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VITAS Innovative Hospice Care(R) of Kansas City Now Serving Patients in Missouri

Posted on: Wednesday, 21 December 2005, 09:00 CST

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Dec. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- VITAS Innovative Hospice Care(R), the nation's leading hospice provider, today announced it has received state authority and Medicare certification to open VITAS Innovative Hospice Care(R) of Kansas City. The newest of VITAS' 39 programs now serves patients living in the following Missouri counties: Cass, Clay, Jackson, Johnson, and Platte.

More than 25 years ago, VITAS helped defined hospice care by opening its first program in a Florida community. "Today, we recognize that there are still many underserved communities in many areas of our country, including the Midwest," said Deirdre Lawe, VITAS executive vice president, development and public affairs. "I'm proud to announce that VITAS' compassionate, professional care is now available to patients and families in the greater Kansas City area."

VITAS is planning to apply for a license to begin serving patients on the Kansas side of the metropolitan area, Lawe added.

VITAS hospice programs around the country are committed to continually improving clinical care by using an interdisciplinary approach to providing hospice care and caregiver education. Its proprietary information technology, "Vx," was created to track the effectiveness of that care. VITAS' compassionate care focuses on the medical, social and spiritual needs of patients and their families, from employing VITAS' own hospice-specific pain formulary and protocols to manage pain to offering rewarding treatments such as pet therapy.

In addition to its clinical leadership, VITAS provides more care to patients on a charitable basis than any other hospice organization nationwide. In 2004, VITAS provided more than $7.5 million in charity care services, serving an average of 120 unfunded patients per day.

VITAS' Kansas City program will provide responsive, round-the-clock hospice care, and patients and families in the program area will be able to access VITAS staff day or night through a 24-hour Telecare(R) call center staffed by VITAS triage nurses.

Volunteers are warmly encouraged to contact the program office at 800-755-6678 for opportunities to participate in patient care. Families may call 800-93-VITAS for more information about hospice or to schedule a free consultation.

About Hospice

Because hospice is not a "place" as many believe, VITAS caregivers make visits throughout the community to care for patients in their own home, in nursing homes, and in assisted living communities. Hospice is provided in the home to better provide comfort, pain control and symptom management for a patient at the end of life. In fact, recent research published by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization found that most Americans would prefer to receive end-of-life care at home and think hospice professionals are the most knowledgeable in helping them do so.

About VITAS Innovative Hospice Care

VITAS Innovative Hospice Care(R), a pioneer and leader in the hospice movement since 1978, is the nation's largest provider of end-of-life care. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, VITAS (pronounced VEE-tahs) operates 39 hospice programs in 15 states (Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin). VITAS employs 8,106 professionals who care for terminally ill patients daily, primarily in the patients' homes, but also in the company's 23 inpatient hospice units as well as in hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities/residential care facilities for the elderly. At the conclusion of the third quarter of 2005, VITAS reported an average daily census of 10,259.

VITAS Innovative Hospice Care

CONTACT: Mark B. Cohen, Vice President, Communications & PublicRelations of VITAS Healthcare Corp., +1-305-350-5905, mark.cohen@vitas.com; orDeborah Adams, Senior Account Supervisor of Hill & Knowlton, +1-202-944-1903,deborah.adams@hillandknowlton.com, for VITAS Innovative Hospice Care

Source: PRNewswire

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