Regional Digest
Regional Digest
• It would take an extra $91 million to meet service needs for home care and to make it equally available across Ontario, according to a new study. In recent years, one of the trends in Canadian healthcare is to push patients out of hospitals early and into home care settings, reported The Toronto Sun. But the study said that there is little evidence to show that home care is more cost-effective than hospital care. Toronto reported one of the lowest home care rates in the province, ranking 36th out of 38 home care regions, the Sun reported.
• Budget constraints in Kansas might force the state to cut its in-home medical services for hundreds of elderly and poor patients in Kansas who need the services to live independently. The Associated Press reported that the state is already declining new clients for in-home care. Now it is considering tougher eligibility standards for current clients, a move that the AP said would remove hundreds of them from the program. The in-home care is free to low-income, elderly patients in Kansas.
• Branch offices of the Southeastern Utah Home Health Agency will close Sept. 30, affecting about 280 home health patients and 69 employees, reported the Deseret News. The office closings, according to the Deseret News, will affect people on the Navajo Indian Reservation and in San Juan, Carbon, and Emery counties. The offices are closing because of the Medicare reimbursement cuts, Chuck Davis, CEO, told the Deseret News. The situation was also affected by a "complex series of recalculations and delayed payment," Davis said.
• U.S. Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) hosted a meeting last week with home healthcare officials in St. Louis to discuss the Medicare home care program. At the meeting, Bond discussed recent changes he has sought in the Medicare home healthcare program and listened to the concerns of area home care providers. Bond is seeking to remedy the Medicare reimbursement crisis through the Medicare Home Health Care Equity Act of 1999, which he recently introduced with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). National Association for Home Care (Washington) President Val Halamandaris joined Bond at the meeting.
• Home care providers in Ohio were overpaid as much as $10.3 million by the state between 1995 and 1997, according to a report by the state auditor. The auditor’s office is working with the Department of Human Services to determine how much individual home care companies owe the state and how to recoup the money, reported Crain’s Cleveland Business. Between 1995 and 1997, the state spent more than $789 million in federal Medicaid funds to pay for home care services provided to more than 160,000 residents by nearly 400 home care agencies, according to the auditor. The office has recommended home health agencies take steps to improve their billing systems, employee training, and screening of potential employees for criminal backgrounds, Crain’s reported.
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