Regional Digest
Regional Digest
• Home Care Medical (Milwaukee) was selected the 1999 Home Medical Equipment Provider of the Year by the Wisconsin Association of Medical Equipment Services (WAMES). One of seven companies nominated for the award, Home Care Medical received the award, WAMES said, based on its "outstanding contributions to the home medical equipment industry." Home Care Medical received the same award in 1997.
• The Visiting Nurse Association of Central New York (VNACNY) is closing a sister company and absorbing its operations. The association expects to close the operations of Home Health Providers (HHP) by Aug. 31, reported the Post-Standard of Syracuse, NY. All 30 employees of HHP have been given the option of working for VNACNY, which has about 350 employees. Also, the patients have been notified and have been given the choice to continue services with VNACNY. The company cites cuts in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, as well as stricter requirements for documenting claims, as reasons for the decision to combine the agencies.
• Home care workers in Los Angeles County will soon get a 50-cent-an-hour raise under their first union contract, which was approved by mailed ballots counted last week. The raise, from minimum wage to $6.25 an hour, was the maximum allowed by state legislation that provides partial funding for the program, reported the Los Angeles Times. Home care workers voted to join the union last April in an election that expanded union membership in Los Angeles by 10%.
• State officials in Washington have dismissed charges against a Spokane home healthcare company that allegedly overbilled Medicaid by $6,000. Last year, the attorney general’s office filed one theft charge and 12 Medicaid fraud counts against Hope Thommes, co-owner of A New Hope Home Health Care. Thommes and her husband said the state was on a "witch hunt" against them. Their attorney pointed out that the state’s audit also showed that Thommes had not billed the state for $30,000 in other services and explained that the $6,000 was overbilled due to computer errors and an inexperienced bookkeeper. As part of the agreement to dismiss charges, the Thommeses agreed to repay the $6,000 and another $5,000 to cover the state’s investigation costs, reported the Spokesman Review.
• Family Service of Greater Lowell in the Boston, MA, area shut down its home healthcare division after failing to pay employees in July. The 38 employees were offered employment with Intercity Homemaking Service in Malden, MA, which gave Family Service $35,000 for the list of workers. The money is expected to pay back wages to the workers.
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