Home Health & Hospice Week

Tighter Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement is causing some home care providers to close, and the worst of cuts haven't even hit yet.

In Stamford, Conn., the Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care of Southwestern Connecticut plans to shut down and turn over its remaining patient load to Masonicare Home Health & Hospice of Wallingford by late November, reports the Stamford Advocate. Cuts to Medicare and insurance reimbursement rates and the loss of patients with greater ability to pay due to competition are factors in the decision to close, VNHC Board of Directors Chair Mark Santagata told the newspaper. He also cited face-to-face physician encounter requirements as a financial drain.

Most of VNHC's staff is expected to be picked up by Masonicare, Santagata says. The agency employs about 69 full-time and 61 per diem staff.

In New York City, Home Services Systems in Astoria, Queens will be shutting down, says its parent HANAC, a Manhattan nonprofit social services organization, reports Crain's New York Business. HANAC cited the state's new managed care system for Medicaid payment, which is replacing its current fee for service system, as a reason.

Home Services' closure "could foreshadow a wave of closings of home health care agencies in New York," the newspaper predicts. Home Services' aides have been told they'll be able to serve their current patients under the new agencies they move to.