WARWICK — VNA of Rhode Island, a home care and hospice organization, announced Wednesday it is closing Dec. 20, and will arrange to transfer patients to Visiting Nurse Home & Hospice in Portsmouth.
The 117-year-old visiting nurse association, the state’s oldest, began in 1900 to help the poor with health services, and had in recent times grown to provide services to people of all ages and incomes.
Harnessing Financial Data for Strategic Decisions in Healthcare
Financial data has immense value. It can tell you the true history of your healthcare…
Learn More
Now, according to its statement, VNA of Rhode Island will contact its patients about the arrangements for their care to continue with Visiting Nurse Home & Hospice, formerly Visiting Nurse Services of Newport and Bristol Counties.
VNA Support Services, a private duty agency, will also close and patients will transfer to Visiting Nurse Home & Hospice.
“They are another top-rated Rhode Island agency that provides the same services, accepts the patients’ insurance and has the same ratings in outcomes and patient satisfaction,” VNA of Rhode Island said of Visiting Nurse Home & Hospice in the release.
“We have been providing patients with exceptional, skilled clinical care in their homes for over a century and are continuing the tradition of caring by developing a transition plan that will provide the same level of care and employ most of our staff,” said Jane Creamer, CEO of VNA of Rhode Island.
“The loss of VNA of Rhode Island as a provider within our industry is the latest example of a series of unfortunate home care closures in which Governor [Gina M.] Raimondo and the General Assembly have not remedied. Ahead of the Rhode Island General Assembly’s special session last month, I warned that additional home care and hospice company closures are coming,” said Nicholas Oliver, executive director of the Rhode Island Partnership for Home Care, who in April 2016 objected to Raimondo’s fiscal 2017 budget proposal, which included a 7 percent increase in Medicaid funds to increase care workers’ compensation but did not include reimbursements for health care services in the homes of the state’s Medicaid population. “Our elected officials need to take action to avoid more homebound patients being placed at risk for not receiving health care due to the elevated potential risk of subsequent home care company closures in Rhode Island. As for today, the Partnership stands in support for VNA of Rhode Island’s staff, patients, and clients and their families to enact their choice to work or be cared for by a high-quality provider within the Partnership’s network of home care and hospice providers.”
Rhode Island Partnership for Home Care represents home care, home nursing care and hospice agencies licensed by the R.I. Department of Health to serve patients and clients in Rhode Island communities.
Neither VNA of Rhode Island nor Visiting Nurse Home & Hospice is a member of the Rhode Island Partnership for Home Care, Oliver said.
Staff meetings were held to advise employees. They were also notified there are home health job opportunities available for all of the nurses, therapists, certified nurse assistants, social workers and interpreters at Visiting Nurse Home & Hospice, where a branch office will be opened to expand the service area. It is the agency’s hope that patients will be reunited with the same clinicians after their orientation and training, VNA of Rhode Island said in the statement.
Visiting Nurse Home & Hospice hosted a job fair at the Hilton Garden in Warwick on Wednesday to accommodate the employees of VNA of Rhode Island, and will hold another on Thursday for the general public.
VNA of Rhode Island reported it will continue its usual method for storing medical records through the closing process. Gorwood, a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act certified record-retention company in Rhode Island, will have all of the records for the required number of years. Patient records will not be transferred there until after discharge from service. After that, patients may reach them at (401) 333-9090.
Rob Borkowski is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Borkowski@PBN.com.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the location of Visiting Nurse Home & Hospice.
