When the state of Connecticut passed a new law requiring home health agencies to ensure greater protection of their workers, Aveanna Healthcare knew they had to find a way to reduce their overall risk, and the risk for individual employees.
The Connecticut law, like many being considered and passed recently, allows home health care workers to access information about patients or family members that may pose safety risks. It also requires home health agencies to report threats or abuse, conduct monthly safety assessments, and more.
The new law calls for providers to implement workplace safety plans that go beyond what even leading organizations like Aveanna already maintain. While Aveanna has long had a comprehensive program in place, the company saw an opportunity to further strengthen its approach through collaboration with partners like POM Safe.
A complete safety solution for home and community care providers, POM Safe empowers providers to proactively manage caregiver safety, respond to incidents and stay aligned with OSHA, state and accreditation standards — all in one connected platform.
“By implementing POM Safe, Aveanna is committed to meeting Connecticut’s workplace safety requirements and giving our caregivers a reliable tool to report risks and incidents in real time,” says Kelly Reppart, AVP Risk Management at Aveanna. “This solution helps us stay compliant and ensures our teams have immediate access to emergency assistance when they need it most.”
The Unique Challenges of In-Home Patient Care
Because home-based caregivers work in patient homes, they often see greater workplace safety challenges than other health care workers, as these different environments can expose them to verbal and physical confrontations.
As such, Aveanna Healthcare viewed this safety initiative implementation as more than just upholding compliance. It represents a way to address workplace safety with an innovative solution that can offer the best protection in a real-world emergency.
Complying with new laws often requires adjustments to business practices, which can introduce a range of challenges, including increased complexity, additional operational costs, and lengthy implementation periods. For home health agencies, adapting to regulations — such as those mandating enhanced worker safety measures — means investing in new software solutions and resources.
This may involve acquiring devices like POM Safe, training staff on new protocols, conducting regular safety assessments, and establishing comprehensive reporting systems.
“Aveanna’s scale and leadership in home-based care make this collaboration especially impactful,” says AJ Leahy, Founder and CEO of POM Safe. “By using our solution to capture risk assessments, incident reports, and near-miss data, we are empowering caregivers, supporting compliance and strengthening workforce sustainability in a way that the entire industry can follow.”
After carefully researching several solutions, Aveanna turned to POM Safe for their needs.
In an emergency, POM Safe:
- Opens a two-way emergency call with a professional dispatcher.
- Sends the user’s GPS location
- Notifies the organization or designated contacts.
POM Safe also offers prevention and de-escalation features. This helps provide a way out of an emergency before it becomes an emergency. POM Safe’s proactive safety features include:
- Fake Phone Call: Creates a diversion to escape unsafe situations.
- Fake-Text: Sends a pre-written message with a single tap.
- Virtual Check-In: Sends an alert if the user doesn’t confirm safe exit from appointment.
The Impact: Compliance and a Successful Transition To a New Solution
POM Safe has allowed Aveanna to achieve fast compliance while reducing risks and empowering caregivers to feel safe, stay prepared and respond to emergencies quickly.
As laws and regulations continue to be passed and risk management becomes an important part of every healthcare company’s priority, POM Safe has proven to be a trusted collaborator in advancing workplace safety – especially when the workplace is the home and the workforce is mobile.
This Views is sponsored by POM Safe. To learn more, visit pomsafe.com.
The post How One Home Health Provider is Meeting Connecticut’s New Safety Standards appeared first on Home Health Care News.
