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Home Health & Hospice Week

Industry Notes:

NEGLIGENCE VERDICT SLAPS HHA WITH $6 MILLION IN DAMAGES

Published on Tue Apr 12, 2005

Hiring worker with criminal record sealed the case.

A Cuyahoga County, OH jury found MedLink of Ohio negligent in a disabled patient's death, and the verdict came with a $5.8 million price tag for the home health agency.

In 2000, MedLink employee Endia Hill accompanied 24-year-old disabled patient Natalie Barnes to kidney dialysis at a hospital, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Natalie's mother Andrea Barnes told Hill to stay with her daughter during dialysis, but Hill left Natalie unattended and the catheter slipped out of her chest, resulting in eventual death. MedLink hired Hill although she had a record of felonious assault, the paper reports.

The jury found MedLink 90 percent responsible for Barnes' death and ordered $2.8 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages. MedLink of Ohio was sold after Natalie's death and the buyer didn't assume the former company's liabilities, the Dealer says.

MedLink's attorney said they will appeal the case, according to the paper. 

  • Missouri wants to end Medicaid coverage for most adult durable medical equipment. Gov. Matt Blunt (R) recently signed into law a measure that takes away the requirement that Medicaid fund DME. The new law takes effect Aug. 28.

    The legislature has indicated it may restore some services through the state budget, though Blunt has threatened to use the line-item veto if the expansion goes much beyond the new law.
     
  • Vermont's 12 not-for-profit home health agencies have until July 9 to prove they can fix service problems, or the state will finalize an Aug. 1 certificate of need to for-profit Professional Nurses Service Inc. State law requires the Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration to give existing CON agencies a chance to fix identified problems before granting a new CON to another provider, reports the Associated Press.

    The 12 HHAs argue that the service problems outlined in a recent report don't actually exist, but they will furnish a plan to correct them by the due date anyway, according to AP. PNS has charged that the 12 agencies have a monopoly and the feds currently are conducting an anti-trust probe of the situation.
     
  • Though you oppose competitive bidding, you may have to come to terms with it. That's what the American Association for Homecare had decided to do, since bidding has the backing of key leaders on Capitol Hill and in the White House. AAH is focusing its efforts on limiting the scope and slowing the rollout of the initiative, scheduled to start in 2007, it says. "We don't object to competition," says AAH's Kay Cox. "But we do insist on fair competition and quality standards."
     
  • The July quarterly update of the DME, Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplies fee schedule renders invalid Code L8620 for lithium ion batteries used with cochlear implant devices, replacing it with K0731 for such devices worn on the body and K0732 for devices worn behind the ear. It also revises the fee schedule amount for code K0670, controlled dose inhalation drug delivery systems.

    For details, visit     www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/transmittals/comm_date_dsc.asp. From that page, look for CR 3779 in the CR NUM column on the right and click on the file for the desired CR.
     
  • Gentiva Health Services Inc. saw earnings fall in the quarter ended April 3, in part due to lower-than-expected revenues from capitated CIGNA Health-Care plans. The Melville, NY-based home nursing giant reported net income of $4.1 million on revenues of $207.1 million for the quarter, compared to a $9.2 million profit on $213.9 million in revenues for the same period in 2004.
     
  • Amedisys Inc. is expanding its presence in Mississippi. The Baton Rouge, LA-based regional powerhouse has acquired a home health agency in Collins from Covington County Hospital, the company says.

    The acquisition for undisclosed terms includes a 13-county certificate of need and an opportunity to add start-up locations in the CON state, Amedisys says in a release. The company expects the HHA to generate a half million dollars in annual revenues.
     
  • Ongoing Medicare cap exposure, start-up expenses and sluggish average daily census growth impacted VistaCare Inc.'s profits in the latest quarter. The Scottsdale, AZ-based for-profit hospice chain reported net income of $1.1 million on revenues of $57.5 million for the quarter ended March 31, compared to a $3.7 million profit on $53.6 million in revenues for the same period in 2004.

    VistaCare is stressing its marketing relationships with hospitals and has four in-patient units in development. The company plans 12 new sites in 2005.
     
  • A Michigan wheelchair supplier has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in a health care fraud scam.

    Okon Eyo Idiong, owner of OK Medical Equipment & Supplies in Southfield, MI, earlier this year pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the Medicare program in connection with delivery of and payment for wheelchairs and accessories and to commit money laundering with the proceeds.

    The scam involved obtaining fraudulent certificates of medical necessity and prescriptions and either failing to deliver the equipment or delivering items of lesser value than what Medicare paid for.

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