcomes in Home Health Compare.

The ranking is developed by ABILITY® Network, a leading information technology company helping providers and payers simplify the administrative and clinical complexities of healthcare. It is sponsored by DecisionHealth, part of the H3.Group.