LHCR / Home Health Newsletters

January 2007 - Setting Targets and Achieving Results

Once again a new year is upon us.  A time when many choose to set goals for the year ahead or make New Year resolutions that will improve their lives.  Setting goals to achieve positive results whether as an individual or a group, personally or professionally, is always a good decision because it forces one to take a look at where they currently are and assess where they really need or want to be. 

The Home Health STAR site, Setting Targets - Achieving Results, is a tool that can provide an opportunity for your agency to set quarterly targets for any or all of the eleven publicly reported measures.  The first step toward reaching a target is easy!  Just log onto the STAR website at http://www.hhqi-star.org/ and choose create an account.  Use of this valuable tool is free and we are available to assist you at any time. 

The data used by Home Health STAR is taken from Home Health Compare.  From the STAR site, you can view your publicly reported scores, select appropriate targets and track your progress over time. Targets may be set quarterly and beginning with the first day of each new quarter, the target setting window will be increased by 3 months.  Previously set targets will remain but will be ‘locked’ and cannot be changed.  Targets roll over from quarter to quarter but only targets in the current quarter can be edited.  Targets should be achievable, but targets should also encourage your home health agency to “raise the bar” for quality. 

Your agency may choose from various target setting methods. 

State Average – On average, what are your peers accomplishing?  Choose this method to aim for what home health agencies in your state are achieving. 

National Average – On average, what are home health agencies nationwide accomplishing?  Choose this method to aim for what home health agencies nationwide are achieving.

Percentile Ranking – This method will allow you to see the various percentile rankings of home health agencies nationwide.  For example, if you choose the 10^th percentile ranking for Improvement in Bathing, you will see the score you need to achieve in order to be included in the top 10 percent of home health agencies nationwide.  If the best 10 percent are achieving 50%, your target will be 50% or higher. 

Percent Improvement – This method allows you to choose any percent improvement and apply that to your current quality measure score. 

Once targets have been set, STAR will display the quality measures in which targets were set, the target(s) selected, as well as the chosen target setting method.  Agencies may view and print trending graphs of set targets which allow you to see, at a glance, your quality measure scores over several quarters. 

STAR also has extensive OASIS information about the publicly reported outcomes which may be useful for training and education purposes. 

Start your new year off with a bang by visiting the STAR website today and choose appropriate targets for your agency. 

For more information on Setting Targets – Achieving Results (STAR), please contact any member of our Home Health Team at homehealth@lhcr.org