Bereavement Professional

Hi all! 

Our Bereavement department utilizes call sheets (not integrated with or related to our EMR - it's just a mail-merged word doc) in order to document our two-week, 3 month, and 7 month calls to bereaved. Some of each group of calls are completed by volunteers. Our question is:

-Does the Bereavement Coordinator/Designee at your organization sign and date this documentation upon review, either physically or electronically? We're trying to figure out whether we could use a "reviewed" check box, with a date rather than signing each page. We've looked into SOP and CMS regs and don't see anything concrete about requirements concerning signing and dating call sheets, whether physical or electronic. 

TIA! 
-Merrin

------------------------------

Hi Merrin,

My understanding is that phone calls at set times (2 week, 3 month, and 7 month) should be part of the Plan of Care and so they should be scheduled and recorded in your EMR.  If your bereavement program policy states you will place these calls, then auditors will look for you to show that you (or designated caller) completed them and document them in your EMR.  

Then, if you use paper Call sheets just to track the calls manually, those won't need to be signed if you have the Electronic records that document the calls made or the calls that are still pending.

All EMR systems are different, though, so you may wish to get more info from someone who uses your specific EMR system.

------------------------------
Nancy Arnold CDP
Bereavement Manager
Supportive Care Services
Visiting Nurse Association
Southcoast Health | 200 Mill Road | Fairhaven, MA. 02719
508-973-3227 / cell: 774-319-3007
ArnoldN@southcoast.org
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-29-2022 11:38 AM
From: Merrin Bethel
Subject: Bereavement Call Sheets

Hi all!

Our Bereavement department utilizes call sheets (not integrated with or related to our EMR - it's just a mail-merged word doc) in order to document our two-week, 3 month, and 7 month calls to bereaved. Some of each group of calls are completed by volunteers. Our question is:

-Does the Bereavement Coordinator/Designee at your organization sign and date this documentation upon review, either physically or electronically? We're trying to figure out whether we could use a "reviewed" check box, with a date rather than signing each page. We've looked into SOP and CMS regs and don't see anything concrete about requirements concerning signing and dating call sheets, whether physical or electronic.

TIA!
-Merrin

------------------------------

Hi Nancy,

Right! This is included in our Plan of Care, and all of our sheets are uploaded into the EMR upon completion and being signed and dated, but the sheets themselves are not filled out in the EMR, nor are they a part of it. They are simply scanned and uploaded into the patient's clinical profile. Our question is regarding signing and dating the call sheets and whether there are regulatory requirements surrounding that. 

For your organization, do you sign and date your documentation of pre-scheduled calls (such as the ones listed above)?

Ps. There is a date listed on each call sheet for when the call was made. We also currently sign and date it when the sheets are reviewed, and that is the portion we're wondering about. Do we need to sign them in that way, what are other orgs doing, are there medicare regs requiring the bereavement coordinator/supervisor/designee to sign these documents?  


------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-30-2022 09:54 AM
From: Nancy Arnold
Subject: Bereavement Call Sheets

Hi Merrin,

My understanding is that phone calls at set times (2 week, 3 month, and 7 month) should be part of the Plan of Care and so they should be scheduled and recorded in your EMR.  If your bereavement program policy states you will place these calls, then auditors will look for you to show that you (or designated caller) completed them and document them in your EMR.

Then, if you use paper Call sheets just to track the calls manually, those won't need to be signed if you have the Electronic records that document the calls made or the calls that are still pending.

All EMR systems are different, though, so you may wish to get more info from someone who uses your specific EMR system.

------------------------------
Nancy Arnold CDP
Bereavement Manager
Supportive Care Services
Visiting Nurse Association
Southcoast Health | 200 Mill Road | Fairhaven, MA. 02719
508-973-3227 / cell: 774-319-3007
ArnoldN@southcoast.org

Original Message:
Sent: 06-29-2022 11:38 AM
From: Merrin Bethel
Subject: Bereavement Call Sheets

Hi all!

Our Bereavement department utilizes call sheets (not integrated with or related to our EMR - it's just a mail-merged word doc) in order to document our two-week, 3 month, and 7 month calls to bereaved. Some of each group of calls are completed by volunteers. Our question is:

-Does the Bereavement Coordinator/Designee at your organization sign and date this documentation upon review, either physically or electronically? We're trying to figure out whether we could use a "reviewed" check box, with a date rather than signing each page. We've looked into SOP and CMS regs and don't see anything concrete about requirements concerning signing and dating call sheets, whether physical or electronic.

TIA!
-Merrin

------------------------------

Paper: When we used to do paper charting, a staff person read and signed off on all volunteer notes.

EMR: Now our volunteers use the EMR.  We developed a new internal audit system where the bereavement supervisor picks 2 calls by each caller each week; then she writes on that note that it was reviewed, and she lists those calls on a spreadsheet.  It's not perfect, but it shows some checks & balances; plus, we can note some trends, perhaps some basic errors that require a quick retraining for the callers.

------------------------------
-----
Kristen Emerson, LCSW
Bereavement Counselor | Bon Secours Hospice | Richmond | VA
kristen_emerson@bshsi.org | 804-433-4710
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-30-2022 10:12 AM
From: Merrin Bethel
Subject: Bereavement Call Sheets

Hi Nancy,

Right! This is included in our Plan of Care, and all of our sheets are uploaded into the EMR upon completion and being signed and dated, but the sheets themselves are not filled out in the EMR, nor are they a part of it. They are simply scanned and uploaded into the patient's clinical profile. Our question is regarding signing and dating the call sheets and whether there are regulatory requirements surrounding that.

For your organization, do you sign and date your documentation of pre-scheduled calls (such as the ones listed above)?

Ps. There is a date listed on each call sheet for when the call was made. We also currently sign and date it when the sheets are reviewed, and that is the portion we're wondering about. Do we need to sign them in that way, what are other orgs doing, are there medicare regs requiring the bereavement coordinator/supervisor/designee to sign these documents?



Original Message:
Sent: 06-30-2022 09:54 AM
From: Nancy Arnold
Subject: Bereavement Call Sheets

Hi Merrin,

My understanding is that phone calls at set times (2 week, 3 month, and 7 month) should be part of the Plan of Care and so they should be scheduled and recorded in your EMR.  If your bereavement program policy states you will place these calls, then auditors will look for you to show that you (or designated caller) completed them and document them in your EMR.

Then, if you use paper Call sheets just to track the calls manually, those won't need to be signed if you have the Electronic records that document the calls made or the calls that are still pending.

All EMR systems are different, though, so you may wish to get more info from someone who uses your specific EMR system.

------------------------------
Nancy Arnold CDP
Bereavement Manager
Supportive Care Services
Visiting Nurse Association
Southcoast Health | 200 Mill Road | Fairhaven, MA. 02719
508-973-3227 / cell: 774-319-3007
ArnoldN@southcoast.org

Original Message:
Sent: 06-29-2022 11:38 AM
From: Merrin Bethel
Subject: Bereavement Call Sheets

Hi all!

Our Bereavement department utilizes call sheets (not integrated with or related to our EMR - it's just a mail-merged word doc) in order to document our two-week, 3 month, and 7 month calls to bereaved. Some of each group of calls are completed by volunteers. Our question is:

-Does the Bereavement Coordinator/Designee at your organization sign and date this documentation upon review, either physically or electronically? We're trying to figure out whether we could use a "reviewed" check box, with a date rather than signing each page. We've looked into SOP and CMS regs and don't see anything concrete about requirements concerning signing and dating call sheets, whether physical or electronic.

TIA!
-Merrin

------------------------------