StrangeTony,
I am worried about my hospice coworkers with the spread of the coronavirus in our country. This disease stands to disrupt our hospice more than any corporate takeover, which is saying alot given the damage Humana and its financial rapscallion partners did to our site since July 2018. We are down to one experienced hospice nurse and that person is looking for a new job.
An Emergency Room doctor talked about the risks to healthcare workers in the primary and acute care setting:
Nurses, doctors, and hospital and clinic staff will be regularly exposed to patients with high viral loads, increasing our personal risk immensely.
This exposure is all but inevitable, as cases are continually and rapidly slipping through screening protocols.
Public health officials encourage people who may be ill with the virus to stay at home. That may be a home with an elderly relative on hospice or home health. It could be a nursing home where we have patients.
Keeping healthcare workers safe is an issue.
What is slowly starting to keep them up at night is whether the US healthcare system is prepared to properly handle an influx of cases.
Experts say there is a worrying lack of training and coordination and that the system as a whole needs to be able to communicate more effectively.
We have older hospice employees who are at greater risk for serious complications or death from the disease. On staff we have young parents who surely do not wish to bring home the virus to their family.
“If they (healthcare workers) go down, the whole thing falls apart and destabilizes,” Hotez said. “That is the place where things could go wrong very quickly.”
I am not aware of any preparation for the coronavirus by Kindred at Home. There has been no information shared, much less training conducted. Things can change quickly in a community. Preparation is important and that time is now. So far the silence from executives and local management is deafening.
Anonymous
Supply and staffing shortages, combined with conflicting guidance and lack of information, have created a perfect-storm situation that’s poised to perpetuate illness.
ReplyDeleteLess than half of nurses surveyed – 44% – said their employers provided them information on novel coronavirus and “how to recognize and respond to possible cases”.
Only 30% of survey participants said that their employers had enough personal protective equipment (PPE) stocked in the event of a quick uptick in potential coronavirus patients, while 38% didn’t know.
“As a nurse, I’m very concerned that not enough is being done to stop the spread of the coronavirus. I know because I am currently sick and in quarantine after caring for a patient who tested positive,” the unnamed nurse said in her statement. “I’m awaiting permission from the federal government to allow for my testing, even after my physician and county health professional ordered it.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/06/us-coronavirus-outbreak-nurses-cdc
We3've been told to work from home and that regular meetings will now be held by phone.
ReplyDeleteWidespread testing is the main method for making hospice care safe in the home. Staff need to know who in the home may have the virus. Phone visits help make care delivery safer. Universal precautions for a droplet/airborne pathogen requires PPD that simply is not available at this time.
ReplyDeleteHumana cautioned the investor community:
ReplyDeletethe spread of and reaction to the new coronavirus "underscores certain risks Humana faces" and the uncertainty of the global moment.
"The rapid development and fluidity of this situation precludes any prediction as to the ultimate adverse impact to Humana of COVID-19.
It's annual shareholders meeting will now be held online.
https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2020/03/24/covid-19-humana-makes-new-coronavirus-related.html?ana=yahoo&yptr=yahoo
Humana to float $1.1 billion in debt. Could be used to buyout Kindred at Home or for other general administrative purposes.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/49071/000119312520082637/d905460dfwp.htm
Sadly it appears that they are preparing to make more administrative cuts at the branch level leaving only two people for mid/large branches to answer phones, work admissions, keep up with the never ending workflow in HCHB, prepare and run IDG, work billing, do QAPI, work on call, complete endless/pointless spreadsheets to send upline, see patients when needed, and oh yeah-SUPPORT AND TRAIN STAFF! This is beyond disgusting. It’s daily moral injury.
ReplyDeleteIt's how executives will garner their glorius payday, when Humana buys the other 60% from WCAS and TPG Capital. Greed destroys.
DeleteAll about the bottom line.
ReplyDelete"Company does not care about you as an employee at all. They could not care less about your safety which was blatantly obvious throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. All they care about is the bottom line and making money. Office management gives no direction or guidance in challenging times such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Not a good company to work for."
https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Kindred-At-Home/reviews
“The home health care sector is committed to caring for patients safely and effectively,” David Causby, president and CEO of Kindred at Home, said in the report. “Increasing health care at home is part of the solution to reduce the burden on our nation’s hospitals in this time of crisis.”
ReplyDeleteThat's why our hospice received five N95 masks and management hoarded most of them.
What extra steps is Kindred Hospice taking in states where COVID-19 cases are soaring? Anyone from Texas, California or Florida care to weigh in?
ReplyDeleteDavid Causby is quoted in this CBS piece on 4-3-20 regarding home health workers not having proper PPE.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cbsnews.com/news/home-health-care-workers-are-taking-care-of-americas-most-vulnerable-and-theyre-doing-it-without-ppe/