SEARHC had an excellent certified Home Health Department that provided wonderful care to their patients. However, SEARHC officially closed their Medicare certified Home Health Care Department on September 30. They placed an ad in the Sentinel that stated “There has not been any reduction or gap in SEARHC’s home-based services. With our new Outpatient Home-Based Services program, patients can expect the same high-quality care they received through Home Health.”
Unfortunately, patients have experienced reductions in service and an increase in cost.
The Medicare-certified Home Health Department was staffed by three full-time nurses and several intermittent nurses who worked when people were sick, on vacation or to cover evenings and weekends when needed. Today, there is only one dedicated nurse in Outpatient Nursing Services.
SEARHC’s certified Home Health Department had a specific focus with a coordinated team approach. A plan of care for each patient was developed that included licensed nurses and nurse aides who provided part time or intermittent skilled nursing care, palliative care (pain and comfort management), supportive care for dying patients and family and referrals for grief counselling, physical therapy, occupational therapy, medication management, and medical social services. It is impossible for the one single home health nurse in the new Outpatient Home-Based Services program to provide all the patient care that the team provided.
Home Health Care patients have not been receiving the same care as before. For example, a Parkinson’s patient had been receiving four or five home visits a week. That patient’s last home visit was on September 15. The patient has had no home-based nursing visits since then and has been required to have their once-a-week physical therapy at Mountainside Rehabilitation Clinic.
Another significant change is that a patient on Medicare paid $0 for care provided by the SEARHC’s certified Home Health Care Department. Today, a patient in the Outpatient Home-Based Services program must pay a 20% co-pay per visit.
In the best interest of their patients, SEARHC should re-instate their certified Home Health Care Department.
To learn more, please attend the Sitka Woman’s Club community informational forum regarding the closure of the SEARHC Home Health Department 5-7 p.m. Nov. 15 at Harrigan Centennial Hall auditorium.
Dr. Marilyn Coruzzi
Auriella Hughes, R.N., founding director of Brave Heart Volunteers
Susan Litman, concerned Sitkan
