SimplyRehab in the News

January 2012 – Simply Home Health has been invited to conduct a one hour CE approved in-service on falls prevention to the staff of Schwab Hospital on January 10.

December 2011 – Simply Home Health was invited by the C4 (Chicago Consortium for Collaborative Care), a group of 3 Chicago area teaching hospitals consortium, to participate in a grant proposal to CMS as part of the “Health Care Innovative Challenge”. Simply Home Health’s contribution will be in the area of falls prevention among those elderly people still healthy enough to be living in the community. Other health care challenges to be addressed in the proposal are COPD and heart failure. The grant proposal deadline is January 27, 2012.

December 2011 – Simply Home Health submitted, and was granted, a trademark on the term SimplyFit-Otago©. The unique aspect of the services associated with this trademark is the time based strength measurement technique that avoids fatigue while giving an accurate numeric figure for a frail person’s strength and stamina. Robert Kunio was also asked by the home health section of the American Physical Therapy Association to submit a newsletter article covering his research on falls prevention.

November 2011 – Robert Kunio, CEO of Simply Home Health, gave a one hour CE approved presentation on Falls Prevention to the Illinois Chapter of NASW (National Association of Social Workers) at their down town Chicago offices. The presentation was streamed live to several members and a video of it was put on the chapter website.

October 2011 – preliminary results of the six-month trial of the group version of Otago at the BMA Management site in Bolingbrook were compiled. Even though many of the participants were quite frail at the start, no falls were experienced in the 3-day a week, 6 month trial and several residents previously using walkers stated that they have significantly reduced the use of these assistive devices. Two results of the trail were a rearrangement of the Otago routines as requested by participants and the development of a strength test that did not fatigue the participants. Data from the test is keyed into a database where formulas calculate increases and declines in strength and also determine if participants can be promoted from phase 1 (strength building) to phase 2 (balance retraining). The research partners agreed to continue both the trial and collection of falls data.

September 2011 – Simply Home Health, and Robert Kunio, were granted licenses as CE (continuing education) sponsors for both nurses and social workers on the subject of falls prevention among the elderly.

June 2011 – The Kinesiology Department of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois has affiliated with the Simply Companies toward the goal of commercializing the SimplyFit program and providing employment opportunities for graduates of the program. The university provided two interns to SimplyRehab for the summer of 2011 to assist with the geriatric group exercise programs being conducted by the company.

May 2011 - Robert Kunio and Phillip Miller (North Carolina & Utah Area Director) presented both the results of the Falls Prediction study and the SimplyFit Balance Retraining Program at the NCANPHA (North Carolina Association of Non-Profit Homes for the Aging) at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville. Robert Kunio and Dan Gracey presented the same materials at the CHCA (Colorado Health Care Association) at the Park Hyatt in Avon, Colorado on May26. Audience ratings for both sessions were high.

March 2011 – At the Life Services Network annual meeting in Chicago, SimplyRehab and CJE-Senior Life shared the results of the two-year Falls Prediction Study. We also announced the launch of the next study, which is a trial of the group version of the 3-day a week Otago Balance Retraining Program. The WISQARS database, which is part of the CDC website, tells us that over 2.2 million people over age 65 visited hospital emergency rooms in 2009 with fall related injuries and this number is growing each year. This website also tells us that the hospital bills for these visits in 2005 (the last year it was compiled) exceeded $6 billion and averaged $448 for those who were treated and discharged and $18,642 for those who were admitted. Fall related hospital visits among those over 65 is projected to exceed 3 million by 2020 with the average cost per admission exceeding $25,000.

February 2011 - SimplyRehab and BMA Management of Bradley, Illinois have agreed to stage a six-month privately funded human research project to determine if the Otago balance retraining exercise program can be adapted to this type of population. BMA Management is an operator of 30 Supportive Living Facilities in the state of Illinois and is frequently selected by the State of Illinois to teach management and nursing courses to other operators of supportive living facilities. The six-month study will count falls of the people in the program at this facility and compare this to their fall count in the six months prior to joining the program.

January 2011 – Simply Home Health of Illinois passed its initial survey with the Joint Commission. Simply Home Health and SimplyRehab have already implemented Continuity of Care by enabling therapists and nurses who work full time in SNF’s to follow their patients home as part-time employees of the agency. Initial feedback from patients and physicians is excellent.

November – Robert Kunio, Chief Operating Officer of SimplyRehab, and Andrew Sandler of CJE-Senior life, gave a one contact hour CE approved presentation of our Falls Prediction and Prevention research study at the Supportive Living Success conferences in Springfield, IL on November 16 and in Woodridge, IL on November 18. Over 220 nurses, state surveyors and supportive living facility operators attended, with the conference being jointly sponsored by the Affordable Assisted Living Coalition and Life Services Network.

March 2010 – Long Term Living Magazine has published an article authored by our Chief Operating Officer entitled "Measuring Clinical Decision Making Skills" in its March 2010 edition. The article is at http://www.ltlmagazine.com and shares one of SimplyRehab’s clinical interviewing methods used to ensure that all therapists use consistent decision making criteria when performing evaluations as part of our goal to deliver similar levels of care for similar patients in all locations.

January 2010 – SimplyRehab provided a progress report on its Falls Prediction and Prevention Study being conducted at the CJE-Senior life assisted living facility in Illinois. Over 95 residents agreed to be tested as part of the next gait and balance assessment cycle after hearing that we achieved good predictive accuracy in the two recent pilot cycles. The ALF management is so pleased with the predictive accuracy of the assessments that all new residents are now required to be assessed.

March 2009 – SimplyRehab announced a research study to help operators of skilled nursing facilities and assisted living facilities improve their ability to better predict which residents are at risk for falling. The CDC reports that the direct hospital cost of treating fall related injuries for people over 65 exceeded $6 billion in 2005 and is expected to grow to $10 billion by 2020. Simply Rehab’s initial two locations, an ALF and a SNF in suburban Chicago, have begun using new and improved predictive tests that incorporate a unique subset of the Berg Balance Scale taught in US Physical Therapy Programs. Using these simplified protocols, SimplyRehab has successfully employed exercise physiologist, rather than higher paid therapists, to administer these tests, record results and refer at risk residents to others for preventative measures.

November, 2008 - SimplyRehab had a booth at the annual ASHA conference in Chicago and 6 of the company's full time SLP's attended.

October 25, 2008 - SimplyRehab sponsored a successful 7 Hour CE approved session at the Sheraton Hotel in Arlington Heights, Illinois called "ASSESSING AND TREATING THE COGNITIVELY IMPAIRED OLDER ADULT". Over 50 people attended with excellent feedback from all. The instructor Linda Riccio is a 25-year veteran of long-term care operations and clinical/programmatic development. An Occupational Therapist, Linda has been a national educator in neurological disorders, orthopedics and the management of special care populations. Both the Illinois Physical Therapy Association and the Illinois Occupational therapy Association have approved this course for 7 contact hours.

May 11, 2008 - SimplyRehab sponsored employees and friends in the Y-ME 5 K Race to Empower in Chicago's Grant Park to help raise money for breast cancer research.

April 4, 2008 - The Chief Operating Officer of SimplyRehab, Robert Kunio, spoke on benchmarking the performance of therapy departments at LSN's spring conference at Navy Pier in Chicago. The one hour presentation was well attended and included the case study describing how SimplyRehab has used benchmarking to identify best (and worst) practices and how it institutionalizes these best practices through on-going training and motivational programs.

November 2007 - SimplyRehab was featured in the cover story of NursingHomes Magazine. This article discussed how the company's use of benchmarking and its dedication to sharing best practices has produced state-of-the-art treatment strategies that produce both better patient outcomes and higher facility reimbursement. A link to this article http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/172910391.html