COVID-19 | Caregivers, Clinicians & Hospitals

Your safety is critical, not only for your own health, but for the well-being of loved ones, patients, and all with whom you may come in contact. Here’s how we can all work together for everyone’s care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For our Employees and Caregivers:

Your leaders have established very specific protocols for your work, and your place of work. Live out a Culture of Always by diligently following every step, every time.
Our culture embraces an open communication environment. If you ever have a cause for concern, please speak with your manager. You may also direct a question to the Emergency Preparedness Team at EPP@AccentCare.com

Continue following CDC guidelines and protocols to help protect yourself and others

Avoid close contact with others, maintaining a distance of at least 6 feet, and wearing a mask if instructed by your state.
Wash your hands often, with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
Cover coughs and sneezes and discard used tissues right away.
Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces.
If you believe you may have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 or you are a resident in a community with ongoing spread of the virus, and you develop symptoms of COVID-19, call your health care provider.

If you are one of our clinicians, or any employee having contact with patients and families, remember to also: 1) conduct three levels of self-screening before each home visit, per company protocol 2) use your prescribed and provided personal protective, as trained 3) promptly enter recorded actions in each patient’s electronic medical record.

Keeping an eye on your own health to help protect patients or loved ones

If you are caring for a loved one, be mindful of how you are feeling, maintaining awareness of COVID-19 symptoms. Watch for early signs of any infection with a daily temperature check.
If you are one of our clinicians, or any employee having contact with patients and families, you must also assess yourself for symptoms as trained, including self-assessment just prior to each home visit.

Caring for patients or loved ones

If you are a family member caring for a loved one, requiring close contact, wear a cloth mask.
Be mindful of how your patient or loved one is feeling, maintaining awareness of COVID-19 symptoms.
If you are one of our clinicians, or any employee serving patients and families, you must also assess the patient for symptoms during each in-person or telehealth home visit, as trained.

COVID-19: For Caregivers, Clinicians & Hospitals

Slowing the COVID-19 pandemic has required we all work together, following the guidance of the CDC and our state public health leaders.

We’d like to take the time to tell you what AccentCare, and our family of companies, are doing to responsibly protect our patients and yours.

AccentCare has responsibly prepared its team for Coronavirus, COVID-19, from day one. As the first cases appeared in North America, AccentCare trained, checked, and double-checked our protocols, and then established a central command and control structure to manage our care delivery system from our offices all the way to our patient’s home.

In every community we serve, we have leaned into the challenge that the entire health care community faced, and sought out solutions to improve care and throughput for everyone. Through this challenging time, we are have reaffirmed our connection to many health systems and physician groups, and used this opportunity to innovate care, with the patient always at the center of what we do.

How does COVID-19 Impact Homebound Considerations:

“Homebound” definition currently includes suspected exposure to, or diagnosis of, COVID-19
Also, the CARES Act expanded authorization for home health orders to an NP, PA, or CNS. Our staff can assist with information and support if needed
To help you understand how more of your patients may now qualify for Home health, please see this link

Here are some of the steps AccentCare has hardwired:

We are vigilantly following CDC’s communication and guidance
Extensive training according to role and job

- No matter the role, all AccentCare employees are required to complete training based on the CDC’s coronavirus fact sheets.
- Caregivers, field personnel, and those that are involved with the facilitation of care are required to complete job-specific training including proper use of PPE.
We have incorporated screening questions in our intake and patient encounters. Those screenings are hardwired into Homecare Homebase, our medical record.
We have repeatedly communicated the utmost importance of hygiene.
We are tracking our own employees’ exposure and risk, and taking steps to limit their interactions when necessary.
- Before each home visit:
  - Our caregivers call ahead to assess if there is a risk of entering the home
  - Perform a self-symptom check and attest to such in HomecareHomebase, our electronic medical record.
We are actively implementing multiple employee vaccination initiatives.

Does AccentCare utilize telehealth or telemedicine?

AccentCare and its family of brands today do use telehealth and telemonitoring in support of the ongoing care of our patients. AccentCare evaluates patients according to defined criteria to determine appropriateness for either telemonitoring or telehealth solutions. Those workstreams and pathways are unimpacted by COVID-19. AccentCare, in anticipation of an increased telehealth utilization, has deployed a best-in-class telehealth suite of tools. Follow this link to learn more of AccentCare’s telehealth solutions.

What do you need to do differently?

Our processes are hardwired to intake new patients with a coronavirus travel and symptoms screening. However, if you are aware of any clinical information that would help us best care for the patient; we welcome that through accepted clinical information transfer, or in the order.

Likewise, we will be in communication with you, as we always are, when there is a change in the patient’s condition.

Thank you for trusting AccentCare with your patients. We are honored to work alongside you as we face the coronavirus challenge together as a unified medical community.