Summer 2026
Specialized Dementia Care Helps Cognitively Impaired Live Safely at Home
In VNS Health’s Dementia Care at Home program, clients are matched with specially trained home health aides. The aides then follow a customized cognitive care plan based on each client’s interests and abilities.
Specialized Dementia Care Helps Cognitively Impaired Live Safely at Home
For individuals living with dementia or other cognitive conditions, the challenges often extend well beyond memory loss. Changes in behavior, mood, routine, safety awareness, and daily functioning can place significant strain on families and caregivers.
VNS Health’s Dementia Care at Home program offers a unique solution for people experiencing memory loss and their caregivers. This specialized private-pay home care service utilizes home health aides (HHAs) who are trained by memory care experts and carefully matched to the client and their family. The HHAs also then receive additional one-on-one coaching for each client.
Why it matters: Dementia Care at Home addresses a critical gap in care for clients and families across New York City, Long Island and Westchester navigating the challenges of cognitive decline. By helping clients stay active, connected, and engaged, the program reduces caregiver stress while enabling the client to continue living safely at home. And for physicians, hospitals, and other referral partners, it provides a trusted option for patients whose cognitive or behavioral needs are becoming increasingly difficult to manage at home.
Drill down: The home care program begins with a customized assessment of each client’s interests, routines, strengths, and functional abilities. Using those insights, VNS Health develops a personalized cognitive care plan.
The HHA then uses that plan to engage the client in personalized activities—from music and art to sports, walking, conversation, and familiar routines—that promote connection, reduce frustration, and support overall well-being. At the same time, the HHA also provides support in important activities of daily living such as bathing and meal preparation.
Big picture: This is just one example of how VNS Health’s private pay services carefully match HHAs who have received specialized training with vulnerable clients to support struggling family caregivers.
For more information about VNS Health’s Dementia Care at Home services, click here or call 1-855-661-6274.
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Patient-Centered Approach Drives VNS Health Hospice Growth
VNS Health’s hospice census has been growing steadily. Driving factors include getting a nurse to the patient’s bedside as soon as possible following referral, and ensuring that a patient’s desire to continue palliative treatments or certain medications doesn’t become a barrier to hospice admission.
Patient-Centered Approach Drives VNS Health Hospice Growth
The number of patients enrolled in VNS Health Hospice Care recently topped 1,370—the organization’s highest hospice census in over six years.
Why it matters: As the only hospice program serving all five boroughs of New York City, VNS Health’s rising census shows that its push to improve city residents’ access to high-quality hospice care is succeeding.
Zoom in: VNS Health attributes this upward trend to several factors, including:
- An increased focus on getting a hospice nurse to the patient’s bedside as soon as possible following referral with same day, 7-day-a-week hospice admissions, including daytime and evening hours.
- Meeting patients where they are in their end-of-life journey, ensuring that a desire to continue palliative treatments, maintain relationships with consultants, or continue certain medications does not become a barrier to accessing timely hospice care.
- VNS Health’s ongoing educational outreach to physicians and other clinicians, reinforcing awareness of how earlier referrals to hospice care can substantially benefit both patients and their families at the end of life.
- Local initiatives designed to increase community understanding of hospice services and help overcome cultural resistance to end-of-life care.
To make a referral to VNS Health Hospice, click here.
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Raising Awareness of CDC’s Sepsis Aftercare Code Z51.A
Dr. Kathryn Bowles, Director of VNS Health’s Center for Home Care Policy & Research, played a key role in securing adoption of the new Z51.A Encounter for Sepsis Aftercare code.
Raising Awareness of CDC’s Sepsis Aftercare Code Z51.A
VNS Health Research Center Director Kathryn Bowles, PhD, RN, FAAN, is
leading a national effort to raise awareness of the new ICD-10-CM sepsis
aftercare code (Z51.A).
This code, which was inspired by VNS Health research findings, helps ensure
that a patient’s history of sepsis remains visible in the medical record as they
transition across care settings—enabling outpatient, post-acute, and home
care clinicians to identify sepsis survivors who may require closer monitoring
and follow-up after hospital discharge.
Dr. Bowles, who also played a key role in helping secure the code’s adoption
by the CDC, has been presenting on sepsis survivorship and the importance of
the new code to healthcare organizations nationwide, including the Healthcare
Association of New York State, the Patient-Centered Medical Home Learning
Network of Pennsylvania, and the Sepsis Alliance’s Unite for Sepsis conference.
Why it matters: Once a sepsis survivor leaves the hospital, their history of sepsis is often not clearly communicated to downstream providers. As a result, clinicians may not recognize patients who are at increased risk for
complications, functional decline, and readmission. By including the Z51.A Encounter for Sepsis Aftercare code
in discharge documentation, hospitals can help ensure that sepsis survivors are identified throughout the continuum
of care, allowing post-acute providers to deliver more targeted follow-up and support during recovery.
To learn more about VNS Health’s Center for Home Care Policy & Research or to contact the Research Center team, click here.
VNS Heath Implements New Foot Screening Program for High-Risk Diabetes Patients
To enhance its diabetes care, VNS Health Home Care nurses are doing regular foot assessments of diabetes patients using the Monofilament screening test method and referring them to podiatrists as needed.
As part of VNS Health’s continued focus
on caring for the most complex cases, its
Home Care team is training its registered
nurses (RNs) to do regular diabetic foot
assessments, analyze the results, and
make referrals to a podiatrist as needed.
Why it matters: Among the 50 million-plus
Americans with diabetes, one out of three
will experience a diabetic foot ulcer at
some point—so managing the health
of the legs and feet in this population is
critical in order to prevent hospitalizations
and amputations. For physicians, hospitals,
and other referral partners, VNS Health
Home Care’s advanced training provides
another important way to support the
health of their patients with diabetes
who are discharged to home care.
Zoom in: The latest data shows that adding
foot screening to VNS Health Home Care
patients’ plans of care is dramatically
improving the ability of care teams to
spot incipient foot ulcers early in high-risk
patients, enabling timely intervention.
To make a referral to VNS Health Home Care, click here.
New LPN Training Increases Wound Care Capacity
New LPN Training Increases Wound Care Capacity
VNS Health Home Care is training its licensed practical nurses (LPNs) to administer compression therapy to
patients with diabetic foot ulcers, venous ulcers, and other wounds in the feet and legs.
Why it matters: Training LPNs in compression therapy
substantially increases the number of VNS Health clinicians
available to administer this treatment to patients with lower
extremity wounds due to diabetes and other conditions.
This enhances continuity of care for persons with wounds
and empowers LPNs to work at the top of their license.
Zoom in: This treatment uses specialized compression
dressings and wrapping techniques to promote wound
healing by encouraging the flow of blood and lymphatic
fluids in the lower extremities. Previously, this treatment
was performed only by registered nurses (RNs).
VNS Health has been piloting the new training with its
Brooklyn and Queens Home Care teams and will roll it out to the full organization this fall.
To make a referral to VNS Health Home Care, click here.
VNS Health Nurse-Family Partnership Expands to Reach More Mothers
VNS Health’s Nurse-Family Partnership Expansion (NFPx) initiative now accepts pregnant women in the Bronx and Nassau whose pregnancies have advanced beyond 28 weeks as well as those who already have older children—allowing the NFP program to reach even more at-risk families.
Since its start in 2006, VNS Health’s Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) program
has helped more than 8,000 first-time mothers in the Bronx and Nassau
County by pairing them with a specially trained NFP nurse who provides
one-on-one mentoring to help them navigate pregnancy, childbirth, early
parenting and career development.
Now, a new initiative called Nurse-Family Partnership Expansion (NFPx)
is enabling VNS Health to reach even more families who can benefit from
that support.
Implemented by VNS Health this past March, NFPx expands eligibility
guidelines beyond NFP’s traditional criteria. Under these new guidelines,
the program now accepts pregnant women in the Bronx and Nassau
whose pregnancies have advanced beyond 28 weeks as well as women
who already have older children, provided they meet the NFP’s other
eligibility requirements. Previously, the program only served first-time
mothers who enrolled prior to 28 weeks gestation.
Why it matters: Many young mothers-to-be who meet the low-income threshold face significant barriers during
pregnancy and early parenthood. By expanding program eligibility, NFPx is enabling VNS Health to reach more
at-risk families. Since this change, VNS Health’s NFP program has received more than 100 referrals—well above
the usual referral rate—and enrolled dozens of new clients.
Drill down: National data shows that being mentored by NFP nurses has a lasting positive impact on the life trajectories
of NFP clients and their children.
To learn more about VNS Health’s Nurse-Family Partnership, click here.
For referrals to the Expansion program, email us at [email protected].
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VNS Health Home Care Earns 5-Star CMS Quality Rating
VNS Health Home Care Earns 5-Star CMS Quality Rating
In the latest Quality of
Patient Care ratings,
posted this past April,
the Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS)
awarded VNS Health Home Care a 5-Star rating, up
from 4.5 Stars previously.
Why it matters: 5 Stars is CMS’s highest possible rating.
VNS Health’s top-tier performance is proof that the
“one patient at a time” approach its Home Care clinicians have embraced over the past year, coupled
with their expertise in caring for complex cases, is
making a difference.
“We’re very pleased to receive this outstanding rating,
which is based on objective outcome metrics,” notes
Brenda Riordan, VNS Health’s Senior Vice President for
Home Care, Hospice and Care Management Solutions.
“It really reflects the effectiveness of our Age-Friendly
Care approach and its emphasis on addressing what
matters most to each individual patient.”
To make a referral to VNS Health, please call: 1-866-632-2557 or click here.
To read the Spring 2026 issue of VNS Health TODAY online, click here.
To read the Winter 2026 issue of VNS Health TODAY online, click here.
To learn more about VNS Health, please visit
vnshealth.org or call 1-800-675-0391
vnshealth.org or call 1-800-675-0391
