SafeSide™ Frequently Asked Questions

This list of FAQs will be updated as questions come up from study participants and others interested in the study.

What is the expected outcome for participating agencies?

The goal of the project is to help participating agencies improve their hospitalization percentage either by 25% or achieve the level where you will be in the top 25% of agencies in your state.

How much time will the study take?

We have designed the study to require minimal additional time. Initially, we need to work with you to ensure that OASIS filings are sent to us using the same schedule that you have for submitting the exact same files to your public health department.  There is an all day training that will be scheduled at multiple times and places in February.  You choose the one that is best for you.  We ask that you complete a one page audit report for each unplanned hospitalization and that your QI/PI person review and trend the reports.  Most agencies already do this.  Finally, there is a required monthly hospitalization reduction meeting.  Many of these activities are something that agencies already have in place.

The study includes an audit of a percentage of our hospitalizations over the last quarter. How many audits will you require?

We will conduct a random audit of ten of your hospitalizations that have occurred over the last quarter or 10% of your hospitalizations during the quarter, whichever is larger.  For the vast majority of agencies, the 10 will be more than sufficient.

Who will be doing the audits for us?

Fazzi Associates has a team of experts who specialize in quality reviews and appropriate documentation.  They are Registered Nurses or Physical Therapists and have completed thousands of audits under Fazzi oversight.

Is there a cost for the audits?

There is no cost for the first ten; it is part of the study fee. If you are a larger agency and you require more than ten audits, there is an additional $125 fee for each additional audit.

How do you determine our hospitalization rate? 

We use the same formula that CMS’s uses for determining your Home Health Compare scores.  The data source is your OASIS filings.

How often do we submit our OASIS data to you?

You submit it monthly, normally in the same timeframe you use to submit your OASIS filings to your Public Health Department.  There are no additional requirements

How will we know our real-time rate?

As part of the project, we will provide you with the SafeSide Hospitalization Reduction Dashboard.  The dashboard will be updated every time you discharge or transfer 50 patients. 

What information will the SafeSide Dashboard give us?

You will not only receive your most up-to-date hospitalization percentage, you will also be provided with a trend analysis of your hospitalization rates and the actual number of hospitalized patients that lead to your percentage.  Most importantly, you will receive your agency specific improvement target - the actual number of hospitalizations you need to reduce by in order to improve your overall percentage.  This number will be updated as you improve.

Who will help us?

You will have a Fazzi Hospitalization Reduction Consultant work with you throughout the project.

What is the foundation of the SafeSide Program?

A simple to establish, unique, highly accountable improvement structure based on proven management principles.

Who should be the lead to our program?

A senior manager must be the lead.  After the program is successfully implemented and improvements occur, you may want to transfer responsibility to another leadership person.

When will the study start?

For most agencies, we will help you establish the foundation for the program in January including obtaining and understanding how to use your SafeSide Dashboard.  An all-day training will take place in February.

How long will the study run?

Eight months beginning in February 2012 through September 2012.

When and where will the all day training take place?

We are planning an all day SafeSide Training in five locations throughout the country.  Our goal is to minimize travel.  You can choose any of the five locations.

Who should attend the training?

We require that the Lead for your agency attend.  All other members are invited.

Is there a cost associated with the regional all day training?

The SafeSide Program fee will cover the expenses for the location, all program materials, meeting facilitators and lunch. Any travel related expenses will be the responsibility of the Agency.

Why is there a cost?

There is no outside funding for this project.  The $5,900 covers all direct cost including your audits, participation in the day long SafeSide training and planning meeting, your Hospitalization Reduction Consultant,  monthly phone conferences with you, webinars, a hospitalization dashboard, technical support, best practice guidelines, etc. 

Why is there such a strong focus on structure before best practices? 

In the largest study for reducing avoidable hospitalizations in the history of home care – the Delta Study -  we discovered that both the most successful and the least successful agencies use the same practices at nearly the exact same percentage of time.  It wasn’t the practices that made the difference; it was how they were implemented.  This finding was consistent with Fazzi’s review of successful change efforts associated with our other services.

What are some of the key components of the SafeSide structure?

The SafeSide measurable accountability structure is the essential foundation for the program.  It is built on solid management principles of goals setting, accountability, outcome management, and performance measurements.  Each agency will have clear improvement goals (numbers and not percentages), a management structure, real time measurements and trends, the ability to do real time audits of each of your hospitalizations using the SafeSide Real Time Audit tool, and a structured SafeSide Monthly Accountability Planning (MAP) meeting.

What is the Real Time Audit Tool?

Fazzi Associates has designed an audit tool to specifically address areas causes and factors associated with hospitalizations.  The tool is designed to be used within 48 hours of a patient being hospitalized in your agency.  The one page tool has been tested in over forty agencies.

How do you handle best practices?

Two ways!  First, during the first two months, we work with you to review your existing hospitalization reduction practices and determine which ones have been most effective in helping you address your hospitalization reduction goals. For those that work well, we leave them in place.  For those that show promise but are not appropriately structured, we will provide best practice guidelines for improvement.  For those that prove to be ineffectual, we will recommend you drop them.  Our goal is to reduce complexity, overload, and meaningless work.  Rather than have a multitude of practices (some that work and some that do not) we want to have a smaller number of the right practices. In the third month, we will work with you to identify one and no more than two high impact practices that show high potential based on the realities of your agency and our findings from other participants in the study.

What happens if we have questions?

Simply call or email your Hospitalization Reduction Consultant.  Their job is to help ensure you lower your rates.