Home Health & Hospice Week

Madison Medical Center in Fredericktown, Missouri, is closing down its home health business.

Staffing shortages and low reimbursement levels were the main reasons for the closure. “Reimbursements in this service area have continued to decline over the years and not kept up with the rising costs associated with providing this service,” MMC CEO Lisa Twidwell told the Democrat News newspaper. Medicare regulations and managed care restrictions also affected the decision, Twidwell said.

Other HHAs in the area operate and can pick up the slack. MMC will take its savings from the closure and reinvest the funds in its other service lines, Twidwell said.