7 Questions, 8 Answers For Anyone Working In Home Care Today

Main Category: Caregivers / Homecare
Also Included In: Respiratory / Asthma;  Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 31 Jul 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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1. As a home care respiratory therapist, do you get all of the respect you deserve as a health care professional?

2. Is it important to you to have RTs recognized as professionals in the home care setting or to be acknowledged as disease managers in the fight against asthma and COPD?

3. Have you ever had a question about a procedure, policy, or piece of equipment that you wanted to get feedback on from other home care RTs?

4. Have you ever had questions about how legislative changes will affect your home care practices?

5. Do you need more information about mandatory accreditation or competitive bidding?

6. Do you need access to home care related continuing education courses to help you stay current with innovations in equipment and patient care techniques?

7. Do you want to get more involved, perhaps by participating in a revision of home care related AARC Position Statements or Clinical Practice Guidelines?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then the AARC Home Care Specialty Section is for you. Our recent initiatives and ongoing benefits tell the story --

1. We are advocating for reimbursement for the services of a respiratory therapist under Medicare Part B. If this initiative is passed into law, therapists with a bachelor's degree and RRT credentials would be able to function as physician extenders in physicians' offices, patients' homes, and community clinics.

2. We are advocating for our patients' access to care by supporting the Home Oxygen Patient Protection Act (HR 621/S 1484). This act, if signed into law, will repeal the home oxygen 36 month "convert-to-sale" clause required under the Deficit Reduction Act.

3. We publish four Quarterly Bulletins full of timely information you need to support your specialty and care for your patients.

4. Our monthly e-newsletters deliver links to new stories of interest to our membership. Most recently, the newsletter has been loaded with information about the mandatory accreditation and competitive bidding requirements.

5. Our section e-mail list is a forum for individuals practicing in home care to share best practices and ask questions of their peers.

6. We feature section-only webcasts that earn you free CRCEs for viewing either the live or archived version.

7. We work with the AARC Program Committee to ensure the quality of home care presentations at the AARC Congress. There were 15 home care presentations at the 2006 meeting in Las Vegas, and there will be at least that many, if not more, at the 2007 Congress in Orlando this December.

8. We drive changes in AARC home care standards and guidelines. Most recently, the AARC asked for our help in revising the Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) cited in the new Medicare Home Care Quality Standards. Volunteers from the section submitted the revisions, and two of the CPGs, Home Oxygen and Home Mechanical Ventilation, have completed the peer review process and will be published in the August edition of Respiratory Care. Another group of Home Care Section volunteers is in the process of revising the AARC Position Statement on Home Respiratory Care Services.

And if the section can maintain its membership at 1,000 or above, you also receive representation on the AARC Board of Directors - a benefit that gives you, through your section chair, a direct voice to the key decision-makers in the AARC.

So, if you are a home care RT - or even if you just want to support the home respiratory care issues that affect your patients going home on oxygen or other forms of respiratory therapy - join us in the Home Care Section today.

Adding section membership to your AARC membership package is easy and may be done at any time of the year simply by going to section sign-up.

American Association for Respiratory Care