OZ Kismet can assist in all areas of your business

Our experienced team can help develop strategies in effectively managing your business from the financial end to human resources and practice management.

We can assist in educating your team for optimal performance; from inservices to one-on-one training, our consultants can educate and train your staff members.  Our training spans all areas of the healthcare industry:  billing, accounting, cost reporting, HIS submission, OASIS reporting and data management.

If you need assistance in practice management – we are able to strategize with you and develop effective procedures to increase your facility’s client base, streamline your processes thereby effectively enhancing your net profit.

What is Hospice and / or Palliative Care?

Hospice care involves a team-oriented approach to medical care, pain management, emotional and spiritual support expressly tailored to the patient’s needs and wishes. Support is provided to the patient’s loved ones as well.  At the center of hospice and palliative care is the belief that individuals have the right to die pain-free and with dignity, and that the patients’ families will receive the necessary support while going through the process with loved ones.

Hospice focuses on caring, not curing, and in most cases, care is provided in the patient’s home. Hospice care can also be provided in freestanding hospice centers, hospitals, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.  Hospice services are available to patients of any age, religion, race, or illness. Hospice care is covered under Medicare, Medicaid, most private insurance plans, HMOs, and other managed care organizations.

Typically, a family member serves as the primary caregiver and, when appropriate, helps make decisions for the terminally ill individual. Members of the hospice staff make regular visits to assess the patient and provide additional care or other services as ordered by the Physician. Hospice staff is on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The hospice team develops a care plan that meets each patient’s individual needs for pain management and symptom control. The team usually consists of:

• The patient’ s personal physician;
• Hospice physician (or medical director);
• Nurses;
• Home health aides;
• Social workers;
• Clergy or other counselors
• Trained volunteers; and
• Speech, physical, and occupational therapists, if needed.

What services are provided?

Among its major responsibilities, the interdisciplinary hospice team:

• Manages the patient’s pain and symptoms;
• Assists the patient with the emotional and psychosocial and spiritual aspects of dying;
• Provides needed drugs, medical supplies, and equipment;
• Instructs and trains the family on how to care for the patient;
• Delivers special services like speech and physical therapy when needed;
• Makes short-term inpatient care available when pain or symptoms become too difficult to manage at home, or the caregiver / family needs respite time; and
• Provides bereavement care and counseling to surviving family and friends

What services are provided?

Most people receiving hospice services today use the Medicare Hospice Benefit, which covers 100% of the cost of care related to the terminal illness.  In most states, Medicaid / Medi-Cal also provides hospice coverage and palliative care.  Hospice care is also covered by most insurance plans as well.