TennCare Cuts Round-the-clock Home Nursing Care

Jonesborough, TN—TennCare opened the discussion on round-the-clock home nursing care during an open budget discussion last November.  On the 15th of August, they notified about 1,000 enrollees their coverage had changed. 

The new guidelines:
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1.  Two categories of adults qualify for private-duty nursing services: adults who are ventilator-dependent for more than 12 hours a day; and adults who have a tracheotomy.
2.  Adults who do not qualify under the conditions above can receive up to 35 hours per week (down from 168), of which no more than 27 of those hours can be nursing care.

These changes take effect September 8th. 

Governor Phil Bredesen said Tennessee could no longer afford the private-duty nursing program.  It cost Tennessee more than $240-million in 2007, he said.  Bredesen said nursing home care was a more cost-effective option for patients that require 24-hour care.

Some families in the Tri-cities region are outraged.  “Private duty nursing is not cheap, and this is a way for politicians to get rid of patients that cost them the most,“ said Kim Bowlin.  Her fiancee, Jamie, received a bilateral lung transplant when he was 35.

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