September 23, 2024, Press Release from Mercy Health-St. Rita's: LIMA, Ohio – The Mercy Health Home Care and Hospice programs serving the greater Lima, Ohio, area, announced a new name today: Mercy Health Home Care and Hospice by Compassus. The name change reflects a joint venture partnership between Bon Secours Mercy Health, the fifth-largest Catholic health system in the U.S., and Compassus, a leading national provider of integrated home-based health care services, finalized earlier this year. Locations in Lima formerly managed by Mercy Health will be rebranded under the joint venture and managed by Compassus.

August 28, 2024, Press Release from AARP Ohio: COLUMBUS, Ohio-Today, AARP released a report that shows an estimated 127,193 of Ohioans on Medicare prescription drug plans will see savings thanks to a new out-of-pocket cap that starts January 1, 2025. The savings are made possible by a provision in the 2022 prescription drug law that AARP championed which caps out-of-pocket prescription drug costs every year, beginning at $2,000 next year, for America’s 56 million Medicare drug plan enrollees.

July 29, 2024, Press Release from Allen County Public Health: Allen County Public Health (ACPH) is pleased to announce that individuals with Medicare Part D coverage can receive vaccinations from ACPH with no out-of-pocket expenses. Vaccines that are covered with no out-of-pocket costs include all adult vaccines that are recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices including RSV, Shingles, Tdap and vaccines recommended for international travel. Previously ACPH individuals getting vaccinated with Medicare Part D coverage were required to pay for vaccinations and seek reimbursement or individuals were referred to pharmacies to obtain these vaccinations.

LIMA (WLIO) - The Allen County Council on Aging held a Medicare workshop free to the public this afternoon.

A poll from the University of Michigan finds that more than half of older adults have cut back on everyday expenses in the last year, and nearly 1/5 said they have had trouble in the past year paying for health-related costs. Older adults who said they’re in fair or poor physical or mental health were around twice as likely to say they have slashed their health-related spending. The physician who leads the national poll on healthy aging team says the findings are concerning for the wellbeing of older adults.

July 2, 2024, Press Release from the Office of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine: (COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced today that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved a proposal by the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) that will incentivize nursing homes to make more private rooms available for residents. The plan is part of the Governor’s comprehensive strategy to maximize the quality of care and quality of life experienced by nursing home residents across Ohio.

Notice written by OB GYN Specialists of Lima: On the morning of June 14th, 2024, it was discovered that some Protected Health Information (PHI) was disposed of improperly. We attempted to retrieve it but were unable to retrieve all of it. If you had a visit during the dates of June 5th and June 13th or had any testing done in the prior 2 weeks you may have been affected.

May 20, 2024, Press Release by Mercer Health: Mercer Health’s Mercer County Community Hospital was recently named one of the top 20 rural and community hospitals in the country by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). The NRHA ranking is based on an evaluation by the Chartis Center for Rural Health Performance INDEX, the most comprehensive and objective assessment of rural hospital performance. The determining factors for the top 20 rural and community hospitals are based on eight indices: inpatient market share, outpatient market share, quality, outcomes, patient perspective, cost, charge and finance.

Mercy Health-Saint Rita's offering up a tasty thank you for their employees for National Hospital Week. Mercy Health is the largest employer in the area, and they will treat their 2,500 associates and volunteers to a meal in honor of Hospital Week. Luckily, the rain held off for a picnic at the medical center today. Without the hard work of employees, hospital officials say they couldn't provide the care that they give their patients daily.