DiagnosTEX June 2015 Newsletter
Clinical Café Newsletter
By: Ronda Polansky M.S. CCC-SLP
Happy Father’s Day to all the DADs!
and
Do not forget to fly your American flag on the 14th in honor of our country, our troops and our freedom!
Flag Day falls within National Flag Week, a time when Americans reflect on the foundations of the nation’s freedom. The flag of the United States represents freedom and has been an enduring symbol of the country’s ideals since its early days. During both events, Americans also remember their loyalty to the nation, reaffirm their belief in liberty and justice, and observe the nation’s unity.Although Flag Day is a nationwide observance, it is not a public holiday in many parts of the United States. It is a legal holiday in a few areas in the USA, such as Montour County in Pennsylvania.
New staff – We would like to welcome Kelly Calhoun to our clinical team of SLP’s! She has been enduring our training program for several months, so we appreciate your support and patience as we trained her DiagnosTEX style!
Welcome back Bo Devlin! We are so happy to announce that Bo has returned to DiagnosTEX as a manager and our lead tech! I know many will be happy to see him as much as we are to have him back!
Lisa Graham has a degree in Speech Pathology and is also our new sales/marketing person who will be handling all of our facility service contracts as well as any scheduling of facility in-services and upcoming CEU’s. We hope you will be getting to know her better as she familiarizes herself with all of our customers.
New history/consult forms for 2015 – New Year, New Paperwork. This has been delayed due to some Medicare changes and new required information. These forms will be noticeably different and we think everyone will like them. Please begin using them immediately. We will be handing them out on the van, mailing them in the newsletters, they will be on the website and IF you need one faxed to you please call. If we continue to get old consult forms after June1, we will not place the patient on the pending list until the new form is completed in its entirety. Please help us with this transition. There are still 2 forms: 1 for facilities and 1 for home health, please make sure you are utilizing the correct one. Thank you!
Required paperwork for scheduling:
- DiagnosTEX history/consult form – Please use new 2015 form
- DiagnosTEX Authorization form for billing purposes – Please use new 2015 form
- Copy of the patient’s face sheet from the medical chart
- Copy of History and Physical (H & P) from the medical chart
- HH patients will require an additional form acknowledging all billing and evaluation procedure
NEW DiagnosTEX Consent Form to Observe Fluoroscopy Procedure – As most of you know, we have permitted most anyone to observe the MBSS over the past 11 years. This has been a privilege we have offered with our service, as most hospitals do not allow staff or families members into a radiology suite to observe this procedure. Due to increasing HIPAA regulations and situations that have occurred on our mobile clinic by visitors, other than the facility staff, we have been legally advised to implement a no observation policy unless a DiagnosTEX consent form is signed due to liability reasons. We apologize for the extra paperwork but there will be no exceptions regarding this form. If anyone other the healthcare professional wants to attend the procedure, they must attend with the completed consent form in hand or will not be allowed on the mobile clinic. The form must be available to our staff when we arrive. We will not delay an exam waiting for someone to sign it, we will move forward with our appointment and the visitor can attend once we are handed the consent form completed in its entirety. Visitors include all family members, interpreters, friends, caregivers, legal guardians, etc. Visitors must be legal guardians or have consent of legal guardian to attend the procedure. This form will be available on every van, the website, and it is included in this newsletter. Please begin utilizing this form on June 1, 2015.
DiagnosTEX Summer Conference
Alzheimer’s and Dysphagia/Feeding Difficulties. Who Does Not Understand? Us or Them?
Date: TBD – Look for update on date and location in the DiagnosTEX July Newsletter next month!
AMPCARE CEU course – TEXAS – June 27 – Houston (for more information go to www.ampcarellc.com)
Ampcare was chosen for the 2015 People’s Choice Award at the TECH Fort Worth Impact Award Ceremony in May. Follow Ampcare on both Twitter and Facebook.
We will be updating our social media – Facebook, Twitter, and our website. Stay tuned! If you have not signed up for our monthly newsletter emails and/or CEU conference notifications, please call us or email us with your email address and we will get you on the list.
Dysphagia Tidbit – Incidence of esophageal cancer linked to GERD rises six fold in recent decades Esophageal cancer is one of the fastest-growing and deadliest cancers in the U.S.
According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 17,000 new cases of esophageal cancer will be diagnosed in 2015. Incidence of adenocarcinoma, a type of esophageal cancer linked to GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) has risen six-fold in recent decades. GERD is more than heartburn
According to F. Paul “Tripp” Buckley III, M.D., general surgeon and director of the Scott & White Hospital – Round Rock Heartburn & Acid Reflux Center, “GERD is a chronic, often progressive disease resulting from a weak lower esophageal sphincter that allows harmful gastric fluid to reflux into the esophagus, resulting in both pain and injury to the esophageal lining.” GERD symptoms include heartburn and regurgitation, often associated with chronic sleep disruption, and may include persistent cough, excessive throat clearing, hoarseness and a feeling of a “lump” in the throat. Acid reflux medications affect gastric acid production, but do not repair the sphincter defect, allowing continued reflux. GERD can lead to cancer. Patients with chronic GERD can develop a condition called Barrett’s esophagus. An estimated 15 percent of chronic reflux patients also have Barrett’s esophagus – a condition caused when digestive acid backs up from the stomach into the esophagus, causing damage and the growth of pre-cancerous cells. According to the National Institutes of Health, more than three million people in the U.S. have Barrett’s esophagus. Left untreated, patients have a 40 times greater risk in developing adenocarcinoma, an aggressive form of cancer that is often fatal. The most common symptom of esophageal cancer is difficulty swallowing, with a feeling of food stuck in your throat or chest, or even choking on food. This often is mild when it starts, then worsens as the opening inside the esophagus gets narrower. Additional symptoms include unintentional weight loss, chest pain, pressure or burning, worsening indigestion or heartburn, coughing or hoarseness, and bleeding in the esophagus. Published on April 21, 2015 – Baylor Scott & White