Samaritan Health Services announced Monday, Jan. 28 that it will discontinue its home health services in Lincoln County in March, transitioning patients to Signature Healthcare at Home of Wilsonville.
Samaritan will continue to provide hospice services in Lincoln County.
Currently the same Samaritan staff handle hospice and home health care. This will change March 1, when Samaritan Evergreen Hospice of Albany opens an office in Newport and expands to include Lincoln County.
Samaritan’s changes also include Benton, Linn and south Tillamook counties, where it is the primary home health provider.
Home health workers provide in-home nursing and various therapy services for homebound patients.
“We are seeing a steady decline in reimbursement,” said Samaritan President/CEO Doug Boysen. “It is also a challenge to recruit and retain the specialized workforce needed. In addition, the size and scope of our three-county service area requires significant staff travel time and prevents us from leveraging economies of scale. The result of all these factors is annual financial losses over multiple years, with no indication that the situation will improve.”
Signature is part of Avamere Health Services and the leading provider of home health services in the Northwest.
Samaritan employees, as well as current patients and local physicians, affected by the change, were notified last week. Employees may apply for new positions offered by Signature or for other positions within Samaritan for which they qualify. Employees leaving Samaritan after the transition will receive severance pay and can purchase Samaritan’s health insurance for 18 months.
