On Feb. 15, 1979, Albert Gallatin Home Care & Hospice (AGHC) admitted its first patient for home care service in Fayette County, setting into motion an incredible history of growth and a caring tradition of service, compassion and support. Over 4.5 million visits later, the Medicare-certified home care and hospice agency remains proud to celebrate 25 years of health care service to acutely and terminally ill residents of southwestern Pennsylvania. In this 25 years, AGHC has provided home care services to over 108,000 acutely ill, homebound patients. Medicare-certified hospice care has been provided to over 7,000 terminally ill patients and their families.
AGHC's 509 employees and 96 volunteers reflect with pride on the agency's growth from an operation of one office serving Fayette County to five branch offices and an administrative office serving Fayette, Westmoreland, Allegheny, Butler, Greene and Washington counties. Services to these counties are coordinated from offices that are located in Uniontown, Masontown, Monongahela, Washington and Butler, Pa. Staff from each office live, work and serve in their own communities as they carry out the AGHC mission to provide health care for people in a skilled and compassionate way.
AGHC has seen continued growth throughout its 25 years of service. Much of this growth is attributed to the growing elderly population in the region requiring health care services. This past year, growth can also be attributed to AGHC's acquisition of the home care operations of The Washington Hospital Home Health Services on Sept. 26, 2003. Following this acquisition, AGHC opened its fifth branch office in Washington, which allowed further penetration of the Washington County market.
The AGHC administrative office is located at 20 Highland Park Drive in Uniontown and employs 60. The branch office at 107 Morgantown St. in Uniontown serves most of Fayette County and portions of Westmoreland County. This is the office that serves residents of Connellsville and the entire Fay-West region and 163 employees and 70 volunteers at this branch office provide a comprehensive range of physician-directed home care and hospice services to meet the region's diverse health care needs. Professional staff provides home care services that include skilled nursing; physical, occupational and speech therapy; medical social work; and home health aide care. In fall 2003, AGHC further enhanced the quality of its home care services to diabetic patients through the introduction of certified diabetes educators throughout its service area.
Hospice care for the terminally ill and their families includes the same range of in-home services, but is palliative in nature and more comprehensive than traditional home care. Hospice care also includes trained volunteers; physician consultation and in-home visits; homemakers; spiritual/psychosocial/nutrition counseling; coverage for medications, medical supplies, inpatient and respite care; extended home care during a medical crisis; and bereavement services for the family for 13 months following the patient's death.
Nursing services and all hospice services are offered seven-days-a-week with 24-hour accessibility so that patients can receive health care in the comfort of their own homes, under the care of their own physicians. AGHC accepts new service referrals seven days-a-week. AGHC accepts reimbursement from Medicare, Medicaid, most commercial insurances and workers' compensation. AGHC is a network provider under most of the region's managed care plans, including Highmark, Keystone, HealthAmerica, Health Assurance, Advantra, MedPlus+, Gateway Health Plan and UPMC Health Plan.
CareLine is the centralized telephone referral service that AGHC established to connect callers with the many services it offers. One toll-free call to CareLine at 1-800-753-2425 arranges for all the in-home services for which the patient is medically appropriate. The patient's physician must prescribe the services for him/her. CareLine can contact the physician's office to see if he/she can give an order for care. Alternately, the patient's physician or discharge planner can refer directly to CareLine.
AGHC reminds its communities that patients have the right to choose the home health agency or hospice of their choice. This freedom of choice is so important that the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 requires hospitals to give patients a choice of home care providers. AGHC encourages its communities to find out as much about the home care and hospice providers in the area as possible so patients can make the choice that is best for them. That is why AGHC has chosen to make this information available in this publication.
For more information, phone 724-438-6660, or phone toll-free at 1-800-245-4144, or visit the AGHC Web site at www.aghomecare.com.
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