Regional Digest
Regional Digest
• New Hampshire’s top health official told state legislators that neighbors, friends, and relatives would make better home healthcare aides for some families than workers provided by agencies. Health and Human Services Commissioner Donald Shumway testified for a bill to make it easier for consumers in New Hampshire to hire people they know to care for an elderly or disabled family member, reported the Associated Press. But several home healthcare providers opposed the bill at a Senate committee hearing. They said it would add an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy to an already over-regulated system, the AP reported.
• Patients who use the Eastern Shore Health Department’s home healthcare system will have to find other services because the state no longer can afford to run the program, reported the Associated Press. The system blames changes in Medicare reimbursement. Federal reimbursement to the state for home care is so low that the local health district saw its revenue fall by more than $500,000 in two years, officials told the AP. Officials said 118 patients will be placed with private healthcare services by March 31, when the home care program shuts down.
• Beckley Appalachian Regional Hospital (Beckley, WV), which announced the closure of its home health department last month, plans to continue seeing patients for now, reported the Associated Press. The hospital has not yet received approval from the West Virginia Health Care Authority to close the department, so it said it will accept new patients until a decision is made. The closure would put 53 employees out of work and leave more than 400 home care patients in eight counties without services, the AP reported.
• Rhode Island’s attorney general’s office has accused the owner and president of Stone Hill Health Services (South Kingstown, RI), a home health agency, of defrauding the state’s Medicaid program of $49,107. The owner and agency are each charged with 120 counts of Medicaid fraud and one count of obtaining more than $500 under false pretenses, reported the Providence Journal of Providence, RI. According to papers the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit filed last week in Washington County Superior Court, the defendants billed Medicaid for home health aide services between Jan. 13, 1995, and Jan. 9, 1998, but the attorney general claims Stone Health provided only homemaking services, which are less expensive.
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.