CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department might be getting out of the home health-care business.

Health board members are evaluating the program, which has been losing money in recent months.

About 250 patients in Kanawha and Putnam counties have received the department's services so far this year. Health Department nurses make about 2,900 visits to patients' homes each year.

"We're going to look at the numbers and statistics and the need, and then make a decision," said Kanawha-Charleston Board of Health President Brenda Isaac. "We need to look at whether we're using our resources in an efficient way and is this something we need to continue doing."

The Health Department started offering home health care in 1920. Medicare licensed the program in 1989.

"We were the first in the valley," said Lois Deal, a registered nurse who directs the Health Department's home health division. "We have a long history."

For years, the program broke even or made a small profit. That changed when private home health care agencies started offering the same services.

Those agencies have picked up Medicare patients once served by the Health Department. Medicare reimburses at higher rates than private insurance companies.

"The private agencies pick the cream of the crop," Deal said.

About half of the Health Department's patients are covered by private health insurance. Some patients have no insurance - public or private.

"They need home health as much as anybody else," Isaac said. "We are meeting a need, but can we afford to continue to do that if we're going in the hole?"

Across West Virginia, most health departments have scrapped home health programs during the past decade. The Jackson County Health Department dropped its program last year, Deal said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department might be getting out of the home health-care business.

Health board members are evaluating the program, which has been losing money in recent months.

About 250 patients in Kanawha and Putnam counties have received the department's services so far this year. Health Department nurses make about 2,900 visits to patients' homes each year.

"We're going to look at the numbers and statistics and the need, and then make a decision," said Kanawha-Charleston Board of Health President Brenda Isaac. "We need to look at whether we're using our resources in an efficient way and is this something we need to continue doing."

The Health Department started offering home health care in 1920. Medicare licensed the program in 1989.

"We were the first in the valley," said Lois Deal, a registered nurse who directs the Health Department's home health division. "We have a long history."

For years, the program broke even or made a small profit. That changed when private home health care agencies started offering the same services.

Those agencies have picked up Medicare patients once served by the Health Department. Medicare reimburses at higher rates than private insurance companies.

"The private agencies pick the cream of the crop," Deal said.

About half of the Health Department's patients are covered by private health insurance. Some patients have no insurance - public or private.

"They need home health as much as anybody else," Isaac said. "We are meeting a need, but can we afford to continue to do that if we're going in the hole?"

Across West Virginia, most health departments have scrapped home health programs during the past decade. The Jackson County Health Department dropped its program last year, Deal said.

About eight health departments still offer home health services, she said.

The agencies provide skilled nursing care and physical, occupational and speech therapy in patients' homes based on doctors' orders.

The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department employs four nurses who assist patients with IVs, catheters, wound care and injections. The department's two home health aides help people with bathing, dressing, grooming and taking medications. 

The health agency also uses part-time therapists to help patients improve mobility, communication and daily living skills. 

Care is provided from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. five days a week, with nurses on call 24 hours a day.

The home health program primarily serves older adults, helping them stay out of hospitals and nursing homes. Some children also receive services.

Deal recognizes the program's financial struggles, but she believes the Health Department fills a void in the Kanawha Valley.

"There are patients who have to wait a long time to get services," she said. "Nobody will take them."

Isaac said the department's former executive director, Dr. Kerry Gateley, was evaluating the program before he resigned in May. She expects the agency's next health chief - the job has been offered to Dr. Rahul Gupta of Nashville, but he has yet to accept the position - to continue to do the same. 

"It's a difficult situation," Isaac said. "We're a public health department. Is there a need we aren't meeting if we don't offer this service? And secondly, can we continue to afford to do this even if there is an unmet need?"

Reach Eric Eyre at erice...@wvgazette.com or 348-4869.