Regional Digest
Regional Digest
• JeffQuip (Sharon Hill, PA), which provides home medical equipment and respiratory services for Jefferson HomeCare, has entered into an exclusive contract with NeighborCare that enables Jefferson HomeCare to expand its home care and HME services to other Jefferson Health System members and affiliates. According to the contract, which became effective this month, NeighborCare, a subsidiary of Genesis, will provide HME and respiratory services to JeffQuip patients. JeffQuip is a subsidiary of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, a member of the Jefferson Health System.
• The Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) in Dubuque, IA, is asking the city for financial help, reported the Associated Press. Kevin Rogols, president of the Finley Tri-States Health Group, the VNA’s parent organization, said the VNA can’t continue to support public health without the assistance of the city or the county. Supervisor Jim Waller told the AP that Dubuque county has not yet received a specific request from the VNA.
• Florida Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson last week unveiled a plan to provide free, comprehensive home healthcare to an estimated 10,000 Holocaust survivors living in Florida. The plan, he said, could serve as a model for worldwide efforts to assist survivors. Nelson urged the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims to approve up to $10 million in start-up money for the plan out of funds already deposited into a humanitarian account by companies suspected of not honoring survivors’ insurance policies. Additionally, companies would be required to pay millions more during the years Holocaust survivors need the care, Nelson said.
• Kansas Gov. Bill Graves last week promised that the state will stop putting elderly and disabled Kansans on waiting lists when they seek services so they can stay in their homes. Graves told the Department on Aging to end its waiting list for low-income, frail elderly for home care services, reported the Kansas City Star. He also directed the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services to eliminate similar lists for the physically and developmentally disabled. Graves said he will ask the Legislature to commit the state to spending at least $5.3 million more on programs between now and June 30. But he said the request will make resolving other budget issues more difficult.
• A state audit says the Cabinet for Health Services in Kentucky does not adequately police Medicaid home health agencies. Of Kentucky’s 116 home health agencies, a "suspiciously low number" are cited for deficiencies, and their licenses and certificates are not reviewed often enough, state Auditor Ed Hatchett told the Associated Press. A response by the cabinet said at least one practice Hatchett criticized was a matter of law, not policy, the AP reported. It said steps already were taken to implement some of Hatchett’s recommendations in other areas. The audit said the cabinet should routinely analyze home health deficiency patterns in Kentucky and compare findings to those from other states.
• Fifty-five home health agencies are still operating in Utah out of the 106 that were operating in 1997, Linda Cook, assistant director for Uintah Basin Home Care Services (Roosevelt, UT), told the Deseret News, and many of those are expected to close their doors soon. The closings are blamed on the Medicare reimbursement cuts enacted by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, and the Deseret News reported that rural Utah, where medically fragile patients depend on home care to recover from illnesses or surgery, has been hit the hardest. Frustration best describes the mood of home healthcare providers who have dealt with the Medicare cuts for well more than a year now, the Deseret News reported.
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