GREENSBURG, IND. June 25, 2018 – Decatur County Memorial Hospital announced it will transition home health services and enter into a preferred partner arrangement with Franciscan VNS Home Care,
a leading home health service provider in the region. This transition has already begun and will be complete by July 20, 2018.

For the past decade, DCMH has provided a wide range of valuable services to the Southeast Indiana community including home health. After a turbulent year in healthcare, many hospitals throughout the U.S. have been forced to transition home health services to ensure patients continue to receive optimal and affordable care. As a result of regulations and changes enforced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), payments to home health will result in a reduction of $80 million.

“New regulatory requirements and the resulting financial realities of today’s health care environment are simply too burdensome for many hospitals throughout the country to effectively provide specialty services like home health,” said Rex McKinney, president and CEO of DCMH. “Our top priority is to provide the best possible care and we believe this preferred partner agreement with Franciscan VNS Home Care will ensure our patients continue to receive the high-value care they have come to expect.”

DCMH will continue investing in the future of the hospital and the communities it serves. We continually strive to make quality and financial improvements that will be instrumental in the ongoing success of DCMH.

Franciscan VNS Home Care has offered employment to current DCMH clinical home health staff to help make the transition seamless. DCMH will maintain patient records within a secure location for a minimum of seven years, in the event they are needed for future reference.

“We took into consideration patients’ access to care and community impact when engaging in a preferred partnership with Franciscan VNS Home Care and are confident this transition will give patients in southeast Indiana access to the best health care services. The partnership allows DCMH to focus on our efforts to deliver quality health care,” added McKinney.