Visiting Nurse Associations of America unveils VNAA Blueprint for Excellence to disseminate best practices in home health care

The VNAA Blueprint features resources from experts across the nation in one online source

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With today's launch of the VNNA Blueprint for Excellence, the Visiting Nurse Associations of America offers the home health industry, policymakers, payers and others an invaluable tool to support better, safer and smoother care transitions.

The VNAA Blueprint for Excellence, available free at http://www.vnaablueprint.org, is a pathway to best practices for home health care providers, a touchstone for the expanded value and role of home health and hospice in new delivery models. The VNAA Blueprint supports quality improvement, workforce development and consistency of care delivery, elevating the principles of improving the patient experience of care, improving the health of populations; and reducing the per capita cost of health care as it strengthens care transitions and underscores the value of accountable, measurable, coordinated care in the home health setting.

Developed over nine months by VNAA's Best Practices Work Group, the VNAA Blueprint includes training programs and tools used by the nation's top performing home health agencies. The VNAA Blueprint will strengthen existing quality improvement efforts and guide workforce training development, says Margaret "Peg" Terry, VNAA's vice president of quality and innovation. "We know of no other resource like it," says Terry. "This information is not available anywhere as a single, accessible resource that identifies and provides this comprehensive information and tools, at no cost, to anyone."

The VNAA Blueprint features four modules--Care Initiation, Clinical Conditions, Patient Engagement and Patient Safety--covering 10 topics.

• Care Initiation—Frontloading, Pneumonia Vaccine, MD Appointment Scheduling, Critical Interventions in the First/Second Visits
• Clinical Conditions—Depression
• Patient Engagement—Patient Self-management and Self-activation
• Patient Safety—Risk Assessment, Medication Reconciliation, Falls Risk Assessment and Exacerbation of Condition

Equipping today's home health professionals with reliable, evidence-based tools allows them to enter each patient's residence with more confidence in identifying patient needs and determining the necessity for and appropriateness of interventions. This goes a long way in helping patients maximize their independence, minimize the effects of their disability or illness, move smoothly through care transitions, and remain in the comfort of their home.

"The VNAA Blueprint for Excellence allows us to advance our mission to support, promote and advance nonprofit providers of community-based health care, but it also does considerably more. The VNAA Blueprint provides a much-needed resource to strengthen care transitions and advance accountable care across the health care delivery system," says Tracey Moorhead, VNAA CEO and president. "It demonstrates the vital role of VNAA and nonprofit home health agencies as partners in advancing accountable models of care--models that improve outcomes, lower costs and improve the patient experience of care."

To read more, see the issue brief, Safe intersections: VNAA Blueprint for Excellence smooths care transitions with best practices and resources for home health, or read the frequently asked questions.

About VNAA
VNAA is the national association that supports, promotes and advances nonprofit providers of high-quality home health, hospice and palliative care. These providers are community-based and also provide a full range of prevention and health care programs. VNAA members share a mission to provide cost-effective and compassionate care to some of the nation's most vulnerable individuals, particularly the elderly and individuals with disabilities. For more information on VNAA, visit http://www.VNAA.org.

SOURCE Visiting Nurse Associations of America