The phrase “It’s a small world after all” can be attributed to Disney, but it also sums up the implications of telehealth for healthcare professionals. No longer limited by brick-and-mortar locations, providers can interact from anywhere. With the new “smaller” world of telehealth offerings for more hospice and palliative care patients, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) is looking to create and nourish professional connections in the industry with a new virtual program.
“When providers work together, they tend to really elicit best practices from each other in a very collaborative kind of way,” NHPCO Vice President of Quality Aparna Gupta told McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse. “We’re looking to promote a positive collaboration across providers that come from different sizes, different scopes and different backgrounds.”
NHPCO’s Quality Innovation Network is a resource available to NHPCO members free of charge, which allows them to work together with other providers to enhance overall quality of care. The network offers monthly virtual working sessions with industry-recognized performance improvement coaches, the NHPCO Quality team and colleagues from across the country. The next live online event will be the 2023 Virtual Interdisciplinary Conference on April 24-26. However, that is not the only benefit offered with membership.
“First and foremost is the digital library that’s available. It’s on our website, titled Performance Improvement Project Library,” said Gupta. “What you’ll find is an archived title of projects that NHPCO has supported across the country; there’s about eight or nine different categories.”
Central to the mission of the program is the concept of equity. More specifically, that means ensuring equitable outcomes regardless of geographic location.
“We hope to see that ripple effect where providers can deliver to their respective communities across the country in a way that they have learned from other providers,” Gupta said. “This is really bringing about the best of the best at the table in a collaborative way where they can share ideas and not necessarily recreate the wheel.”
Home Sweet Home is a feature appearing Mondays in McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse. The story focuses on a heartwarming, entertaining or quirky happening affecting the world of home care. If you have a topic that might be worthy of the spotlight in Home Sweet Home, please email Special Projects Coordinator Foster Stubbs at [email protected].
