Job Description: Responsible for providing care management for a group of members through a collaborative process of assessment, planning, facilitation and advocacy for options and services to meet a member’s health needs through communication and available resources. Develops comprehensive care plan for identified needs

Benefits: Comprehensive benefits, mileage reimbursement and no rotating shifts.

Skills Required: Self-directed, organized with the ability to work independently. Good oral and written communication skills.

Certifications Required: License and current registration as a Registered Professional Nurse in New York State. Long Term Care and/or Managed Care experience preferred.   Valid NYS driver’s license required.

Salary: Competitive

Status: Full Time & Part Time

Qualified candidates can submit resumes via the apply now button below or by mail to:

VNA Homecare
Human Resources
1050 West Genesee Street
Syracuse, NY 13204
Phone: 315-477-9331
Fax: 315-477-9356

Job Description: Responsible for building relationships, receiving referrals and reviewing patient information referred to VNA Homecare’s Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) program to determine initial appropriateness of admission. Promotes and fosters ongoing collaborative communication with institutional and VNA Homecare’s MLTC personnel to establish coordinated home care. Facilitates the safe and timely transfer of patients from a hospital or skilled nursing facility or other health care sites to the care of the agency.

Benefits: comprehensive benefits, mileage reimbursement and no rotating shifts.

Skills Required: Self-directed, organized with the ability to work independently. Good oral and written communication skills.

Certifications Required: License and current registration as a Registered Professional Nurse in New York State. Long Term Care and/or Managed Care experience preferred. Valid NYS driver’s license required.

Salary: Competitive

Status: Full Time & Part Time

Qualified candidates can submit resumes via the apply now button below or by mail to:

VNA Homecare
Human Resources
1050 West Genesee Street
Syracuse, NY 13204
Phone: 315-477-9331
Fax: 315-477-9356

Job Description:  Responsible for applying profesional clinical skills and expertise in the utillization review of healthcare services for members, to ensure that the patient is receiving the sppropriate level of care.

Benefits: comprehensive benefits, mileage reimbursement and no rotating shifts.

Skills Required: Self-directed, organized with the ability to work independently. Good oral and written communication skills.

Certifications Required: License and current registration as a Registered Professional Nurse in New York State. Long Term Care and/or Managed Care experience preferred.

Salary: Competitive

Status: Full Time & Part Time

Qualified candidates can submit resumes via the apply now button below or by mail to:

VNA Homecare
Human Resources
1050 West Genesee Street
Syracuse, NY 13204
Phone: 315-477-9331
Fax: 315-477-9356

Central New York’s most progressive and premier home health care agency is now inviting qualified candidates to join our Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) team:

• CARE MANAGERS — RNs & BSNs
• ENROLLMENT COORDINATORS
• ENROLLMENT SPECIALISTS
• HOME CARE CONSULTANTS
• MEMBER SERVICES/ CALL CENTER REPRESENTATIVES
• OUTREACH SPECIALISTS
• PROVIDER RELATIONS ASSOCIATES
• QUALITY MANAGEMENT NURSES
• SOCIAL WORK CONSULTANTS
• REHABILITATION CONSULTANTS
• LICENSED SOCIAL WORKERS
• UTILIZATION REVIEW NURSES

Full Time, Part Time & Weekend positions. Days & Evenings available.

In exchange for your expertise and commitment, we offer sign-on bonuses, flexible schedules, incentive pay, comprehensive benefits, mileage reimbursement and no rotating shifts.

Some positions require current NYS licensure and/or a driver’s license.

Qualified candidates can submit resumes via the apply now button below or by mail to:

VNA Homecare
Human Resources
1050 West Genesee Street
Syracuse, NY 13204
Phone: 315-477-9331
Fax: 315-477-9356

Job Description:

• Own reliable transportation required
• Training provided

Status: Full Time, Part Time & Weekend Positions Available

Qualified candidates can submit resumes via the apply now button below or by mail to:

VNA Homecare
Human Resources
1050 West Genesee Street
Syracuse, NY 13204
Phone: 315-477-9331
Fax: 315-477-9356

Job Description: Full Time RN responsible for utilization review & quality
improvement activities

Qualified candidates can submit resumes via the apply now button below or by mail to:

VNA Homecare
Human Resources
1050 West Genesee Street
Syracuse, NY 13204
Phone: 315-477-9331
Fax: 315-477-9356

Job Description:  RN’s provide skilled nursing services to patients and are responsible for direct client care as assigned and under the guidance of a clinical manager.  They ensure quality and safe delivery of home health services.

Benefits:  a sign-on bonus, flexible schedules, incentive pay, comprehensive benefits, mileage reimbursement and no rotating shifts.

Skills Required: Self-directed, organized with the ability to work independently. Good oral and written communication skills.

Certifications Required: Current NYS nursing and driver’s licenses. Current professional liability and auto insurances.

Salary: Competitive with incentive pay

Status: Full Time, Part Time & Weekend Positions Available

Qualified candidates can submit resumes via the apply now button below or by mail to:

VNA Homecare
Human Resources
1050 West Genesee Street
Syracuse, NY 13204
Phone: 315-477-9331
Fax: 315-477-9356

Benefits: Per visit pay, mileage reimbursement, autonomy in your nursing practice, opportunity for educating patients.

Skills Required: Weekend RN requirements: Available to work 2 weekends per month and one winter holiday and one summer holiday; Self directed; Organized; Ability to work independently; Good oral and written communication skills.

Certifications Required: Current NYS RN license; Current professional liability insurance; Current NYS driver’s license; Current auto insurance.

Required Experience: Recent experience with hands-on patient care.

Salary: Competitive Pay Rates

Status: Part Time

Qualified candidates can submit resumes via the apply now button below or by mail to:

VNA Homecare
Human Resources
1050 West Genesee Street
Syracuse, NY 13204
Phone: 315-477-9331
Fax: 315-477-9356

By Aaron Gifford

M. Kate Rolf was still in high school when she recognized the need for more home-based health care services. At the age of 16, the Oneida native tirelessly accompanied her mother to medical centers for cancer treatments.

“The last eight months of her life,” Rolf recalled, “we were always going back and forth to the hospital. A hospital isn’t always such a nice place to be. I knew back then that there should be a way to keep chronically ill people in their homes.”

Rolf initially went to college for accounting, but never lost sight of that ideal. After starting a family she returned to school for an advanced degree in health services administration, climbing the career ladder at Faxton-St. Luke’s Health Care in Utica until her recent appointment as president and chief executive officer of VNA Systems (Visiting Nurse Association) Inc. of Central New York, where she oversees about 300 employees who provide home care for people of all ages in Onondaga County. The agency’s caseload often exceeds 1,000 patients per month.

The list of clients includes elderly residents who don’t want to live in nursing homes, children discharged from hospitals after an intense illness, heart condition patients and those who are recovering from major surgery at home. The range of services spans home health aides, to occupational therapy, speech therapy and social work.

Even though home-based care sounds like a modern concept, VNA Systems dates back to 1890 and remains the oldest organization of its kind in the region. It was founded by three women who wanted to provide medical care to the poor. In its early years, the Visiting Nurse Association mainly served pregnant woman and young children, and placed a strong emphasis on proper nutrition. In 1938, VNA handled about half of all home births in Syracuse. In the early 1950s, the agency began offering parenting classes that were well attended by men and women. VNA played a major role in reducing infant morbidity rates locally.

“To this day,” Rolf said, “we still have a very strong pediatric population.”

Her overall goal remains to keep the young and the old out of hospitals as much as possible without compromising any patient’s medical needs. That involves working with area medical providers to establish pathway plans for transitioning patients from hospital back to the home and, in certain cases, vice versa.

“Transitional care programs, no matter how specialized, are crucial for meeting the community’s needs,” Rolf said. “The transition has to be smooth, and the patients must always be monitored. We have to make sure patients are getting that high level of care at home.”

Rolf said home-based care, regardless of the patient’s age or condition, is significantly cheaper than institutional care. Placing an elderly person in a nursing home, for example, costs about 66 percent more than keeping them in their home with the assistance of home health aides or related services.

Moreover, technological advances have allowed hospital patients to return home from the hospital in two or three days, compared to an average stay of a week or more 10 years ago, Rolf said.

“We’re caring for the sickest of the sick at home right now,” she said. “We can really assist the hospitals and help keep the costs down for everyone.”

Rolf said the equipment available for home-based care these days is mind boggling. For patients with heart problems or other types of serious illnesses, there’s an online system that monitors indicators like blood sugar levels and alerts on-call nurses to any signs of trouble. That technology, the Honeywell HomMed Health Monitoring System, was first implemented in 2005. It also asks patients a variety of yes or no questions to help evaluate health conditions on a daily basis.

VNA Systems nurses can even care for wounds with a special “wound vac” device that ensures a sterile environment by utilizing negative pressure. Twenty years ago, medical professionals would never consider providing that kind of care outside of a hospital room.

And during most home visits, the nurses use a laptop computer and document everything they do at the time of service.

“The technology is very exciting,” Rolf said.

Despite the emerging technology and the increase of home-based care, Rolf still believes America’s health care system, as a whole, “is in crisis,” mainly because of continued cuts to Medicaid and Medicare cuts at a time when people are living longer and the population of seniors on fixed incomes is increasing across the country.

“How do we manage those costs?” she said. “We’re already close to the brink on Medicare and Medicaid.”

VNA Systems accepts Medicare, Medicaid and several insurance plans. It also offers non-medical private pay services like transportation and companionship visits.

According to the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, about 12 million people in the United States were served by 33,000 home health care providers in 2009. The cost of that care totaled $72.2 billion, 41 percent of which was funded by Medicare.

Meanwhile, employment in the home health care industry increased from 667,200 in 1996 to 1.02 million in 2009. The average Medicare charge for a day of care in a hospitalincreased from 4,999 in 2005 to 6,200 in 2009. By comparison, the per-visit cost for home health care increased from $125 to $135 during that time period, according to the National Association for Home Care and Hospice.

The national agency also reported that monthly treatment for low birth rates at a hospital cost about $26,190 compared to $330 for a home health care provider. Hospital care for a ventilator-dependent adult cost $21,570 compared to $7,050. Chemotherapy for children costs about $68,870 compared to about $55,950. And a month of congestive heart failure treatment for an elderly patient at a hospital costs about $12,510 compared to $4,650 for the same type of treatment by a home health care provider.

The AARP estimates that the cost of unpaid family caregiver support for ailing relatives is about $450 billion a year.

Published September 2011 • IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • By Aaron Gifford