Large El Paso home-care provider to close; 850 jobs lost
A $700,000 cut in Medicaid payments coupled with an expensive employee-insurance mandate under Obamacare were financial punches the struggling Visiting Nurse Association of El Paso couldn't overcome, the agency's chief executive said.
So, the 46-year-old, not-for-profit agency, one of the largest home-care agencies in El Paso, plans to close by early next year.
It stopped accepting new patients Tuesday and hopes to have about 800 patients now receiving personal-care and hospice services transferred to other care providers by the end of December.
That means about 850 people will lose their jobs, said Joe Wardy, the agency's chief executive officer since January 2012 and a former El Paso mayor.
More at http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_24225082/46-year-old-visiting-nurse-association-closing-sending .
