The Visiting Nurse Association of Rhode Island — the state’s largest home health-care
provider, with 12,000 patients — announced a restructuring plan last week that
will cut the group’s workforce by 129 workers, or 40 percent of its staff.
VNA-RI officials said they would work with Lifespan to find jobs for 68 registered
nurses and the 61 other workers who were laid off. The layoffs will take effect
after 60 days.
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“This is a very difficult decision, but one that must be made in order to preserve
VNA-RI and the quality of home health-care services we provide,” said Mary Linn
Hamilton, VNA-RI president and CEO.
VNA-RI also will discontinue unprofitable contracts, including a contract with
BlueCHiP, which will affect 230 patients. Officials said that beyond those patients,
it is unclear the number of patients will be displaced as a result of the restructuring.
VNA-RI officials said the restructuring was prompted by the financial fallout
from the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which cut deep into reimbursement rates
paid by Medicare. Between 1997 and 2000, nearly one-third of all home health-care
providers in the U.S. folded.
Since the 1997 legislation took effect, VNA-RI has received more than $27 million
in support from Lifespan, according to E. Colby Cameron, chairman of the board
of trustees for VNA-RI. The organization is in the process of pulling out of the
Lifespan network.
