- 12 -
95 percent of all visits made by home health agencies operating
in Mississippi were paid for by Medicare.
During 1994 and 1995, the prospect arose of Medicare’s
shifting from a PIP cost reimbursement system to a prospective
payment system (PPS). Several groups discussed the proposal in
theory, but no one knew exactly what form PPS might take. The
Sta-Home tax-exempt entities, through Vincent Caracci, an
attorney whose job included keeping abreast of current events,
learned of these proposed changes. Petitioners came to
understand that the Sta-Home tax-exempt entities would not under
a PPS receive a check every 2 weeks but would have to file a
claim for every service rendered and wait for the claim to be
processed and paid. Petitioners became concerned about the lack
of cashflow under a PPS. They also believed that a PPS would
reduce the Sta-Home tax-exempt entities’ income.
Late in December 1994, the Caracci family consulted an
attorney named Thomas Kirkland (Kirkland) about converting the
Sta-Home tax-exempt entities into for-profit corporations.
Kirkland’s firm represented many home health care agencies, and
he had recommended that all of those agencies make such a
conversion. Kirkland’s recommendation was based, in part, on his
discussions with bankers who were reluctant to lend money to
nonprofit home health care agencies. By 1991, petitioners’
Page: Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011