Declining Medicare reimbursement is also leading agencies to consider consolidation.
For example: The Rutland Area Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice in Vermont will buy Southwestern Vermont Health Care’s Visiting Nurse Association for $850,000, pending regulatory approval, reports the Bennington Banner.
Current SVHC employees will be offered similar jobs with Rutland, the newspaper says. SVHC will be renamed the VNA and Hospice of Southwestern Vermont.
The VNAs aim to reduce costs and improve care coordination with the merger, says Rutland CEO Ron Cioffi. The new organization plans to add services, possibly including private duty nursing, community wellness, and specialty nursing, such as wound and ostomy care and psychiatric nursing, the newspaper says.