Business Briefs: Kindred Compeletes Acquisition with Arkansas Department of Health

Kindred Completes Acquisition of Arkansas Department of Health 

Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: KND) has completed the previously announced agreement to acquire the in-home health care operations from the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) for approximately $39 million.

Kindred reached an agreement with ADH after a large amount of skepticism from some Arkansans following a state bidding process.

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“The Arkansas Department of Health is pleased to have completed our agreement with Kindred on schedule, in order to assure continuity of care for patients and a smooth transition for staff,” said Nathaniel Smith, MD, director of the Arkansas Department of Health and state health officer. “I am happy to see these services continue in Arkansas and am glad that our dedicated staff will have a chance to keep providing these services.”

QIRT Announces Acquisition of Woodrow Healthcare Consulting

QIRT (Quality In Real Time), a provider of home health hospice coding, consulting, billing and education, has acquired Woodrow Healthcare Consulting, LLC, who specializes in providing consulting services in operations, clinical excellence, quality assurance, revenue accuracy, outcomes management, sales and marketing, strategic planning, business development and coding and OASIS reviews for home care hospice agencies.

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The partnership will expand QIRT’s education division and include online and on-site education. Woodrow Healthcare Consulting’s qualified consulting, auditing and coding expert will join QIRT’s clinical consulting divisions.

In addition, QIRT will open an office and hire a staff in Birmingham, Alabama.

Northwestern University Students’ Startup Targeting Seniors Raises $225K 

Luna Lights, a startup founded by Northwestern University students, raised $225,000 for their company. Luna Lights is an automatic lighting solution that helps prevent night falls for seniors. The system automatically turns on lights, which can be mounted on the wall, when the user gets out of bed. It lights up a potential tripping hazard and creates a lit pathway throughout the home.

The system uses cloud-based data analytics to assess whether behavior could indicate a larger health problem.

Investors in the company include Breakpoint Ventures, M25 Group, Chicago ArchAngels, Invent Ventures and others. The initial pilot of Luna Lights was completed with Mather Lifeways in Evanston, Illinois, in March 2015. Now, Luna Lights is piloting with Presbyterian Homes in Lake Forest, Illinois.

Medical Resources Home Health Corp. Reaches Contract with Home Care Workers

A tentative agreement has been made between Medical Resources Home Health Corp. and 250 health care workers. The agreement was made with company executives and will boost wages, provide new training options and make additional benefits available to workers.

The unionized private home care workers will see a wage increase of at least 99 cents per hour right away. Some will even receive raises as high as $2.52 an hour as part of the two-year contract.

In addition, workers at Medical Resources will have access to the 1199SEIU Training and Upgrading Fund, a labor management partnership that helps workers access new training as well as post-secondary certificates or degree programs.

A vote for the two-year contract ratification will be in the coming weeks, according to the union.

New Member Announced on HHS Advisory Committee

President and CEO of VNA Homecare, Kate Rolf, has been chosen to serve a four-year term on the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services (HHS).

Rolf will be joining a 21-member committee of nationally recognized rural health experts. She will help examine key rural issues and submit recommendations for possible solutions.

Aside from serving as president and CEO of VNA, Rolf is also an active member of the Long Term Care Executive Council and Selective Services. She serves on the board of directors for the Visiting Nurse Associations of America and LeadingAge New York.

She has also recently received the Home Care Association of New York State’s 2015 Advocacy Award and the Excellence in Health Care Award for Innovations in Health Care.

Marshfield Clinic Health System Partners with Contessa Health

To operate a home hospitalization program in Wisconsin, Marshfield Clinic Health System has partnered with Contessa Health.

With the new program, Security Health Plan members will receive hospital-level care in their homes at a bundled price for a 30-day period. The care will include medical visits, lab testing and medical equipment.

There are many acute medical conditions that can be treated in home, including congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, deep vein thrombosis/pulmonary embolism, urinary tract infection, cellulitis and pneumonia. Being able to give hospital-level clinical  care in patients’ homes will also lower overall costs.

The partnership will first focus on providing care in the Marshfield service area, but, down the road, Marshfield and Contessa plan to expand to the broader market in Wisconsin.

Shawnee Mission Home Health Care Implements Homecare Homebase

The first company within Adventist System to go live with Homecare Homebase, Shawnee Mission Home Health Care, has implemented the technology as one part of their comprehensive effort to enhance post-acute services across the company.

Homecare Homebase is a mobile software solution that enhances the way home caregivers document patient care. It provides fast and easy access to patient data, physician orders and other information from a handheld device.

The software also provides increased network connectivity for quick syncing of clinical data from the field, electronic resources to populate medications prescribed to patients and GPS mapping for more efficient routing.

Dignity Team Health Launches New Home Health Care Offering

Dignity Team Health, headquartered in Dallas, has launched Dignity InHome Healthcare in Dallas-Fort Worth. The new home health care offering is one of a handful of companies that offer a full spectrum of in-home care services, from home health to private care and hospice.

“There is a limited number of organizations that can provide all tiers of in-home care services—home health, private care and hospice—that Dignity Team Health is prepared to address,” said Dignity Team Health COO John Lay.

Written by Alana Stramowski

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