Home Health & Hospice Week
Health System, County Shed Home Care Units
Two recent cases are signs of the hard times HHAs face.
In Connecticut: St. Joseph Healthcare of Nashua is shuttering its home health unit, St. Joseph Home Health Care in Milford, Conn., reports The Telegraph newspaper. The agency is transitioning its 1,100 patients to the larger, Merrimack-based Home Health and Hospice Care. St. Joseph’s 50 employees will be considered for em-ployment at Home Health, which serves about 4,500 patients with 280 staffers.
“We have had a decline in patient census that challenges a small agency like ours,” St. Joseph’s Cindy Arcieri told the paper. She also cited “other reimbursement issues that face all home care agencies” in the closure.
“I think scale does help in this challenging reimbursement climate,” Home Health CEO John Getts said, according to the newspaper. “It helps organizations become more stable and able to provide a greater breadth of services.”
In North Carolina: Lincoln County will likely close its county-run HHA and sell the certificate of need, reports The Lincoln Times. Census and revenues have been dropping.
“We’ve run this business since 1971 and for many years we were the only home health agency in Lincoln County,” an agency official said. “So there’s a lot of history here. Yes, it is tough.” About 30 agencies now serve the county
Home Health & Hospice Week
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