What They’re Saying
What They’re Saying
• Although the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA; Baltimore) has temporarily decided to not transmit data collected from non-Medicare home health patients through the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS), there is still much more the agency must do, stated an editorial in the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "The 19-page survey is still too intrusive. And it isn’t clear yet whether a patient who refuses to answer the questions will be allowed to receive care," it stated. "Homebound patients already have enough to worry about, and they surely don’t need to be unwilling subjects in someone else’s research."
• "Home care is one of the most important and most poorly paid of the health professions," stated an editorial in The Star-Ledger of Newark, NJ. But with Cooperative Home Care Associates (New York), founder Rick Surpin built a for-profit company owned by its employees, allowing it to afford better wages and benefits. And employees have been willing to forgo pay increases since they share in the profits. They make about $8 an hour and are only guaranteed 30 hours of work a week, but many were once on welfare. Payments for their services come from Medicaid and Medicare. "Cooperative Home Care Associates shows that innovation is not confined to high-tech companies," the editorial stated, "entrepreneurship is by no means beyond the reach of the poor, and public money, if used right, can create paths toward independence."
• In a letter to the editor published in USA Today, the Home Care Association of America (HCAA; Jacksonville, FL) criticized Health and Human Service Department (Washington) Secretary Donna Shalala’s reasoning for why the projected insolvency date of Medicare has been extended to 2015. She said it was due to better management that holds people accountable. "Baloney," wrote Scott Lara, director of government affairs with HCAA. The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA; Baltimore), has cut so much from the Medicare home health benefit that many homebound patients are being forced into nursing homes or are left at home without any care at all, he wrote.
Subscribe Now for Access
You have reached your article limit for the month. We hope you found our articles both enjoyable and insightful. For information on new subscriptions, product trials, alternative billing arrangements or group and site discounts please call 800-688-2421. We look forward to having you as a long-term member of the Relias Media community.