AZ: Home-health providers penalized; 4 agencies cited for substandard care

Nurses' failure to communicate with doctors contributed to the deaths of two Tucson patients and led to substandard care of at least 30 others, state investigators found.

Each of the patients received care from one of four Tucson home health-care agencies: Dependable Home Health Inc., fined $6,000 for violations of Arizona Department of Health Services rules; University Medical Center Home Health, fined $3,000; Heritage Home Healthcare of Arizona, also fined $3,000; and Interim Healthcare, fined $1,400....
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"If there is a No. 1 problem in health care, it's errors in communication," said Greg Pivirotto, president and CEO of University Medical Center and its home-health agency...

....In one case last year, a nurse tried eight times from Nov. 19 to Dec. 9 to arrange a home visit to check on a sick 3-month-old who was born prematurely. The baby was the fourth for the 20-year-old mother, the state says.
On the nurse's first attempt, the mother put the nurse off until the following week. After that, the mother did not return calls, the report shows.

In January of this year, the baby ended up in Tucson Medical Center, where staffers reported the case to Child Protective Services. The baby was discharged to Casa de los Niños nursery for abused or neglected children — evidence of a dysfunctional family with whom the nurse never tried to get a social worker involved. .....

...Patient noncompliance is "certainly a problem," said Kathryn McCanna, who heads the state's office of medical facilities licensure. "But it's not a license to throw up your hands and say, 'Oh well.' " ...