Study: Home health care not profitable for Maple Lawn

BRANCH COUNTY — Maple Lawn will not enter the home health care business after the board reviewed an analysis and report from consultants Plant/Moran.

ProMedica ended its home health care services in the county in December.

Board chairman Steve Weigt said, "I didn't realize the startup costs were going to be that expensive."

The report indicated that starting a home health agency at Maple Lawn would cost at least $200,000 to $600,000. The minimal operational costs would be $375,000 a year.

As a Medicare nursing facility, the county-owned home thought its discharged patients would need the services.

Administrator Jayne Sabaitis told her board at the April meeting, "We've seen a few people come back because of the lack of home health care, but not as many as I thought there would be."

Maple Lawn was concerned about its patients who were sent home and needed home health care for their recovery. Without the proper care, the patient could end up back in the hospital in a continuing cycle.

Plant/Moran said the service would need 900 people in home health care a year. "There was no way we would grow to get there," Sabaitis said.

Weigt said it would take six years to breakeven, with the payback of 10 or 12 years. "That just doesn't make sense," he said.

There are significant changes in Medicare and Medicaid programs nationally. "With the environment that we live in today, I don't think it's safe to do anything with that at all," Sabaitis said.

Maple Lawn paid $23,000 for the study.

Weigt said, "It was an expensive lesson, but I'm glad we did it because we were pretty hypped up" at going into home health.

ProMedica Coldwater Regional Hospital board chair Kathy Merrill said the hospital transitioned all its home health patients to new services by the time the agency closed on Dec. 10.

Home health services in Jackson, Kalamazoo, and Angola, Indiana, picked up those and new clients.

The report showed that three of the five established home health agencies made money in 2022. Two operated at a loss, not including ProMedica.

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Gentiva, an Atlanta-based hospice and personal care company, agreed to acquire home care agencies from ProMedica but not those in Coldwater and Hillsdale.

— Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Study: Home health care not profitable for Maple Lawn