Home Health & Hospice Week

Medicare payment cuts to blame for decrease. The latest cost report data shows just how far off base the feds are in estimating home health agencies' Medicare profit margins in double digits. The National Association forHome Care & Hospice has analyzed more than 5,600 cost reports for fiscal years ending in 2003, it says. The profit margin it found on Medicare revenues: 3.36 percent. That's down from 5.17 percent in a previous analysis, NAHC notes. The reduction is largely due to Medicare payment rate cuts that took effect Oct. 1, 2002. That low figure differs significantly from the General Accounting Office's profit margin of 17.2 percent in 2002 for HHAs and the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's prediction of a 16.8 percent profit margin in 2004 for agencies. One of the main differences is NAHC's inclusion of hospital-based HHAs in its analysis. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has added 400 more customer service representatives to the 1-800-MEDICARE hotline, it says. In all, the hotline will now have 1,800 representatives answering phones, up from just 400 in August. During the first week of May, CMS received 1.6 million calls to the hotline -- 10 times the regular call volume. The increase is largely due to interest in the prescription drug discount cards, CMS says. Four New York City home health agencies, including the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, have agreed to pay 12,000 aides $10 an hour by 2007, reports The New York Times. The agreement came after the aides went on a highly publicized three-day strike. But seven more HHAs employing 10,000 aides didn't settle, and more strikes against them may be coming, according to leaders of 1199/S.E.I.U., New York's largest health care union. Praxair Healthcare Services Inc. will acquire a 59-location respiratory and home medical equipment company, it says. Praxair will buy Beaumont, TX-based Home Care Supply Inc. from an investor group led by Harvest Partners Inc. Under the deal expected to close this month, Praxair will pay $245 million for the 13-state company with revenues of $169 million. The acquisition will expand Praxair's service area to 27 states. "It also increases the density of our Northeast operations and significantly expands our presence from the mid-Atlantic to Texas," George Ristevski, Praxair health-care services president, says in a release. LifePath Hospice and Palliative Care has beat out VITAS Healthcare Corp. in the acquisition of Good Shepherd Hospice. Non-profit, Florida-based LifePath will pay $24 million for the Lakeland, FL-based hospice owned by Mid-Florida Medical Services, while for-profit VITAS offered $30 million. Hospice board members convinced Mid-Florida to go with the non-profit offer, reports The (Lakeland) Ledger. The transfer is planned for August. National Home Health Care Corp. saw earnings [...]