Policy Manual sample

MDT Home Health Care Agency, Inc. Without professional boundaries the staff’s judgment becomes impaired and can prevent them from delivering adequate and appropriate care, recognizing potential health and safety risks, and communicating appropriately with other members of the health care team such as the physician, case manager, and other professionals (we encourage inter-discipline coordination of care). In any detected wrong patient attitude the field staff have intervened by contacting the Agency, police, patient’s physician, and case manager, would have collaborated with the rest of the team members to ensure the health and safety of the patient. Our staff sets the stage of how the staff – patient relationship proceeds. If the staff comes in to the patient’s home and begins talking about his/her personal life and financial situation to the patient, the patient receives a message from the staff that “anything goes”. If the staff refrains from discussing his/her personal issues and keeps the conversation focused on the patient and the patients health needs the patient will typically follow that lead. The maintenance of professional boundaries is not only necessary to protect the welfare of the patient but also the staff. The staff’s who become very comfortable with patients and discuss personal issues often find themselves receiving advice and assistance from the patient. The focus then shifts from the patient to the staff, leaving the staff in a position that he/she may miss something, not provide adequate care, or even place the staff in a position of finding him/herself accepting monetary assistance from the patient. All of which can put the staffs professional license and staff agreement in jeopardy. The old adage “Familiarity Breeds Contempt” bears a lot of weight in the home care setting. When professional boundaries are not maintained the level of respect the staff and patient have for each other diminishes and often leads to disputes, disagreements, arguments and quite often, “contempt” for one another. In order for the staff to participate in our Home Care Program, the staff must comply with the conditions set forth in the State, Federal and Accreditation Standards/Regulations. The staff should familiarize him/herself with the conditions of participation and also educate the patient on the conditions which will assist in maintaining professional boundaries. The Conditions of Participation contain program rules that if violated, often lead to the deterioration of professional boundaries. All field staff will receive an in-service to review the conditions of participation, regulations and laws that relate directly and indirectly to the maintenance of professional boundaries. Confidentiality: HIPAA or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was signed into law on August 21, 1996. This Federal law prohibits the release of health information without the patients consent. It is the staff’s responsibility to protect the personal and health information of the Patient. Maintaining the patient’s confidentiality is important in maintaining professional boundaries. The Agency’s staff is only permitted to share the patient’s protected health information with other team members listed on the Care Admission documents. The staff may not release any personal, medical, or billing information with any one other than the above mentioned members without written, signed consent from the patient and then the case manager should be made aware of the release of information. Documentation: Copies of all documentation must be maintained with in the patient’s home and the staff must retain the originals. Documentation within the staff’s home should be kept in a secure, locked location where other members of the household or visitors to the home do not have access. All documentation must be kept for a minimum of 5 years. Documentation that is saved to a computer or portable media device such as a disc or flash drive must also be stored in a manner that other people can not access, for example, portable media devices should be locked up with the documentation. Documentation shouldn’t be saved to computers unless the staff is the only one who will have access. Although the copies of documentation must be left in the patient’s home, the patient does have the right to discard the documentation if he or she chooses. The staff should urge the patient to Home Health Agency. - - Personnel/Operations Policies B-163