Housecalls 101: Policy and Procedure Manual for Medical Home Visits

By Dr. Scharmaine Lawson

If you're serious about starting a house-call practice, then this book is for you and you need to pay attention.

Medical Housecalls are back and they are more profitable than ever! People often prefer house calls to visiting clinics or offices because house calls feel personalized and tailored to the specific need of t

• Language: English
• Publisher: A DrNurse Publishing House
• Release date: Oct 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781945088230

Dr. Scharmaine Lawson

Scharmaine Lawson, DNP, FNP, PMHNP, FAANP, FAAN, has a nursing career that spans thirty years, with twenty-three of those years being an advanced practice nurse. Her innovative way of educating the youth about the role of the nurse practitioner has elevated the Advanced Practice Nurse. Through a series of educational tools such as dancing mascots, and interactive play, she orchestrates an entire learning production when she visits elementary schools across the country. Her largest show drew greater than 1000 students from Shreveport, La. Nola The Nurse® and Dr. Lawson have also been featured on several national TV outlets and other media. With greater than 30 titles to date, some translated in Spanish and French, Nola The Nurse® will soon be animated via Nola The Nurse® TV in the Spring of 2023.In addition, Dr. Lawson started the first nurse practitioner owned Housecall practice in the State of Louisiana. With greater than 100,000 home visits, it has transformed to meet the widespread needs of the underserved communities of Louisiana. To further extend the reach of her work, she has written a best-selling book, Housecalls 101: The only book you will ever need to start your practice, that outlines how to start a successful house call practice. She details in the book strategies to maintain a house call practice, systems to establish healthy outcomes in underserved communities, and offers inspiration to other nurse practitioners.Future endeavors for the DrLawsonNP brand include a new TelePsych practice launched across multiple states and a Podcast entitled Nite Nite Nurse: Sleep is Self-Care, soon to be released on Spotify, Anchor, Apple, and other podcast platforms.

Book preview

ISBN: 978-1-9450-8822-3 Paperback

ISBN: 978-1-9450-8823-0 eBook

Published by A DrNurse Publishing House

New Orleans, Louisiana

Copyright © 2018 Dr. Scharmaine Lawson

No part of this publication may be stored in a retrieval system or replicated, redistributed, given away or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission of the author.

All right reserved worldwide.

www.DrLawsonNP.com

www.NolaMedicalBilling.com

www.NolaTheNurse.com

Dedication

Skylar Rose and Wyatt Shane. You are my S1S2. You give me life. Well, technically speaking, you ARE life. Thank you for making me a Mommy. My life began when I held you both in my arms. #AdoptionROCKS

Introduction

Thank you for purchasing this book. You’ve gotten this far because you are in a private Housecall practice or you are considering starting a Housecall practice. This Housecalls 101 Policy and Procedure Manual is all you will need to complete the foundation of your practice. Policies and Procedures are the foundation of any healthcare model of care. Throughout the book you will see the words, Your organization" in parenthesis. This is where you insert your organization’s information. In the last part of the book you will find commonly used forms and letter templates. I sincerely hope you find this manual helpful. After 15 years in my own Housecall private practice, I still refer to many of the guidelines listed.

Contents

Part I—preHousecalls 

Policy and Procedure Manual 

Mission Statement 

Bill of Rights 

Conflict of Interest 

Hours of Operation 

Hazardous Weather 

Notice of Privacy Practices 

Release of Patient Information 

Consent for Treatment 

Fax Cover Sheet Verbiage 

Part II—The Housecall 

Goals and Objectives of the Housecall 

Welcome Packet 

Safe Work Practices 

Equipment and Supplies 

Equipment Cleaning 

Aseptic technique 

Handwashing Policy 

Exposure Control Plan 

Body Substance Isolation 

Engineering Controls 

Sharps Safety and Handling 

Needle Recapping 

Reprocessing Reusable sharps 

Broken Glass 

Sharps Boxes 

Housekeeping 

Regulated waste 

Compliance Monitoring 

Hepatitis B Vaccination and Post-exposure Follow Up Procedures 

Post-exposure Evaluation 

Hazard Communication 

Employee Training 

Medical Records 

Universal Precautions 

Disposing of Sharps in the Home 

Sterile Technique during a Housecall 

Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) 

Co-Payment collection 

Care Coordination 

New Patient Enrollment Intake 

Making the Initial Visit 

Pain Assessment 

Nutritional Assessment 

How to Handle Diagnostic Test Results 

How to Handle Critical Labs 

Handling Medical Emergencies in the Home 

Sample I Scheduling Pattern 

Sample II Scheduling Pattern 

Admitting a Former Patient 

Missed Housecall Visit 

Housecall Admission Criteria 

New Patient Enrollment Notification 

New Patient Intake 

Follow-Up Housecall Visits 

Urgent Visit Housecall Visits 

Termination of Patient 

HIPAA 

Chart Fees 

Medical Record Transfer 

Medication Monitoring 

Medication Management 

Patient Safety 

Consent for Photography 

Patient Satisfaction Survey 

Community Referrals 

Part III—Employee Management 

New Employee Orientation 

How to Handle Patient Complaints 

Provider Safety 

Team Meetings 

Part IV—Forms & Letters 

Notice of Privacy Practices 

PATIENT CONSENT FOR·RELEASE OF INFORMATION

Addition to HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices 

Photography Consent Form

Patient Consent / Acknowledgement

Missed Visit Letter Template

Termination of Care Letter Templates

Housecall Guidelines for Patient

Welcome Packet

PART I

preHousecalls

Policy and Procedure Manual

POLICY: All employees must agree to adhere to the Policies and Procedures of (Your organization).

RESPONSIBILITY: All (Your organization) providers and staff

PROCEDURE:

It is the responsibility of the (Your organization) employee to make him or herself aware of the contents of the Policy and procedure manual(s).

It is the responsibility of the (Your organization) employee to attend all in-services and staff meetings; or, if unable to attend, to read the minutes from the in-services and staff meetings.

Mission Statement

PURPOSE: Provide a unified Mission Statement which all constituents of the (Your organization) must support.

MISSION STATEMENT

We believe medical housecalls professionals have an obligation to provide and utilize the most efficient and effective means of meeting the client’s physical, social, emotional and spiritual needs. The (Your organization) advances this goal by meeting the total care needs of clients who cannot receive primary care in the traditional provider office setting. We further believe that the (Your organization) must achieve and sustain health maintenance, healing, illness prevention, and functional/self-care independence of clients, and thereby:

A. Prevent unnecessary admissions to nursing homes

B. Reduce the length and recurrence of hospitalization

C. Diminish unnecessary utilization of out-patient institutional services

We believe each client has the right to be treated with human dignity and respect, regardless of age, faith, sex, handicap, or national origin. We further believe that each client has the right of independent decision making relating to the extent and goals of the housecalls given to him. This means we have a responsibility to adhere to the client’s decisions throughout our service and to set goals which are acceptable to the client. Finally, we believe the client has the right to decide the setting of his death. For us, this means that when the client chooses to die at home, rather than in an institution, we have the responsibility to support that decision and to provide Housecall interventions, often in collaboration with palliative care/hospice which achieve death with dignity.

We believe clients have the right to the highest quality medical housecalls available, given the resources available. In order to achieve this standard, we believe:

A. Recruitment, selection, assignment, retention, and promotion of medical housecall personnel must be based on references, qualifications, capabilities and previous work performance.

B. Proper and efficient orientation which prepares care personnel for their role in the program must be given.

C. Quality and effectiveness (QA/QI) must be internally monitored through a continuous quality assessment and improvement program, and

D. Personnel education, as a continuous process, must be based on the purpose and goals of this program.

We believe if this program is to be viable, effective and efficient, we, as a program, must be goal-oriented, make the best decisions possible given the situation and resources at hand, and achieve program maintenance and growth standards.

Bill of Rights

POLICY: (Your organization) staff and patients have rights that are inherent to the (Your organization) staff-patient relationship and guide our interactions and behaviors.

RESPONSIBILITY: All (Your organization) clinical and support staff; patients.

PROCEDURE:

Patients

Patients have the right to be treated with respect, consideration, and dignity in all interactions with (your organization) providers and staff and in all care plan decision-making.

Patients have the right to obtain complete, current information concerning their diagnosis, treatments, prognosis and or options from their healthcare providers.

Patients have the right to receive from their healthcare providers, information necessary to give informed consent prior to the start of any procedure and or treatment.

Patients have the right to refuse treatment to the extent permitted by law and to be informed of the medical consequences of their actions.

Patients have the right to expect privacy concerning their medical care.

Patients have the right to expect that all communication and records pertaining to their care will be treated as confidential.

Patients have the right to expect that within