HCI Hospice Care Services celebrated the one-year anniversary of their move into suites in the Dallas County Hospital (DCH) with an open house Thursday afternoon. The end of life care providers have operated in Perry 19 years but only one from out of the county hospital.
Many HCI staff and volunteers were present for the celebration, along with some visitors from HCI’s West Des Moines office, several DCH staff members and a number of people from the Perry community.
“It’s been a great year,” said Abbie Albrecht, team director of Perry’s HCI office. “Our relations with our partners here in DCH are very good, and the new location has made our service all the more efficient and productive.”
DCH Chief Economic Officer Matt Wille, standing next to Albrecht and enjoying the tasty open-house cookies on offer, agreed with the HCI team director.
Pat Trent of rural Panora, who has been an HCI Hospice Care Services volunteer for 13 years, said she finds the work rewarding.
“I do it because I want to help others in need,” Trent said. She said she works primarily with elderly people.
Jim Knoepfler, HCI vice president for strategy and business development, and Michelle Penniman, HCI marketing liaison, said they were proud of what the Perry office has accomplished in the last year.
The Perry HCI office serves a seven-county region, and the company overall serves 41 counties in Iowa from locally staffed offices, Penniman said. Knoepfler said HCI Hospice Care Services offers in-home care as well as in assisted living facilities, nursing care facilities and hospitals.
HCI also provides around-the-clock care in three residential hospice houses, the Kavanagh Houses in Des Moines, the Greater Regional Hospice Home in Creston and the Hospice with Heart Hospice House in Glenwood. They are a community partner of Visiting Nurse Services of Iowa.
The company was recently selected to participate in the Medicare Care Choices Model. The model provides Medicare beneficiaries who qualify for coverage under the Medicare Hospice Benefit and dually eligible beneficiaries who qualify for the Medicaid Hospice Benefit the option of receiving supportive care services typically provided by hospice and continue to receive curative services at the same time.
“The new program is part of a larger effort at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to transform our health care system to deliver better care, spend our dollars in a smarter way and put patients in the center of their care,” Penniman said.
For fuller details about the new Medicare Care Choices Model, visit the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services website.
For more information about HCI Hospice Care Services, call their toll-free at 1-800-806-9934 or visit their website.
