Home Health & Hospice Week

Gentiva's Medicare revenue increase outstrips other business lines.  Gentiva Health Services Inc. may not be putting all its eggs in one Medicare basket, but it's a pretty heavy basket nonetheless. Gentiva's Medicare revenues for the quarter ended Sept. 30 increased 11 percent over revenues for the same period in 2002, while its commercial insurance revenues grew only 7.5 percent during the same period. The Melville, NY-based home health giant's Medicaid and other government revenues declined, as the company "continued its strategy of tapering or terminating participation in certain low-margin Medicaid and state and county programs," it says. Gentiva recorded net income for the quarter of $4.5 million on revenues of $199.7 million, compared to a $3.6 million profit on $188.4 million in revenues for the year-ago quarter. Meanwhile, Amedisys Inc., which serves mainly Medicare patients, saw revenues grow 12 percent from $33.1 million to $37.0 million in the third quarter. Medicare patient admissions grew 10 percent compared to the year-ago quarter, the Baton Rouge, LA-based company says. The regional chain recorded net income of $2.4 million for the quarter, compared to $1.2 million for the same period in 2002. On the acquisition front, Amedisys is making further inroads in the Texas market with its favored strategy of acquiring hospital-based home health agencies. Amedisys has acquired the home care program of St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital System in Houston for an undisclosed amount. The regional chain entered the Texas market by acquiring HHAs in Corpus Christi and Forth Worth in 2002, and opened a location in Dallas recently. "We believe the state represents a tremendous growth opportunity for Amedisys, and our plans call for the continued pursuit of both internal and external growth opportunities," says CEO William Borne. The St. Luke's deal should add $3 million in annual revenues to Amedisys' books, it says. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has reversed the Provider Reimbursement Review Board decision that favored Pioneer Home Health in Bishop, CA. Pioneer had won an exception to its cost limits under the interim payment system. The Board decided the HHA qualified for the exception under the "extraordinary circumstances" provision due to the terrain and climate of its mountainous service area (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XII, No. 32, p. 250). CMS informed Pioneer of the decision in an Oct. 27 letter, reports consultant Tom Boyd with Rohnert Park, CA-based Boyd & Nicholas, who represented Pioneer in front of the Board. National Home Health Care Corp. is under investigation for the psychiatric nurse practices of its Connecticut subsidiary, the Scarsdale, NY-based company says. The U.S. Attorney's Office in New Haven, CT has subpoenaed related records for an investigation into whether federal laws have been broken, according to NHHC. [...]