The federal government provides reimbursement for each completed visit, so Anne Arundel managers decreed that each Healthy Start nurse must complete 100 visits per month. Cornett says the quota was impossible to meet.
Nurses spend much of their time on the phone arranging for visits and following up.
And clients are often not home when the nurse arrives, even though an appointment was made. Management said missed visits would not count. So the union filed a grievance and took its case to the public. Rushed health care is bad health care. Finally, management settled.