Hospices in Canonsburg and Scottdale, Pennsylvania Achieve Partner Level Four status for Volunteer Programs Designed to Improve End of Life Care for Veterans

BATON ROUGE, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Amedisys Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED) today announced that its Canonsburg and Scottdale, Pennsylvania hospice care centers have achieved Partner Level Four status, the highest recognition from the We Honor Veterans program. We Honor Veterans is a national awareness campaign conducted by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Its goal is to help hospice professionals better understand the challenges veterans may be facing from illness, isolation or traumatic life experiences and guide them to a more peaceful death.

Hospices earn their level in the program by completing activities that increase awareness while educating caregivers and community members on the unique issues facing veterans at the end of life. That designation is used to help Veterans Affairs staff and veterans identify hospices that have made a commitment to offering veteran-specific care and services. The Amedisys Hospice Care teams in Canonsburg, PA and Scottdale, PA care centers are amongst the few in the country to receive this level of recognition. Currently, there are only 19 Level Four We Honor Veterans partners in the nation.

“Our care teams at Amedisys are honored to serve our nation’s veterans during these very personal and often challenging moments,” said William F. Borne, chairman and chief executive officer of Amedisys. “We are grateful that the Department of Veterans Affairs values hospice care and is focused on ensuring caregivers and community members are properly prepared to understand veterans and their needs,” he concluded.

A total of 40 Amedisys care centers, across 16 states, are currently participating in the We Honor Veterans program in various capacities, ranging from Level One to Four. A list of all Amedisys care centers participating in the We Honor Veterans Program can be found at: www.amedisys.com/we-honor-veterans.

About Amedisys:

Amedisys, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED) is a leading health care company focused on bringing home the continuum of care. Amedisys delivers personalized health care services to patients and their families in the comfort of patients’ homes. Amedisys care teams delivered 11 million patient care visits in 2011. 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: http://www.amedisys.com.

Amedisys Inc.
Jacqueline Chen Valencia, 225-299-3688
Marketing & Communications
[email protected]

Source: Amedisys Inc.