Visiting nurse merger may affect local patients
Published on July 7th, 1999
STONEHAM, MA - Melrose Visiting Nurse Service (VNS) and the Visiting Nurse Association of Boston have agreed to combine resources in a merger that is effective July 1, 1999. Under the terms of the agreement, the Melrose agency will be knows as the Melrose VNS, a division of the VNA of Boston.
"In the past few years, we have seen very dramatic changes in many areas of the health care industry, including Medicare and managed care reimbursement," said June Cuttino, President of the Melrose VNS Board of Directors. "The Board determined that merging with another organization--the right organization--could be a very effective way responding to these changes. Our biggest concern was to find a partner who shared our agency's commitment to providing quality home health care within Melrose and neighboring communities. We believe that we have found that organization in the VNA of Boston."
"We are very pleased about becoming part of the VNA of Boston," said Barbara Casavoy, Executive Director of the Melrose VNS. "We believe that having direct access to the resources, specialty nursing capabilities, and advanced information and business management systems of our partner will, if anything, enhance our ability to deliver high quality care to our patients. The Melrose VNS and the VNA of Boston have enjoyed a mutual relationship for several years. The trust that has developed between us will go a long way to ensure that our patients will not experience any interruption in their home care services."
Under the terms of the merger, Melrose VNS staff will become employees of the VNA of Boston and will continue to work out of the Melrose VNS office at 50 Tremont Street.
"The VNA of Boston and Melrose VNS have combined nearly two centuries of experience providing high quality home health care," said Shepard Remis, Chairman of the VNA of Boston Board of Directors. "With shared goals I expect that this union can only serve to build on the quality of home health care service that the residents of Melrose and surrounding communities have come to expect from the Melrose Visiting Nurse Service."
"We view this consolidation as a wonderful opportunity to strengthen our joint presence in the area north of Boston," said Joanne Handy, President of the VNA of Boston. "Given the current health care environment, joining forces with other home health care providers can only serve to increase our ability to provide quality services to our patients."
It is expected that the merger of the Melrose VNS and the VNA of Boston will achieve savings in administrative costs and at the same time enhance clinical service delivery.
The VNA of Boston is the largest home care agency in the northeast and the oldest visiting nurse association in the country, established in 1886. Agency nurses, rehabilitation therapists, home health aides, and social workers cared for over 16,000 patients in the metro Boston area in 1998. It currently has 1,000 employees in three offices and owns Hospice Care, Inc., a free standing hospice in Stoneham. The VNA of Boston serves residents of Boston, Medford, Malden, Revere, Chelsea, Winthrop, Everett, Somerville, Cambridge, Arlington, Belmont, Watertown, Newton, Brookline, Dedham, Milton and Quincy.
Melrose VNS was established in 1924 and is located nine miles north of Boston. Over the years, this service area has expanded beyond Melrose to include its neighboring communities of Wakefield, Stoneham, Saugus, Malden, Woburn, Reading, North Reading, Lynnfield, Winchester, Medford, Chelsea, Everett and Revere.
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