Last month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced the start of a new program designed to give up to 10,000 Medicare patients with chronic conditions the ability to receive most of their primary care at home.

The idea behind the program is to bring back the old practice of house calls but with a modern day approach using today’s technology and team-based approach, said CMS Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, RN, BSN, MHA. The new program, Independence at Home, significantly expands the scope of in-home services Medicare beneficiaries can receive.

The program not only helps the patient but it will also bring new avenues to care for medical practices nationwide. CMS will join with medical practices to test the effectiveness of delivering primary care services in a home setting to see if it improves care for Medicare beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions. The program will also test whether home-based care can reduce the need for hospitalization, improve patient and caregiver satisfaction and lead to better health and lower costs to Medicare.

“In my days as a practicing nurse, I saw many patients whose health improved when they were happier with their living conditions,” Tavenner said. “When a critically ill patient can remain in familiar surroundings, the benefits are many: The person retains greater control over their daily lives, families and caregivers report greater satisfaction with the care and unnecessary hospitalizations are avoided.”

Home-based primary care generally allows health care providers to spend more time with their patients, perform assessments in a patient’s home environment and assume greater accountability for all aspects of the patient’s care. Independence at Home will build on these existing benefits by providing chronically ill patients a complete range of primary care services in the home setting.

Have you had experience in Home-Based Care? Medical practices wishing to participate must have in their employment physicians or nurse practitioners with experience in delivering home-based primary care. As many as 50 practices will be selected and each must serve at least 200 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions and functional limitations. Practices chosen to participate will be responsible for coordinating patient care with other health and social service professionals.

Medical practices chosen for the program that show a reduction in Medicare expenditures and succeed in providing high-quality care will receive an incentive payment. CMS will use quality measures to ensure that beneficiaries receive high quality care. Practices interested in joining the Independence at Home program can get more information by clicking here. Applications and letters of intent are due Feb. 6.

Whether or not you’re looking for a job right now, now’s the time to pull out your resume, dust it off, air it and freshen it up. You never know when an exciting new opportunity will present itself (or when you might find yourself in the midst of a sudden downsizing).

Here are some tips for updating your resume:

The Year in Review

Make sure your current job is on your resume. Many of us forget to add our newest job once we’ve been hired. As you list your job responsibilities, be sure to include any projects you’ve managed or major accomplishments. Update it at least once a year.

 Go Back to the Beginning

Look at the job listed on your resume that was the longest ago and consider how relevant it is to your current and future career goals. If it’s still relevant, keep it on there but consider paring the description down.

Eye Candy

One thing recruiters will do after scanning your resume is to read the very last section (kind of like skipping to the end of a book when you don’t have time to read the whole thing!). So list your most recent workshops, professional associations and awards at the bottom. If you’re still listing awards you received in college 20 years ago, it may be time to consider getting out and getting more involved. Employers want well-rounded individuals who stay on top of their game.

Trendy to a Point

As with everything else in life, resume formats follow trends. You want your resume to reflect current trends that work. When I’ve been on the hiring end, I’ve seen some trends that were all about big, fancy fonts and colored, textured papers. To me they seemed more about looks and less about content. It’s easy to surf the web for current resume style guides and compare and contrast them, looking for the styles that say modern, clean and professional. Those will best present you as the professional that you are.

Final Words of Wisdom

Proofread over and over, and then have a few friends proofread over and over. Typos and grammatical errors will land your resume in the trash faster than you can say, “Are you still hiring?” Also, save your resume in the 3 most commonly accessed formats, text only, Microsoft Word and PDF so you have what is needed at the ready and no one can say to you, “Sorry, I couldn’t open your resume.”

If you feel it’s time for a complete overhaul, read our two-part blog on writing resumes in our Resume Tips.

Now that you have your outline from Writing Your Resume, Part 1,
you are ready to organize the information and format it in a way that will catch a potential employer’s attention-in a good way. No, I don’t recommend using neon colored paper or stationary that rocks. Stick with a basic, neutral color and use resume paper from an office supply store if delivering a printed version. Crazy script font that is not easily readable is a no-go and will not present your professional side. So stick with a standard font (Times, Times New Roman, Arial, etc) that is readable and professional.

When organizing your resume, keep the following
in mind:

1. At the top of the resume should be the header with your name, address, phone number, email and website (if applicable). Also feel free to add the URL’s to any social media profile. Note: This exact header should be used on all correspondence going to the potential employer, including the cover letter and reference sheet.

2. Next down should be your objective, should you choose to include one.

3. After that you should provide a list of skills. This is where you use the “power verbs” that you hear so much about. In other words, don’t list “Office Filing” as a skill-list “Handled office filing”. Here are some other examples:

“Patient Services” could be “Accessed and Delivered Patient Needs”

“Supervised” could be “Hired, Trained and Evaluated Employees”

“Medical Charting” could be “Maintained Client Charts”

4. Then comes work history and I’ve seen two effective formats for this. One is listing the work history in chronological order, with your current job first. The other is to make two headings, one that says “Related Work History” where you list all the jobs that are similar (or have a similar skill set) to the one that you are applying for and the other heading that says “Additional Work History” where you list the rest of your employment. There are pros and cons to both. Chronological order may not bring out the jobs that you really want the potential employer to see and the other system may give the impression that you have gaps in your work history, even if you don’t.

5. Include at least the position you held, the employer name, city/state of employer, dates worked there and duties in each listings. For example:

Lead Nurse, Willowback Medical Care Center, Chicago, IL. June 2009-March 2011.

6. After work history should be education, publication credits and volunteer work in a similar format to the one you used for work history. For example:

EDUCATION

BS in Nursing, Nursing College, Seattle, WA. 1993

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE

Boy Scout Leader, Boy Scouts of America, Chicago, IL May 1995-present

PUBLICATION CREDITS

“The History of Medical Staffing”, Medical Times, May 2005.

I see very few resumes with references listed on them. Instead make another sheet (with the same heading that is on your resume) and list them there. If the employer doesn’t ask for them initially, it makes a great impression to bring them with you when an interview is scheduled.

What do you think makes a great resume? Let us know in the comments section.

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“I think the needs of both the job seekers and employers are in getting lost in the current environment,” says Hospital Dream Jobs founder, Allison Rapaport. “My goal is to listen to their needs and have the website evolve to meet these needs.”

In 2008, Rapaport brought together her experience in web development, communications and job searching with her interest in healthcare to develop Hospital Dream Jobs.  Because she also had contacts in the healthcare and technology field, there was a natural fit with developing content for the site as well.

The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Hospitals/Employers are excited about the ability to search for qualified leads to fill positions and receive alerts from Hospital Dream Jobs with links to the resume of interested parties. They also enjoy the added coups of being featured via video clips on the site and on the Hospital Dream Jobs blog. The ability to set up a profile page with more about their facility is another popular option.

For job seekers, the site is a virtual goldmine as it not only lists jobs listed with Hospital Dream Jobs but also pulls in listings from other healthcare job sites. In addition, there are numerous job resources, including lists of top hospitals, educational podcasts, links to educational facilities/hospitals and a list of recruitment and staffing agencies. The site has 400 job categories and thousands of listings. The job seeker also enjoys the ability to upload their resume/cover letter, send and receive messages, save job searches, create job alerts and learn more detail about the particular hospitals that interest them.

The goals for Hospital Dream Jobs include:

1. Provide quality and a high quantity of healthcare job listings from all parts of the country.

2. Support job seekers as they progress in their career. Offer job listings, tools to track their job search, career advice and resources, and information to stay current.

3. Offer hospitals and recruiters great advertising for their organization and the ability to attract the best in personnel.

4. Maintain an environment that is personable and responsive for all users.

Join us today by signing up for a Job Seeker or Employer account!