'Health Care at Home Movement' Set to Revolutionize American Health Care System, According to Industry Leaders

BATON ROUGE, La., Dec. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Leaders in the nation's Health Care at Home movement outlined trends and issues during a webinar for physicians across the country today. The webinar, "Why Health Care is Going Home," offered industry insights and detailed the reasons why home care will play a major role in the future of health care in America.

Amedisys Chief Medical Officer Michael Fleming, MD, FAAFP, was a featured speaker during the webinar, stressing the critical need for physicians to lead the Health Care at Home movement. Amedisys Home Health and Hospice (Nasdaq: AMED) provides care to more than 35,000 patients nationwide every day.

Joining Dr. Fleming were Steven Landers, MD, MPH, Director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Home Care and Community Rehabilitation, and Bruce Leff, MD, a Professor with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Both physicians are members of the Amedisys Strategic Advisory Board.

Fleming shed light on the growing importance of chronic care management at home and how home care is often preferred by patients over institutional care. He outlined the affordability of home care, as well. According to 2009 figures from the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, average Medicare charges for a hospital stay cost $6,200 per day versus a home health care visit which runs $135 per visit.

"We know that home care provides high-quality care with excellent outcomes for patients, and its role will only continue to grow as more Americans age and cope with chronic conditions," said Fleming. "As changes in health care policies sweep through America, we're joining together to ask physicians and other health care professionals to help encourage the use of Health Care at Home."

Dr. Leff detailed the history behind the Hospital at Home concept and the physician's role in the model that provides acute hospital care in a patient's home and is a safe, viable, and cost-effective alternative for some patients.

The idea for the webinar originated from Dr. Landers' October 2010 commentary in The New England Journal of Medicine, where he outlined his perspective on the future of home care as an increasingly crucial component of America's health care system. During today's webinar, Landers issued a call for policymakers to adapt health care policies to bring patient care into the home.

A recording and transcript of the webinar will be available at www.antidotecme.com/HomeHealth. The webinar was planned and implemented in accordance with the policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint sponsorship of Antidote Education Company and Amedisys. Antidote Education Company designates this educational activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Application for CME credit has also been filed with the American Academy of Family Physicians and is pending. Credits are available for six months after the original webinar broadcast date.

About Amedisys, Inc.

Amedisys, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED) is the nation's leading health care company focused on bringing home the continuum of care. Each day Amedisys delivers personalized health care services to more than 35,000 individual patients and their families, in the comfort of patients' homes. Amedisys has two divisions, home health care and hospice. The Company's state-of-the-art advanced chronic care management programs and leading-edge technology enables it to deliver quality care based upon the latest evidence-based best practices. Amedisys is a recognized innovator, being one of the first in the industry to equip its clinicians with point-of-care laptop technology and referring physicians with an internet portal that enables real-time coordination of patient care seamlessly. Amedisys also has the industry's first-ever nationwide Care Transitions program. Amedisys Care Transitions is designed to reduce unnecessary hospital readmissions through patient and caregiver health coaching and care coordination, which starts in the hospital and continues throughout completion of the patient's home health plan of care. For more information about the Company, please visit: www.amedisys.com.

SOURCE Amedisys, Inc.