The public health department of Greene County Medical Center underwent a transition with its home care services this year with UnityPoint At Home.
Director Becky Wolf told the Board of Supervisors earlier this week that due to cost cutting and budget reductions, they were unable to keep some of their services and so those services were picked up by UnityPoint At Home. Greene County Medical Center is a rural affliate with UnityPoint Health Des Moines.
Wolf stated another problem is that they aren’t a big enough entity to break even and some of their funding is being reduced by Medicare from 74% to 60% full reimbursement, so that makes it tougher to provide services and equipment.
Public Health also saw a reduction in its staff from 18 to 13 due to retirement and some nurses making the transition to UnityPoint At Home.
Wolf reported that they anticipate their expenses to decrease from $1,048,533 this fiscal year to a projected $656,901 for fiscal year 2016 and home care’s revenue is estimated to dramatically decrease from $534,854 to $134,069. The total revenue for public health is also expected to drop slightly from $328,634 to $299,772 for the next fiscal year.
Despite the changes, Wolf noted that some of their clients chose to stay with their services because they could keep their same nurse.
Wolf pointed out that they will continue to provide services for the public and their clients going forward, but they are focusing their efforts on a more population-based health programs and “safety net” services. A list of those services can be found at the bottom of this story.
The amount that public health requested for is 2016 fiscal year funding request is $145,000 from the Supervisors, which Wolf added is less than a four percent growth that they haven’t had since the 2003 fiscal year. Their request is also $5,000 more than what the Supervisors gave this fiscal year.
The Supervisors are expected to make a decision on the request before they submit their 2016 budget this spring.
A list of programs that public health will provide:
– Homemaker and personal care assistance
– Health maintenance nursing visits
– Lifeline emergency response system
– Better Choices/Better Health program
– Falls/injury prevention program
– Coordinated care services
– Maternal-child health services
– HOPES parenting support program
– Baby Boutique
– Immunizations for children and adults
– Communicable disease prevention/surveillance/education
– Emergency preparedness/readiness
– Health occupation classes
– Community resource/outreach/referrals
– Community health education