We have awaited the year 2000 with trepidation. Because I am writing this in advance of the new millennium, I don't know if the predicted chaos will have occurred. However, one blast that will cause more of a disturbance than Y2K is that of the aging Baby Boomers!
Baby Boomers! Many have heard the title but don't understand the enormous impact of this group. It is predicted that by the year 2000 there will be more than 30 million elderly Boomers. Due to sheer numbers we anticipate more hypertension, more cancer, more pulmonary disease, more debility ...and more need for home care.
How will we provide these services? It will be difficult because there will be more of us than there are of you. But services will be provided as they have always been-with professionalism, knowledge, and unlimited caring. Agencies' most precious commodity will be time.
The future of home care is currently uncertain with concerns about funding and length of services, IPS, PPS, OASIS, managed care, and outcomes versus incomes. But certain things never change, such as how to run an efficient agency. The successful agency of the 21st century will be similar to the successful agency of 1999 and will incorporate the following standards:
Effective agency-wide communication. Everyone should have the same game plan and understand the rules. The team that knows the plays when they are called works together, win or lose.
Educated staff. Regardless of where you are tempted to cut expenses don't allow these cuts to interfere with the performance of your players. Would you ask a basketball team to play without a ball?
A staff that understands agency policy and procedures. All staff must be competent in new techniques and equipment. If staff are not aware of these items, perfect policies and procedures aren't worth the paper on which they're printed.
Effective documentation practices. If you don't document, it didn't happen. Documentation covers reimbursement, risk management, and clinical effectiveness. Staff must understand they are documenting to protect themselves and the agency as well as to measure outcomes.
Hire the best. A warm body just won't cut it. Remove impaired or neglectful workers. Encourage all staff to grow professionally. Provide constructive criticism and effective performance evaluations. Implement peer review. Encourage process-improvement activities.
Set concrete goals. Remember that if you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there. Solid, clear goals will ensure that you don't end up in uncharted territory.
Provide safe and mechanically sound equipment. Baby Boomers are much too connected to accept second-best. Make sure you have the necessary equipment to provide care. If Agency A doesn't have it, Agency B will. Assertive Baby Boomers will have no qualms about dismissing an agency that isn't meeting their needs.
The new millennium will be but a continuation of the past. As did our forefathers and foremothers, we will step across the invisible time line that divides the centuries and keep walking toward the future, with optimism.
"Things are more like they are now than they ever were before."
Dwight D. Eisenhower
History lessons didn't warn them that the year Japan surrendered to the Allies on the Battleship Missouri, a birthing spree began that peaked in 1957. When it finally ended in 1964, 76 million babies had been born.