See How Teams Are Working Together to Improve a Veteran’s Health Care Journey

December 3, 2024–Throughout his life, Samuel Jones,* a Home Care patient who’s also receiving services from our Care Management Organization (CMO) and Veterans Outreach program, has always been someone who cared for others. When asked to describe her father, his daughter, Donna, tells the story of when he was first undergoing radiation therapy for cancer and how he went right back to work at the phone company after the treatment was finished, doing the physical work of climbing telephone poles. “That’s the kind of guy he is,” she says. “Active, independent, humble, never complains, and doesn’t want people to do things for him.” More than 70 years ago, Mr. Jones served in the Korean War. In the citation accompanying the Bronze Star Medal he received for his service, Mr. Jones was praised for his loyalty, genuine humility, courage, common sense and devotion to others. Today, these attributes continue to shine through for

Meet a Team That’s Finding New and Better Ways to Provide Care!

October 7, 2024–Today’s video spotlight: Our incredible Research Center team! To see how their groundbreaking research is enhancing the quality of care for our patients, members and clients—and how it’s improving care across the U.S. and around the world! To see how—watch here below. On-the-Go Segments: Part One: SVP Tim Peng Introduces the Essential Role of Our Research Center Team Part Two: Changing the World One ICD Code at a Time Part Three: Ever Wonder How YOU Could Be Part of a Research Study? Part Four: Data Science and AI’s Evolving Role in Helping Provide Better Care Part Five: VNS Health Researchers and Their Projects!

Delivering Care, Love, and Respect Every Day: Our MLTC Plan—and Our HHAs—in Action!

July 16, 2024–Although 79-year-old Luly* has dementia and is no longer able to be by herself, her days are full of love and caring, thanks to round-the-clock support provided by four dedicated Personal Care home health aides—Miriam Bonilla-Britto, Jissell Taveras Perez, Raisa Calero, and Marina Moreno De Del Orbe. Together, Miriam, Jissell, Raisa, and Marina work split shifts in perfect harmony. Like Luly, who is a member in our Medicaid Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) health plan, all four aides speak mainly Spanish, and the personal care services they provide are covered completely by her plan, which is designed for Medicaid recipients with an ongoing need for long-term care. For the three-plus years that Luly has been an MLTC member, “she has never been to a hospital,” says Miriam proudly. When asked to recount the many activities they do each day, Miriam starts with: “Walk, walk, walk.” In nice weather, they go

A Shining Example of Teams Working Together for Nursing Home Hospice Patients

July 19, 2023–Teams Featured: Business Development, Personal Care and Hospice Care For VNS Health home health aide Delores Yearwood Pile, her job providing care to VNS Health Hospice patients at a large skilled nursing facility in the Bronx keeps her on her toes—literally. “I might begin my shift by giving one patient a bath and then dressing her in a set of fresh clothes and feeding her,” she says. “Then I’ll walk a short distance and do the same with another patient. An hour later, I’m on to a third patient. And in between these visits, I’ll circle back to check on the others. Every minute I’m there, I’m providing important help to someone—plus, it gives variety to my day!” When Delores’s shift is done, another VNS Health aide will follow a similar routine with the same patients. This rotating care is a hallmark of VNS Health’s new “Cluster Care” hospice model.

Meet the Team Behind the Teams that Provide Care to Our Patients

July 6, 2023–How well do you know VNS Health’s Contract Administration team and the many things they do on behalf of our mission? If the answer is “not well,” then keep reading. Here are 10 things you may be surprised to know about our amazing Contract Administration team!

How a “One VNS Health” Teamwork Effort Led to a New App and an Improved Consumer Experience

April 27, 2023–One of the most common questions VNS Health Home Care patients call our Contact Center about is, “What time is my nurse, rehab therapist or social worker coming?” Those calls will be happening less often, however, and here’s why: Team members from across the organization—from VNS Health’s IT, Education and Marketing teams to our frontline field clinicians and Contact Center agents—worked together in a “One VNS Health” group effort to create an app called My Home Care. This new app lets Home Care patients (and their family members who’ve downloaded the app) see at a glance when their next clinician’s visit will take place, right on their smartphone. The My Home Care app became available to all VNS Health Home Care patients last October. The app tells patients, within a two-hour window, when their home care clinician will arrive for an upcoming visit. It also displays the clinician’s name and

Now That’s Teamwork: The Village Behind the My Home Care App

April 27, 2023–Problem: VNS Health home care patients and family members wanted more information about when their clinician was expected to arrive. Solution: Why not develop an app that allows patients and family members to see when their scheduled home care visits would be, and who was coming? This past October, VNS Health did just that when it launched the My Home Care app. Home Care patients and family members can download the app to their mobile phone or log into an online portal to find out when their next visit from a VNS Health nurse, rehab therapist or social worker will take place. (Information on home health aides will be added in future upgrades.) They can also use the My Home Care app to receive updates about upcoming visits, provide feedback to VNS Health, and connect to helpful home care information and resources. Just as it takes a village to raise

“Now That’s Teamwork!”: Listening to Patients, Plants and Each Member of the Team

February 28, 2023–When the Brooklyn West Hospice team first came to care for Kathy*, they could see her life stories evident in every inch of her walk-up apartment. Plants abounded, including a bougainvillea lacing the walls of her bedroom. Driftwood was perched everywhere. Soon-to-hatch pigeon eggs nested inside the window. As the team would soon learn, their care of Kathy would be guided by lessons inherent in the nature that was very much on view. “Listen to the plants,” said Anna Jenkins, a Hospice Spiritual Care Counselor, quoting Kathy. “They will tell you what they need. Trust their communication.” And the VNS Health Hospice Care team listened – each taking guidance from their patient on how she wanted to receive care as she lived her final chapter with her illness and its debilitating physical and behavioral symptoms. “Through her telling us how to be a gardener, she taught me how to help

“Now That’s Teamwork!”: How Three Live-In HHAs and Their HHA Supervisor Care for Their Client—and Each Other

January 11, 2023–Introducing Now That’s Teamwork—a new Frontline series that features VNS Health teamwork in action. When home health aides Yolanda Campbell, Jennifer Moulton, and Judith White originally started caring for Sebastian Greene*, they were primarily tending to his wife, who had dementia. When her condition worsened and 24-hour care became necessary, the team transitioned to a live-in situation. Then when Mrs. Greene was ultimately hospitalized, the decision was made to keep the same team, on a live-in basis, for Sebastian, who is in his 90s. Sebastian’s wife died shortly after that, so she never returned home. “It was a difficult time for Sebastian—they had been married for over 65 years,” says Yolanda. “It’s still an open wound, but things have gotten much better for him now. I know that having the same team of home health aides is a comfort to him.” A tight schedule—and a tight-knit team Because of Sebastian’s complex medical needs, it’s critical