ARCHIVES
|
|
|
TOP STORIESThursday, April 2, 1998Company withdraws to lease Ward HospitalCites $500,000 collections shortfall, dissension officialsFrom The Monahans News MONAHANS, April 2, 1998 - The only health care firm that made a legitimate offer to lease and save Ward Memorial Hospital has withdrawn its offer, reports Ward County Judge Sam G. Massey. Massey said the confirmation of withdrawal by Community Health Care Systems Inc. of Brentwood, Tenn., came in a late Tuesday afternoon telephone call from Bob Hardison, a top executive of the for-profit health care agency. Hardison cited a $500,000 shortfall in the county hospital's collection accounts and continued community conflict, the county judge said. Hardison told Massey the dissension involved both local physicians and the electorate. An election forced by a petition signed by Ward County voters is scheduled Saturday, May 2. The only county-wide election on a municipal and school district ballot, the proposition to be decided was whether or not to lease the financially staggering hospital. "I got a telephone call," Massey said. "Hardison said, 'No way!.' He cited a $500,000 deficit in collections since the last time they looked at the books. They noted resistance from doctors and others. They didn't go into detail. They said they don't want to come to Monahans. Their offer was the only legitimate offer from a company that was well funded. It's over." In spite of continued problems with the hospital Massey promises that he and the county commissioners will do everything in their power to keep "a first class, state-of-the-art ambulance service and an emergency care." As to what is going to happen at troubled Ward Memorial Hospital, that Massey said, will be decided by the hospital's board of managers appointed by county commissioners. The future of the hospital became the problem of the hospital trustees when a for-profit health care firm withdrew an offer to lease and manage the institution. "We're through," says Massey of the Commissioners Court. "Community Health Care Systems Inc. was the only acceptable offer. The hospital board will decide how to proceed. They will prepare a real budget and they'll live within that budget. As budget officer of the county, I'll make sure that they do." Massey says forcing the hospital to live within a budget almost certainly will mean "drastic cutbacks" in workers and salaries because the county no longer has the money to continue bailing the hospital out of its continuing debt-filled morass -without a tax increase. Texas law requires the May 2 vote must be held on whether or not Ward Memorial Hospital can be leased to a third party, according to Ward County Clerk Pat V. Finley. "Had the commissioners called the election it could have been cancelled when lease ceased to be an option," she said. "But because the election was initiated by petition it must be held although it means nothing." Finley estimates the county-wide election will cost about $4,000 but that does not allow for all the factors she has not had a chance to consider. "It is going to be pretty expensive," notes Finley, "to decide an issue that no longer exists." Lawsuit fights home health payment cutsFrom Staff and Wire Reports PECOS, April 2, 1998 - A federal lawsuit contends that more than half of the state's home health care agencies will go bankrupt if the federal Medicare agency is allowed to proceed with payment cuts to the agencies. The class action lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Dallas by the Texas Association for Home Care and Rockwall Home Health Inc. The lawsuit seeks an injunction to prevent the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from implementing retroactive new payment limits which the plaintiffs say don't cover the cost of caring for home health patients. According to the home care association, the average home health patient cost about $8,200 in 1996. It says more than 75 percent of home care agencies in Texas would be reimbursed only $2,600 to $3,400 per patient. "That means agencies are supposed to deliver the same care for only 30 percent to 40 percent of the cost," said Sara Speights, a spokeswoman for the home care association that represents more than 1,200 licensed home care agencies in Texas. "If these new limits are allowed to stand, then home health as we know it will disappear as a Medicare service for most elderly," she said. Advocates for the elderly and disabled complain that new limits on Medicare payments for home care have led providers to deny services to the sickest beneficiaries. The changes to home health benefits came in last year's balanced budget deal approved by Congress. Pecos home health companies respond Locally, Tojia Criss, RN, director of Reeves County Hospital's home health department, said that the Medicare cuts won't affect that agency as much as the other two home health agencies in Pecos. "As far as Reeves County Hospital home health is concerned, it isn't going to affect us much because we haven't had our initial Medicare survey yet," Criss said. Criss believes that the hospital's agency won't be as affected by the cuts because it is going into home health care already knowing about the limited payments and being ready to operate on a tight nursing staff. She said that she came here from El Paso, where about 15 home health agencies have already gone out of business because of the cuts. Criss said that the payment cuts are the result of the Interim Payment System (IPS), that is based on a cost per beneficiary limit. "They are taking their 1994 cost report and paying 70 percent of that amount," Criss said. "It's going to hurt home care in general, especially any agency that wasn't in business in 1994. It means that agencies will have to provide the same care in less visits. For example, if you're used to providing a patient with 100 visits, you're going to have to provide the same care in 70 visits now. "It's going to hurt the rural areas a lot -we're going to have to be very creative." Criss explained that rural areas will be hit especially hard because they don't have access to some services such as mobile lab units that major metropolitan areas have that could provide some services which home care patients are no longer eligible for, such as venipuncture, unless linked with another necessary service. Leo Hung of American Home Health said that "based on the 1997 balanced budget act, they (Texas Department of Human Services) said there has been a lot of abuse in the home health industry, so they cut the home health reimbursement. They set a cap, and that cap is much lower than what we usually get." American Home Health has contributed to the Texas Association for Home Care Legal Fund and will be represented in the class action suit. Agencies are being represented by the legal fund for a variety of concerns. Home health agencies that had low per-beneficiary limits for fiscal year 1994, those with no base year in fiscal year 1994, agencies with heavy current case loads of long-term-care patients or patients with high acuity needs, agencies that have a "case mix" unlike that which they served in 1993 and those that have a fiscal years for purposes of the IPS starting before Jan. 1998 are being represented by the legal fund. Hung said that patient care everywhere will be affected by staff cuts and by limits on the benefits the patients can receive. He said that many elderly people have become afraid to use home health care because they feel they need to save what benefits they still have in case they become much more ill and need the service more in the future. He said that will likely cause more of those people to wind up in the hospital. "We are lucky here at American Home Health because we started in 1989. It will hurt the new agencies more, because they will be assigned a median rate, which is much lower than what we are getting." Landa Rediger, Administrator of Pecos Home Health, said that "many letters have been sent by individual members of Congress as well as whole congressional delegations, an enormous outpouring of concern from Congress and constituents, home care providers and the many beneficiaries they serve, directed at HCFA (Health Care Financing Administration) about the impact of the venipuncture prohibition and the new Interim Payment System." Rediger continued, "Many factors have played a roll in increasing the use of home care. Demographics show that the number of elderly and disabled is increasing. Hospital stays are becoming shorter, driven by cost controls. Nursing home use is declining. More patients and physicians are aware of home care. Technological advances are permitting more services to be delivered at home. Judicial rulings have made home care more broadly and readily available. Finally, for most people, home is the preferred setting for health care and supportive needs." Early voting in runoffs begins SaturdayBy ROSIE FLORES Staff Writer PECOS, April 2, 1998 - Early voting for the runoff elections will begin Saturday, April 4, at the Reeves County Courthouse. The courthouse will be open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., for those who would like to vote early, according to Reeves County Clerk Dianne O. Florez. The Reeves County Precinct 4 Commissioner race will be in the runoff elections, with Bernardo "Chaquen" Martinez and Gilberto "Hivi" Rayos. In the Justice of the Peace Precinct 3 race, incumbent Joel Madrid is being challenged by Rosendo Carrasco. Joseph T. Sullivan and Charlie Urbina Jones are also in the runoff elections in the Congressional U.S. Rep. District 23 race. Last date to request an application to vote by mail is April 7 with the actual voting date scheduled for April 14. Early voting will continue until Thursday, April 9, at the courthouse. "Early voters can vote here anytime from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.," said Florez. The courthouse will be closed on Friday, in observance of Good Friday. Anybody needing an application to vote by mail, can call 445-5467 and request one, according to Florez. OBITUARIESDionisia NunezDionisia Nunez, 84, of Lubbock, died Wednesday, April 1, 1998 at St. Mary's Hospital in Lubbock. A rosary is scheduled for 7 p.m., Thursday at Ellis Funeral Home Chapel in Midland. Mass will be held Friday, April 3, with burial in Resthaven Memorial Park in Midland. Nunez was born in Candelaria, and moved to Lubbock in 1993 from Pecos. She was a homemaker and a Catholic. Nunez was preceded in death by her husband, Anastacio Nunez. Survivors include: two daughters, Mary Pause of Monroe, Ga., and Terri Mires of Lubbock; two sons, Ray Nunez of Odessa and Danny Juarez of Souix Falls, S. D.; two brothers, Francisco Chavez of Artesia, N.M. and Ricardo Chavez of Midland; one sister, Juanita Ortiz of Big Spring; six grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. Jose SegoviaJose Segovia, 53, of Pecos, died Tuesday, March 31, 1998, at Reeves County Hospital. A rosary will be held at 7:30 p.m., Thursday at Martinez Funeral Home Chapel. Mass is scheduled for 2 p.m., at Santa Rosa Catholic Church with burial in Greenwood Cemetery. Segovia was born Aug. 7, 1943, in Pecos. He was a lifetime Pecos resident employed in ranching and farming and was a Catholic. Segovia was preceded in death by his parents, Macedonio Segovia and Filomena Gomez. Survivors include: his wife, Bertha Segovia of Pecos; two sons, Ricardo Segovia of Woodland, Calif. and Jeffery Segovia of Odessa; two daughters, Stephanie and Isabel Segovia of Pecos; four brothers, Dulces and Marcos Segovia of Odessa, George Segovia of Jal, N.M. and Joe Sosa of Odessa; four sisters, Florence Dominguez of Odessa, Jesusita Lopez of Big Spring, Julia Brionez of Kermit and Abby Montoya of San Angelo; and nine grandchildren. Martinez Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. WEATHERPECOS, April 2, 1998 - High Wednesday, 85, low this morning, 53. It will be a sunny, pleasant day across all of Texas on Friday. Skies will be clearing tonight across West Texas following a windy day with the possibility of some showers and thunderstorms in the Panhandle. It will be sunny on Friday. Lows tonight will be in the chilly 30s and 40s in West Texas, highs Friday will be in the 60s in the Panhandle and in the 70s and 80s elsewhere in West Texas.
Pecos Enterprise
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
|