INS meets with the Director of Georgia Community Health
May 27, 2009
Members of the INS executive team meet with Dr. Rhonda Meadows and her staff in
Atlanta to
present the INS concept and to address regulatory issues surrounding initiation
of the demonstration project.
Dr. Meadows and her staff showed considerable interest in the
INS concept and quickly identified two primary concerns for us to deal with.
The one primary obstacle to be overcome is the Georgia Certificate of Need
(CON) requirement. In healthcare CON is often associated with stifling
competition while functioning in its primary role protecting the interests of
investors in the capital intensive facilities. Regard less of how you
feel about it if you want to do business in Georgia you must comply.
There are no provisions or exemptions for demonstration projects. Therefore INS
must either purchase an existing home health agency or partner with a home
health agency in order for the demonstration project to become a reality.
The second item of concern is related to scope of practice concerns. It appears that the physician lobby has a laser focus on protecting scope of practice and will fight any expansion of healthcare delivery to non-physician providers. INS has not intention of changing scope of practice.
Stay tuned for updates on INS meetings with home health agencies.
INS meets with the Director of Georgia Community Health
May 27, 2009
Members of the INS executive team meet with Dr. Rhonda Meadows and her staff in
Atlanta to
present the INS concept and to address regulatory issues surrounding initiation
of the demonstration project.
Dr. Meadows and her staff showed considerable interest in the
INS concept and quickly identified two primary concerns for us to deal with.
The one primary obstacle to be overcome is the Georgia Certificate of Need
(CON) requirement. In healthcare CON is often associated with stifling
competition while functioning in its primary role protecting the interests of
investors in the capital intensive facilities. Regard less of how you
feel about it if you want to do business in Georgia you must comply.
There are no provisions or exemptions for demonstration projects. Therefore INS
must either purchase an existing home health agency or partner with a home
health agency in order for the demonstration project to become a reality.
The second item of concern is related to scope of practice concerns. It appears that the physician lobby has a laser focus on protecting scope of practice and will fight any expansion of healthcare delivery to non-physician providers. INS has not intention of changing scope of practice.
Stay tuned for updates on INS meetings with home health agencies.
Dr. Meadows and her staff showed considerable interest in the
INS concept and quickly identified two primary concerns for us to deal with.
The one primary obstacle to be overcome is the Georgia Certificate of Need
(CON) requirement. In healthcare CON is often associated with stifling
competition while functioning in its primary role protecting the interests of
investors in the capital intensive facilities. Regard less of how you
feel about it if you want to do business in Georgia you must comply.
There are no provisions or exemptions for demonstration projects. Therefore INS
must either purchase an existing home health agency or partner with a home
health agency in order for the demonstration project to become a reality.
The second item of concern is related to scope of
practice concerns. It appears that the physician lobby has a laser
focus on protecting scope of practice and will fight any expansion of
healthcare delivery to non-physician providers. INS has not intention
of changing scope of practice.
Stay tuned for updates on INS meetings with home health agencies.
Chicago April 5-7, 2009
INS representatives spent three exciting days at the HIMSS conference
in Chicago as
the guest of IBM and ANAKAM. INS CEO Carl Hawkins immersed himself in the latest healthcare technology,
attending meetings, presenting the INS concept and identifying partners, systems,
tools and products to fill the tool chest of the nurses subscribing to the INS
delivery model. The current enthusiasm for HIE / EHR lend themselves well to the INS concept.
Discussions and Relationships developed at HIMSS included:
Allscripts
as a Home health systems partner
M*Modal
as a speech recognition CDA documentation provider
IBM as
an infrastructure provider
ANAKAM
as an access security provider
Intel POC
and home monitoring hardware provider
ATT as
an infrastructure provider
Vivago
activity monitoring systems
Phillips
home monitoring hardware and systems provider
Over the next two months INS will consolidate these vendor
relationships and begin the process of building out the technology delivery components
of the INS solution. INS came away from Chicago
energized, this is an extremely exciting time for healthcare in general and INS
is at the right thing at the right time.
March on Washington and Law Symnposium
National Association for Home Care and Hospice March on Washington and Law Symposium March 22 - 25, 2009
It’s Time to Advocate for the Issues Affecting Home Care and Hospice
Join NAHC and home care and hospice professionals from around the
country. The 2009 Home Care & Hospice March on Washington and Law
Symposium Conference & Exposition will take place in Washington,
D.C., March 22-25, 2009, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel.
This
important conference highlights the critical homecare and hospice
issues and priorities for the upcoming year, as well as provides
attendees with excellent networking opportunities, first-rate education
programming and celebrated keynote speakers at each daily general
session.
The importance of grassroots
advocacy will take on added urgency in 2009 with a new President
stepping into the Oval Office. The homecare and hospice community must
unite to bring the issues affecting the industry to the front of the
public policy debate. Attendees will spend Tuesday, March 24,
advocating on behalf of the aged, infirm and disabled Americans, as we
March on Washington to speak to Members of the House and Senate and
their representatives.
Independent Nurse Services
Independent Nurse Services Founders go to Washington DC Posted 3.19.2009
The leadership at Independent Nurse Services (INS) has completed interviews, data gathering, design and the financial modeling process associated with building the INS business model.
The next step in the INS product development cycle will be addressing legal and regulatory constraints. To that effect co-founder Carl Hawkins will be traveling with other members of the INS team to Washington DC the week of March 23rd. Plans include participating in the March on Washington with the National Association for Home Care & Hospice, meet with members of the Georgia Congressional Delegation.
This Washington DC trip begin the formal process of acquiring the necessary approvals for the INS proof of concept trial. INS representatives will also be meetings with NIH staff regarding information technology infrastructure build out and the creation of the appropriate environment for successful completing the INS proof of concept and resulting analysis.
WashingtonDC
March 18, 2009
The INS Washington
trip was a great success. CEO, Carl Hawkins presented the INS concept to
healthcare Legislative Specialists of US Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby
Chambliss. Empowering individual nurses with the tools and support to
build a more cost effective delivery model with improved clinical results
within independent home healthcare practices was warmly received.
Tyler Thompson and Justine Clay from the Isakson and Chambliss offices respectively
have committed to working together on behalf of INS to set up meetings with key
CMS and NIH officials to lay the ground work for implementing the INS proof of
concept pilot.
Successful meetings were also completed with Georgia Members of the US House of
Representatives. Dr. Paul Broun and his legislative
assistant Jack Smedile and Congressman Nathan Deal's legislative assistant
Blake Fulenwider sat through the INS presentation and as in the meetings with Georgia’s
Senators our Congressmen recognize the opportunity, have promised assistance and
will support the INS proof of concept pilot.
The engagement of our legislative leaders in making INS a
reality is a key step to making Georgia
a showcase for the INS concept and ground zero for a revolution in home
healthcare delivery.
