a Policies and Procedures Manual for Home Care and Home Health Care" width="596" />a Policies and Procedures Manual for Home Care and Home Health Care" width="596" />
A Policies and Procedures Manual includes the guiding principles and actions on how you expect your company to run. It is a necessary material that your staff must follow for both ethical and legal reasons. Home health staff are often held to the same standards as hospital staff.
No. The two types of care include very different tasks. If you run a home care business you cannot borrow a manual from a home health business. Sure, some information may apply to both, but anything medically-related (except for minor first aid) will only be of use to a home health agency.
Policies are the guiding principles your staff should exemplify when caring for a patient. Take a look into your company’s ethical code to help you write this part. Another great resource is the Policy Guide of other home care or home health businesses. A simple google search will show you many examples, agencies typically post these documents on their websites.
Procedures are the exact steps you want your staff to take when interacting with a patient. Think of this as the “how to” section. For example, how to administer CPR or how to bill patients. In a home care agency, this section will focus on how to properly care for their patients through everyday tasks. An example could be, how to assist in the bathroom. Again, you should take a look at procedures documented by other agencies to help you get an idea of what to include in your manual.
You should update your manual to reflect ways to deal with new legal and ethical issues. Your procedures should be updated to ensure that your practices are as efficient as possible. You can cut down on some procedures by using software to facilitate activities. You won’t need a “how to bill”, “how to document visits”, or “how to take a shift” for example if you are using software such as CareTime . CareTime is a web-based home care software company for home health, home care, hospice, and other healthcare organizations. We help you manage schedules, take back control of time, track caregivers, cut expenses, and generate more revenue.
