Home Health & Hospice Week

Swedish Visiting Nurse Services in Seattle will close its doors by the end of April, reports the Seattle Times. The VNS, which offers home care, hospice and infusion services, had suffered losses the last three years, SVNS medical director Jon Younger told the newspaper.

"We had wages and benefits that made it very difficult to succeed," Younger said. "The economics of health care have changed -- to the point that Swedish as an institution is not able or willing to subsidize home health."

SVNS tried cutting back its geographic area and restructuring, but those efforts weren't successful, the Times says. SVNS has about 500 patients and 220 workers.