Three Things

I promised you that I would post Bill Borne’s response this week and I will.  My comments about his response are best left until after the National Association of Home Care meeting has concluded.  The meeting is supposed to be for industry members to learn and enjoy camaraderie.  I do not want to distract from that.

I’m quite certain that all of you have read the Wall Street Journal’s report on the Senate Finance Committee’s investigation into Amedisys, LHC and Gentiva by now.   Have you read the entire report?  If not, here are the Senate Finance Committee’s findings.

The most interesting thing that I found in the report was an email used by the senate as an example.  When I was in 4^th grade at Manchester Preparatory School in Mandeville, Jamaica, I used to ride to school every day with the writer of one of the emails.  I get that it might not interest you as much as it does me but I’m the one writing tonight.

After finding emails from a childhood friend I knew in another country in a Senate Finance Committee report, the next thing that interested me was the nature of the findings.  Some of the examples presented by the committee were extreme to be sure.  But the attitude about meeting therapy thresholds is not new to me.  If you look at the graphs in the report, it would be nearly impossible for three companies that represent about 12 percent of the market share to spike numbers as much as the graphs show.

Having said that, it does bring me satisfaction to know that the US congress is holding large publicly traded companies accountable for their actions but it certainly doesn’t exempt smaller companies from being held accountable for theirs.  Glass houses and all that……

As we move closer to 2012, we are hearing a lot of doom and gloom about how our industry will crash and burn.   As a survivor of IPS, I can assure you that we have faced serious challenges before and we will again.  As my favorite songwriter sings, ‘I am not worried.  I am not overly concerned’.  We are tough, resilient and those of us who really care about our elderly will prevail.  Of course, that isn’t an invitation to do nothing.  It is a challenge to take action now so that you can sleep soundly next year.  And so on……

The most interesting thing that I found in the report was an email used by the senate as an example.  When I was in 4^th grade at Manchester Preparatory School in Mandeville, Jamaica, I used to ride to school every day with the writer of one of the emails.  I get that it might not interest you as much as it does me but I’m the one at my desk tonight at 11:02 writing tonight.  (Hint:  ignore typos.)

After finding emails from a childhood friend I knew in another country in a Senate Finance Committee report, the next thing that interested me was the nature of the findings.  Some of the examples presented by the committee were extreme to be sure.  But the attitude about meeting therapy thresholds is not new to me.  If you look at the graphs in the report, it would be nearly impossible for three companies that represent about 12 percent of the market share to spike numbers as much as the graphs show.

Having said that, it does bring me satisfaction to know that the US congress is holding large publicly traded companies accountable for their actions but it certainly doesn’t exempt smaller companies from being held accountable for theirs.  Glass houses and all that……

As we move closer to 2012, we are hearing a lot of doom and gloom about how our industry will crash and burn.   As a survivor of IPS, I can assure you that we have faced serious challenges before and we will again.  As my favorite songwriter sings, ‘I am not worried.  I am not overly concerned’.  We are tough, resilient and those of us who really care about our elderly will prevail.  Of course, that isn’t an invitation to do nothing.  It is a challenge to take action now so that you can sleep soundly next year.  And so on……