Home Health & Hospice Week
Beleaguered Gentiva Reveals It Will Close 46 Locations, Lay Off Hundreds Of Workers
Trying reimbursement times are leading to expansion for some and contraction for others.
Gentiva Health Services Inc. will undergo another wave of closures. The Atlanta-based behemoth plans to shut down 46 of its home health locations across the country, laying off hundreds of clinicians and staff, it says in a recent 8K filing.
The downsizing comes as Gentiva struggles with poor financial health, notes the Atlanta Busi-ness Chronicle. The company lost $197 million in the first nine months of 2013. Gentiva already closed or consolidated 53 underperforming locations in late 2011 (see Eli’s HCW, Vol. XXI, No. 6).
"If the four year reduction of reimbursement rates expected under CMS ‘rebasing’ continues across the industry, seniors will lose access to home healthcare — and costs will go up because seniors will have to resort to more expensive care options such as Emergency Rooms and hospital stays," a Gentiva spokesperson says. "We need to save home health by seeking Administrative relief from the significant rate reductions under rebasing."
On the other hand: Chain LHC Group Inc. has acquired two HHAs, the publicly traded company says in a release. The acquisitions are in Tompkinsville, Ky., with a service area covering three counties in the certificate of need state and Valley, Ala., with a service area covering three counties in the CON state. The latter will become part of the East Alabama Medical Center joint venture with LHC, the Lafayette, La.-based company says.
LHC also plans to buy a New Orleans-based hospice provider. The pending acquisition covers nine parishes in Louisiana, which has a Facility Need Review for new hospice providers similar to a CON, LHC says. The three acquisitions combined have about $1.5 million in annual revenue.
"These acquisitions fit perfectly into our strategy for finding small underdeveloped providers located in CON states that increase our service area," LHC CEO Keith Myers says in the release. "We look forward to continuing with this strategy throughout 2014."
Home Health & Hospice Week
- Face-To-Face:
F2F Denials Are Growing
MAC to discontinue one therapy-focused probe. Face-to-face physician encounter denials are not easing following Medicare’s [...] - Documentation:
Review This MAC's Documentation Checklist To Protect Against Medical Necessity Denials
How well do your patients’ records tell their story? Wondering how to make sure your [...] - Medical Review:
Beef Up Documentation To Avoid Medical Necessity Pitfalls
Be sure to cover all your technical bases, too. The physician face-to-face encounter re-quirement may [...] - Hospice:
Limit Your Respite Care Billing To 5 Consecutive Days
Claims with respite care stretching more than 5 days will RTP starting this summer. Hospices [...] - Reimbursement:
Use Reopening For Certain PECOS Edit Denials, MAC Says
Good news may lighten your PECOS edit load. Don’t waste time on the resource-consuming, risky [...] - Industry Note:
HIS Implementation May Overwhelm Hospices
Take time out to watch new CMS HIS training. You can now learn more about [...] - Industry Note:
Providers Gain Much-Needed Breathing Room On Employer Mandate
Many home care providers are breathing a sigh of relief at the latest Obamacare delay. [...] - Industry Note:
Cancel NOE When Previous Hospice Asks Or For Coding Mistakes, MAC Says
If you have an error on your hospice patient’s Notice of Election (NOE), you’ll have [...] - Industry Note:
Looming Doc Fix Deadline Threatens Home Care
As the March 31 deadline for the Medi-care physician pay cut nears, home care providers [...] - Industry Note:
Know ICD-10 Testing Requirements For Next Month
March 3 is only a few weeks away, so MACs are prepping now for ICD-10 [...] - Industry Note:
Detroit HHA, Therapy Company Co-Owner Gets 10 Years In Prison
A Detroit-area HHA owner has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his 2012 [...] - Industry Note:
Beleaguered Gentiva Reveals It Will Close 46 Locations, Lay Off Hundreds Of Workers
Trying reimbursement times are leading to expansion for some and contraction for others. Gentiva Health [...]
