Regional Digest
Regional Digest
• The Indiana House Judiciary Committee has endorsed a bill that gives families the ability to turn down life-saving devices if a dying patient in home care does not want them. Under Senate Bill 262, a patient with a terminal condition receiving home or hospice care would have to sign a legal document outlining the do-not-resuscitate order. The patient would wear a necklace or bracelet to alert emergency medical personnel of the wish. Before this bill, do-not-resuscitate orders were available only in hospitals and nursing homes.
• Four Cincinnati hospitals will participate in Momentum Health Solutions’ provider network. Momentum formed an agreement with the Mercy Physician Hospital Organization (Cincinnati), transferring medical management responsibilities of 3,000 patients at Mercy’s four hospitals. To become part of Momentum, a person must be eligible for Medicare and enroll in PacifiCare Health Systems’ (Santa Ana, CA) Secure Horizons plan. Mercy also offers home healthcare.
• A Palmyra, PA, woman will spend 2.5 to 5 years in prison for defrauding people through businesses purported to place nannies, cleaners, and home care providers. The woman pleaded guilty to 118 charges: 43 counts of bad checks, 39 counts of forgery, 21 counts of theft by deception, eight counts of theft of services, five counts of theft of leased property, and one count each of unlawful use of computers and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, reported The Harrisburg Patriot. She was fined $5,900 and ordered to pay $46,026 in restitution. Court records say that Spengler did not pay employees, accepted application fees from clients without providing services, and created phony checks on her computer.
• UNC Hospitals (Pittsboro, NC) has purchased Hospice of Chatham County, allowing it to offer its own hospice services for the first time. In the past, UNC has had to contract with hospice agencies. Hospice of Chatham will become UNC Hospice, and will serve patients in Chatham and Orange counties.
• Solution Point (Dallas) and Catholic Healthcare West (CHW; San Francisco) have formed a partnership that allows Solution Point to more effectively manage its business, and to expand its services in California. CHW is a system of hospitals, ancillary facilities, home care, and physician organizations in California, Arizona, and Nevada. Solution Point was selected by CHW for its ViewPoint Interactive software and quick response survey methodology, the company said.
• Employees of a 72-bed hospital in Etowah, TN, are outraged at federal and state agents for tactics used in a Feb. 24 surprise search for evidence of Medicare fraud. The agents entered Woods Memorial Hospital’s dialysis center and home health office strapped with guns because, a special agent told The Wall Street Journal, "in remote areas, you never know how people are going to react." The agents herded about a dozen people into a small office and transferred all calls to the home health agency to a single phone line, employees said. After 14 hours of seizing records and conducting interviews, the agents left with a truckload of documents at 10:30 p.m. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has not told the hospital what allegations it is investigating. "We’re hoping the OIG will come to us if they find something that’s wrong and say, You shouldn’t have done this,’" said Chris Trew, the hospital’s attorney. "We don’t believe it was an intentional attempt to defraud somebody."
• U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL) toured a Winfield, IL, hospital and made home visits last week to check on home healthcare in her district, reported the Chicago Tribune. "Some of these hospitals and health systems that offer home healthcare can’t afford to have any further spending reductions and stay in business," she told the Tribune. A spokesman for Central DuPage Health (Winfield, IL), owner of the hospital and home health agency Biggert visited, said the visit provided the opportunity to show her how Washington policies affect her constituents.
• A leaked government report suggests that Ontario might be preparing to ration home care, making beneficiaries pay for previously free services, the Toronto Star reported an advocacy group as saying. "The contents are basically designed to plan the long-range underfunding of home care in this province," said Ontario Health Coalition co-Chairman Dan Benedict. A 149-page draft of proposed regulation changes leaked to the coalition includes proposals such as the introduction of "policies to specify co-payment charges," the Star reported.
• Researchers at the Home Care Evaluation and Research Center (HCERC), a newly developed center dedicated to Canada’s home care industry, will study the viability and effectiveness of home care services in Canada, an area growing rapidly due to technological advances and reductions in hospital funding. Figures from experts in Canada show that government spending on home care has increased from $62.3 million in 1975 to more than $2.1 billion this year. The center, developed at the University of Toronto, is a joint initiative of the Faculty of Nursing and the Faculty of Medicine’s health administration department. It will examine utilization, funding, human resources, technology diffusion, home environment, cost, quality of care, and policy design of the home care industry.
• Home Aides of Central New York has been awarded accreditation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Home Aides provides nursing, home health aide, and Lifeline personal emergency response systems, as well as other supportive services.
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