Home Health & Hospice Week

The National Labor Relations Board ruled Oct. 3 that nurses with full-time responsibility for assigning fellow hospital workers to particular tasks are supervisors under federal labor law and thus not eligible to be represented by unions.

With a 3-2 vote, the board held that the permanent charge nurses employed by Oakwood Heritage Hospital, an acute care hospital, exercised supervisory authority in assigning employees within the meaning of Section 2(11) of the National Labor Relations Act.

The decision, long awaited by unions and businesses, sets a new standard for determining who is a supervisor and could have significant implications for efforts by labor unions to organize nurses. Under federal law, supervisors do not have the right to belong to unions.

Labor leaders decried the ruling, with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney saying it "welcomes employers to strip millions of workers of their right to have a union by reclassifying them as 'supervisors' in name only," according to the Washington Post.

Note: For more information, go to www.nlrb.gov/nlrb/press/releases/r2603.pdf. • Durable medical equipment manufacturers must be wary of partnering too closely with suppliers, says the HHS Office of Inspector General in a new advisory opinion.

A durable medical equipment manufacturer  whose identity was not disclosed planned to underwrite advertising and provide free consulting services for suppliers of its products, explains the OIG in an Oct. 10 advisory opinion (No. 6-16). Such an arrangement poses substantial risk of generating disguised kickbacks for referrals for federally reimbursed products, the agency concludes.

The proposed arrangement clearly would constitute remuneration to DME suppliers,  said the OIG in its report.  That's because the suppliers are in the position to generate federal health care business for the wheelchair manufacturer who requested the advisory opinion, said the OIG.

The availability and value of the advertising assistance to suppliers would be determined in a way that considered volume and value of the suppliers' past and expected future purchases, the OIG said. Combined, those elements raise substantial anti-kickback concerns.

Risk: The OIG noted that it could, in such a case, impose administrative penalties in connection with the program.

Note: The advisory opinion is available at www.oig.hhs.gov/fraud/docs/advisoryopinions/2006/AdvOpn06-16A.pdf.  • Amedisys Inc., has announced the acquisition of Jefferson County Patient Care Services, Inc., a home health agency in Hillsboro, MO. The acquisition is effective as of Oct. 1, and is expected to contribute approximately $3.5 million in annualized revenues.

The acquisition represents the Baton Rouge, LA-based company's entry into Missouri and includes two locations: Hillsboro, MO, and St. Louis, MO. • National Home Health Care Corp., a provider of home health care and staffing services in the Northeast, announced recently that its board of directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of 75 cents per share on its common [...]