Stamford-based Nursing Care Provider to Close

Unable to cover its operating costs, due to cuts to Medicare and a reduction in the amount of private funding it receives, Stamford-based , the state’s leading nonprofit senior nursing provider, is reportedly shutting down its facilities and transferring its patients to Masonicare Home Health & Hospice of Wallingford.

According to an article in the CT Post, quoting VHNC officials, “cuts to Medicare and insurance reimbursement rates and the loss of patients with greater ability to pay due to competition are factors in the decision to transfer operations to Masonicare.”

The state Department of Health will “oversee and monitor the transition and transfer of patients to Masonicare or other agencies to ensure quality of care is maintained,” according to the article.

VHNC, which first opened in 1912, provided nursing and home health aide services, as well as physical, speech and occupational therapy and social work services to about 1,300 home health care and hospice patients in the last year, according to the article.

The impact on VNHC patients who receive home health care and hospice care “is expected to be minimal, because most are discharged from the home health care program in fewer than 45 days,” the article states.

VHNC had its main offices at 1266 East Main Street.