Mercy's decision does not affect its skilled nursing unit, which was moved to St. Joseph's Hospital when the company took over operations of the former Betak facility earlier this year. Mercy House, along with Calcutta House in North Philadelphia and Rainbow Home in Reading, are the only AIDS-specific personal care facilities in the southeastern Pennsylvania region.
Mercy is the largest such facility.
Unlike in traditional boarding homes, people with AIDS in personal care often require much more intensive medical and nursing interventions to remain stable and to prevent their need for even more expensive skilled care. It just doesn't make sense to force people into levels of care that are more expensive and that they don't really need. As when the former Betak faced similar crises, state officials are claiming that they have no evidence that care for people with AIDS is more costly than other personal or skilled care. As with Betak's former operators, Lutheran Home at Germantown, the state is also criticizing what it calls high administrative and indirect costs for operating the Mt. Airy facility. Most other states with high numbers of AIDS cases have established such rates, relying on detailed analysis of Medicaid payments for medical care.