Hospital Home Health articles from April 2002

Hospital Home Health archives from April 2002

To pay or not to pay: Appeals court rules on overtime payment regulations; per-visit pay combined with hourly pay does not exempt nurse.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... In January 2002, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio at Cleveland ruled that a home health nurse who received a combination of per-visit pay to see patients and hourly wages to complete paperwork or attend inservices is...

CE questions.(continuing education)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Please save your monthly issues with the CE questions in order to take the two semester tests in the March and September issues. A Scantron sheet will be inserted in those issues, but the questions will not be repeated. 1. Although the...

Paying home health pros: do you know your options?(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Fee-per-visit pay is a win-win situation for home health nurses, therapists, and their agencies, says John C. Gilliland II, an attorney in Indianapolis who specializes in home health and employee law. The motivated nurse who wants to earn as...

Patient weight guidelines reduce workers' comp; cut work-related injuries with safety policy.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... When staff at Southern Ohio Medical Center Home Health Services in Portsmouth reported a total of 777 days lost due to work-related injuries in one year, managers knew that something had to change. By tapping into the expertise of an...

Plug in and sign on: are you ready to automate? Higher productivity follows careful purchase.
April 1, 2002... People in all types of industries use the term "mountains of paperwork," but people who work in home health agencies contend they are the only ones who truly have to climb those mountains, make sense of them, and use the information within them...

Software vendors offer home health products.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... While there are many software vendors available, both Shannon Clark, RN, BSN, MBA, assistant vice president of Haywood Regional Medical Center in Clyde, NC, and Joseph T. Cortese, director of health information management and information...

Team evaluates products, communicates with others.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... When the staff of Haywood Regional Medical Center's Home Health Services in Clyde, NC, recognized the need to automate their agency in order to handle the paperwork generated by the Outcome and Assessment Information Set, ORYX, and the...

Find out how you're doing by asking your patients; patient satisfaction surveys are improvement tools.
April 1, 2002... How effective is your patient satisfaction survey? You can point to it and tell your accreditation agency that you measure patient satisfaction as part of your quality improvement program, but are you really getting good information from it?...

Base documentation on OASIS assessment. (Legal Ease: Understanding Laws, Rules, Regulations).(Outcome and Assessment Information Set)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Most home care staff members now understand the importance of accurate completion of the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) in terms of reimbursement to agencies. But OASIS assessments do not exist in a vacuum. Subsequent...

Physicians don't know all needed Medicare rules.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... According to the Office of the Inspector General's report, The Physician's Rote in Medicare Home Health 2001, 50% of physicians surveyed say they are not clear about the definition to apply when certifying medical necessity for a patient, and...

Medicare and Medicaid answers available on line.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services created an electronic mailbox in December 2000 to accept questions related to billing and other issues related to the home health prospective payment system. Questions were accepted until October...

JCAHO surveys in CA affected by state rules.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... An unlicensed person may deliver home medical devices in California, but according to the Respiratory Care Board in the state, equipment delivery does not include instruction in equipment use or its application to a patient. These services must...

Senators take stock of accounting for corporate options.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... "The stock-option double standard has been a long festering problem in corporate America," according to Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-MI), author of a bipartisan bill that would change how companies account for stock options. In the wake of the...

Lincare settles Medicare reimbursement inquiry. (Companies in the News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Lincare Holdings Inc. of Clearwater, FL, has agreed to pay the government $3.15 million without admission of wrongdoing to settle a government inquiry begun in 1998. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento, CA, investigated some of the...

Option Care to acquire division of Mt. Sinai. (Companies in the News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Subject to approval by its board of directors and lenders, Option Care Inc. plans to acquire the home infusion and specialty pharmacy of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. The pharmacy serves approximately 350 infusion and 400 organ...

Apria Healthcare Group Inc. (Financial Results).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Apria Healthcare Group Inc. (AHG) of Costa Mesa, CA, announced its fourth-quarter net revenue was $293 million, compared with $258 million in the 2000 fourth quarter. Net income was $20 million or 36 cents per share, compared with $15.3...

Baxter International Inc. (Financial Results).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Baxter International Inc. (BAX) of Deerfield, IL, which develops biopharmaceuticals, vaccines, biosurgery products, and transfusion therapies; medication delivery systems; and renal therapy, reported fourth-quarter sales of $2.14 billion,...

HCA Inc. (Financial Results).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... HCA Inc. (HCA) of Nashville, TN, which owns, manages, and operates hospitals and centers for ambulatory surgery, diagnostics, radiation, and oncology therapy, outpatient rehabilitation, and physical therapy, announced fourth-quarter revenues of...

Lincare Holdings Inc. (Financial Results).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Lincare Holdings Inc. (LNCR) of Clearwater, FL, a home health provider of oxygen and other respiratory therapy services, announced 2001 fourth-quarter revenues of $215.6 million, compared with $189.3 million for the 2000 quarter. Net income for...

Matria Healthcare Inc. (Financial Results).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Matria Healthcare Inc. (MATR) of Marietta, GA, which provides comprehensive disease management programs to health plans and employers for women's health, diabetes, and respiratory disorders, reported fourth-quarter revenues of $69.7 million,...

New York Health Care Inc. (Financial Results).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... New York Health Care Inc. (NYHC) of Brooklyn, a licensed home health care agency, announced for the year ended Dec. 31, 2001, net patient service revenue increased 17% to $34.3 million, compared with $29.4 million in 2000. Net income for the...

Respironics Inc. (Financial Results).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Respironics Inc. (RESP) of Pittsburgh, announced net sales for the fiscal year's second quarter of $117.4 million, compared with $104.5 million for the same quarter last year. Domestic revenues were $94.1 million, a 12% increase over $84.1...

Transworld Healthcare Inc. (Financial Results).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Transworld Healthcare Inc. (TWH) of New York City, which provides nursing services, respiratory, and infusion therapies, and home medical equipment, announced consolidated revenue for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2001, was $61 million. ...

CEO Philip Carter of Apria Healthcare Group Inc. in Lake Forest, CA, which provides home infusion and respiratory therapy, is leaving the company he turned around over the last four years. (Corporate Ladder).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... CEO Philip Carter of Apria Healthcare Group Inc. in Lake Forest, CA, which provides home infusion and respiratory therapy, is leaving the company he turned around over the last four years. Apria posted fourth-quarter income of $20 million,...

ARV Assisted Living Inc. (Corporate Ladder).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Robert C. Larson is a new director on the board of ARV Assisted Living Inc. of Costa Mesa, CA. Larson is chairman and managing principal of Lazard Freres Real Estate Investors LLC and managing director of Lazard Freres & Co., as well as...

CEO Patrick Kennedy and senior vice president of operations Chet Bradeen will take on the management responsibilities of Steven L. Vick, who in January resigned his positions as president and COO of Alterra Healthcare Corp. of Milwaukee. (Corporate Ladder).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... CEO Patrick Kennedy and senior vice president of operations Chet Bradeen will take on the management responsibilities of Steven L. Vick, who in January resigned his positions as president and COO of Alterra Healthcare Corp. of Milwaukee. Both...

Balanced Care Corp. of Mechanicsburg, PA, appointed Richard D. Richardson, John N. Beall, and R. Fredric Zullinger to its board of directors. (Corporate Ladder).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Balanced Care Corp. of Mechanicsburg, PA, appointed Richard D. Richardson, John N. Beall, and R. Fredric Zullinger to its board of directors. Richardson, interim CEO of Balanced Care and president of CPL Management LLC, was chairman, CEO, and...

Emeritus Assisted Living. (Corporate Ladder).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Emeritus Assisted Living of Seattle has named Thomas Stanley as general counsel to direct risk management, government relations, and public policy activities. A graduate of the University of Idaho, Stanley's experience includes...

Option Care Inc. (Corporate Ladder).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Option Clare Inc. of Bannockbum, IL, which provides pharmacy services to patients on behalf of managed care organizations and other third-party payers, has appointed Paul Mastrapa as senior vice president and CFO. Mastrapa, the founder and...

Lincare Holdings Inc. (Corporate Ladder).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Stuart H. Altman, professor of national health policy at Brandeis University, in Waltham, MA, has been elected to the board of directors of Lincare Holdings Inc. of Clearwater, FL, which provide oxygen and other respiratory therapy services to...

Genesis and Manor Care settle contract dispute. (Assisted Living Update).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... In February, an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association awarded Genesis Health Ventures Inc. $23.4 million in compensatory damages to resolve a contract dispute with Manor Care Inc. Arbitrator Charles B. Renfrew found that Manor...

Home Care Services of Haywood Regional Medical Center.
April 1, 2002... 90 Hospital Drive, Clyde, NC 28721 Telephone: (704) 452-8292 or toll-free (888) 456-0011. Fax: (704) 452-8593 Home Care System Request for Proposal Vendor: -- Contact: -- Name of Software:-- 1. How many years have you been...

Hospital Home Health 2002 reader survey.
April 1, 2002... In an effort to learn more about the professionals who read HHH, we are conducting this reader survey. The results will be used to enhance the content and format of HHH. Instructions: Mark the appropriate answers and answer open-ended...