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Home Health & Hospice Week

Industry Notes:

Home Care No Place For For-Profits, Survey Says

Published on Thu Dec 11, 2003

Non-profits preferred by public 

Most of the public doesn't think health care should be a profitable business, according to a new Harris Interactive poll conducted for The Wall Street Journal.

"Most people do not think of health care as a business and would prefer health care services to be provided by non-profits or government," says Harris' Humphrey Taylor. "There is little appetite for businesses to run home care, health insurance, nursing homes, hospitals or medical research."

Thirty-seven percent of survey respondents said non-profit entities should run home care programs, but a healthy 25 percent said for-profit companies should run them. Twenty-three percent said they weren't sure who should run them, and 14 percent said the government should furnish home care.

  • A massive flu outbreak is creating a run on the flu vaccine, according to press reports. Some vaccine makers report they are currently out of stock, although many health care organizations say they have enough vaccine on hand to cover the immunization rush.

    Flu is on the rise across the nation, with 10 states reporting widespread activity, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. The states reporting significant flu incidents are Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and the state of Washington.

  • The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is contracting with the National PACE Association to expand access to Programs of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly. "More nursing homes are not the answer people want," CMS Administrator Tom Scully said in an address last spring to PACE providers gathered in Washington. "We know when people have a choice they choose to stay at home and not move into a nursing home."

    Only 17 states have PACE programs now, the National PACE Association says in a release. Under the new contract, the association will bring interested providers and states together. Four more states will be chosen for PACE expansion next year.

  • CMS is trying to make downloading OASIS tally reports a bit easier, after agencies have complained about handling the massive tomes. The agency has posted on its OASIS Web site tally report revisions that will help agencies zero in on certain patients and "avoid manual review of lengthy printed reports," CMS says at www.cms.hhs.gov/oasis/obqi.asp#tally.

  • The state of Illinois is shirking its duty to pay Medicaid home care claims on time, home care providers in that state say. "I'm not going to be able to make my payroll Friday," Renee Mor-rissette-Thomas, president of Ma'Dear Home Services in South Holland, told the Chicago Tribune. "I'm going to have to ask my employees to work without pay before Christmas."

    The state says it's doing its best to turn around claims in tight budget times, according to the paper. Claims are taking eight weeks to pay.

  • CMS Administrator Tom Scully is taking heat for job hunting while still on the job at CMS. Although he got a waiver allowing him to explore job opportunities while finishing out his term, critics say he was working on provisions in the Medicare bill that benefit his potential employers and their clients.

    Scully insisted in the Dec. 3 Open Door Forum for home health that he has been "a model citizen." He departs CMS Dec. 15.

  • Respironics Inc. has recalled 5,293 ComfortGel nasal masks used with CPAPs and BiPAPs, distributed between Sept. 5 and Sept. 15. The masks are missing a built-in port used to get rid of exhaled carbon dioxide, the Murraysville, PA-based company says. No injuries had been reported and 82 percent of the masks had been returned by Dec. 3.

  • A new home health and hospice provider in Wichita, KS is about six months ahead of its business plan and headed toward $1.5 million in revenues for its first year, reports the Wichita Business Journal. Faith Home Health and Hospice's growth during its first eight months has surprised its owners, Kelly Bowlin and brother Kerry Cox. They expect the agency to double its revenues by the end of 2004, according to the paper.

  • Anodyne therapy is winning some rave reviews for healing wounds. The therapy, in which infrared light is emitted over wounds, has helped patients with leg ulcers, diabetic neuropathy and bursitis, reports the Wichita Eagle.

    "When I first saw this, I thought, this looks like hocus-pocus," physical therapist Ann Sund-gren, a NovaCare manager, told the newspaper. After a patient who'd had a non-healing wound for 21 years was healed after 16 treatments "we thought we've got to go ahead and purchase this machine," Sundgren says.

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