Speech Language Pathology Program Works to Improve Function and Quality of Life

BATON ROUGE, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Amedisys, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED) today announced it has proven clinical excellence with its Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) program, according to the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) National Outcomes Measurement System (NOMS) report for 2011.

Developed to illustrate the value of speech-language pathology services provided to people with swallowing disorders, cognitive and memory impairments, and communication disorders, NOMS is a data collection system, recognized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The key to NOMS is the use of ASHA’s Functional Communication Measures (FCMs). FCMs are a series of disorder-specific seven-point rating scales, designed to describe the change in an individual’s functional communication, swallowing, or cognitive/memory abilities over the course of treatment.

According to the 2011 NOMS data, Amedisys’ Speech-Language Pathology outcomes for treatment goals met in the home exceeded the national home care industry average by 19%. The national average for 2011 was 51.78% of treatment goals met in the home, while Amedisys met 70.87% of treatment goals.

“We are extremely proud of our Speech-Language Pathology team here at Amedisys for achieving this level of high-quality care for our patients,” said Jim Robinson, executive vice president of home health and hospice care for Amedisys. “Our team of 600 speech-language pathologists, based in more than 300 Amedisys care centers across the country, work with thousands of patients each year to improve their communication skills and help with memory deficits. This specialized care often reduces the need for feeding tubes and helps patients recover the ability to swallow.”

Swallowing disorders (also known as dysphagia) are diagnosed in approximately 10 million Americans each year. Nearly all dementia patients develop dysphagia, and swallowing disorders also are associated with stroke, respiratory conditions, brain and spinal cord injury, as well as progressive neurological conditions like multiple sclerosis, ALS and Parkinson’s. People who suffer from swallowing disorders often experience weight loss, poor nutrition, dehydration, social isolation, choking and pneumonia.

“In the last 10 years, the number of elderly Medicare beneficiaries who were admitted to the hospital for aspiration pneumonia increased by 93.8%,” said David Hutchings, CCC-SLP.D., managing director of Rehab Services at Amedisys. “Through our Speech Language Pathology program, our multidisciplinary care team takes a comprehensive approach in addressing dysphagia to help decrease the risk of aspiration pneumonia and hospitalizations for this condition.”

To help those with swallowing disorders avoid health complications like pneumonia, Dr. Hutchings urges seniors and their loved ones to watch for, and talk to a health care professional about, the following symptoms:

• Coughing during or after eating or drinking
• Feeling of food “sticking in throat”
• Runny nose
• Watery eyes
• Gurgled vocal quality
• Weight loss/malnutrition
• Spikes in temperature

“By proactively treating swallowing disorders and using specialized feeding techniques that maintain nutritional needs, enhance safe food intake and maintain dignity for those on our home health and hospice service, we can help to reduce unnecessary hospitalizations, and improve people’s overall quality of life,” Dr. Hutchings said.

For more information about NOMS, please visit: http://www.asha.org/members/research/noms/.

For more information about the Amedisys Speech-Language Pathology program, please visit: www.Amedisys.com/SLP.

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.

This press release includes statements that may constitute “forward-looking” statements, usually containing the words “believe,” “estimate,” “project,” “expect,” “anticipate” or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Many of the factors that could cause or contribute to such differences are described in the Company’s periodic reports and registrations statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and include, but are not limited to the following: general economic and business conditions, changes in or failure to comply with existing regulations or the inability to comply with new government regulations on a timely basis, changes in Medicare and other medical reimbursement levels, ability to complete acquisitions announced from time to time, and any financing related thereto, the ability to meet debt service requirements and to comply with covenants in debt agreements, adverse changes in federal and state laws relating to the health care industry, demographic changes, availability and terms of capital, ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, ongoing development and success of new start-ups, ability to successfully integrate newly acquired agencies, changes in estimates and judgments associated with critical accounting policies, business disruption due to natural disasters or acts of terrorism, and various other matters, many of which are beyond management’s control. By making these forward-looking statements, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release.

Our company website address is http://www.amedisys.com. We use our website as a channel of distribution for important company information. Important information, including press releases, analyst presentations and financial information regarding the Company is routinely posted on and accessible on the “Investor Relations” subpage of our website, which is accessible by clicking on the tab labeled “Investors” on our website home page. We will also use our website to expedite public access to time-critical information regarding the Company in advance of or in lieu of distributing a press release or a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) disclosing the same information. In addition, we make available on the Investor Relations subpage of our website (under the link “SEC filings”) free of charge our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, ownership reports on Forms 3, 4 and 5 and any amendments to those reports as soon as practicable after we electronically file such reports with the SEC. Further, copies of our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws, our Code of Ethical Business Conduct and the charters for the Audit, Compensation and Nominating and Governance Committees of our Board are also available on the Investor Relations subpage of our website (under the link “Corporate Governance”).

Amedisys, Inc.
Jacqueline Chen Valencia, 225-252-5091
Senior Vice President, Marketing & Communications
[email protected]

Source: Amedisys, Inc.