Two top home health companies, VNS Health and Bayada Home Health Care, have set their organizations apart by investing in research.<\/p>\n
Research divisions are still uncommon across the home-based care industry. However, organizations that have research capabilities in place have been able to improve patient outcomes, cultivate data that proves valuable in payer negotiations and stay on the cutting edge of care delivery. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s value to a home health agency if you can make the commitment to fund [a research leader role] long enough for the person in the role to demonstrate that they can help you get a return on investment by helping prove that a new model of care will demonstrate better outcomes,\u201d Mike Johnson chief researcher of home care innovation at Bayada, said. \u201dThen you go to the payers and ask for different rates,\u201d Johnson said. <\/p>\n
Bayada provides home health, home care, hospice and behavioral health care services in 22 states. It also has international locations, operating in Germany, India, Ireland, New Zealand and South Korea. Overall, Bayada has about 33,000 employees nationwide. The company cares for an average of 46,000 clients on a weekly basis.<\/p>\n
On its end, VNS Health has its own Center for Home Care Policy & Research. The research arm of the company has been around for 33 years, has amassed over $60 million in external funding, and has published over 500 articles in peer-reviewed journals.<\/p>\n
New York-based VNS Health is a full-service home-based care organization. On any given day, the company has over 73,000 patients, members and clients in its care.<\/p>\n
In her role as director of the VNS Health Center for Home Care Policy & Research, Kathy Bowles sets the strategic direction of the department, keeping in mind the priorities of the National Institute of Health and the home- and community-based industry, and works to raise research funds. <\/p>\n
In addition to her role at VNS Health, Bowles also serves as professor and van Ameringen Chair in nursing excellence at Penn Nursing.<\/p>\n
In 2024, the center\u2019s research led to the CDC adding a new diagnostic code<\/a> to their annual update of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) list. Bowles\u2019 team reviewed the records of nearly 170,000 sepsis survivors who entered home care nationwide and found that sepsis was noted in admission assessments only 7% of the time. <\/p>\n \u201cWe see this direct correlation between the work and research we did to this improved diagnosis code, which has the single goal of improvement in the quality of care,\u201d VNS Health CEO and President Dan Savitt previously told HHCN<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re really looking forward to seeing how this improves care over time.\u201d <\/p>\n Now that this diagnostic code exists, as a product of VNS Health\u2019s research, the company can accurately label and track these sepsis survivors. It also allows the company to track the resources needed to care for sepsis survivors. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really important for many reasons,\u201d Bowles said. \u201cWe can label the patient correctly, and then that can trigger sepsis-focused care plans, timely attention and the close monitoring that they need. It helped us improve our time for start-of-care for sepsis survivors at our agency. I\u2019m speaking across the country about this all the time, and hoping that we\u2019re spreading the word across the industry.\u201d <\/p>\n