Medical supply company closing all California locations
A Coachella Valley woman is speaking up about the planned closure of a medical supply company, Lifecare Solutions, in California after she said she received a notice in the mail, giving her only weeks to make other accommodations for her medical equipment.
Cecile Morgan, of Rancho Mirage, has rheumatoid arthritis and has been dependent upon oxygen for five years and is contemplating a double lung transplant. She reached out KESQ News Channel 3 and CBS Local 2 after she said she lost sleep for days following an unsettling and urgent letter.
“It basically says I need to get re-certified and go to another company because they’re shutting down in our location,” Morgan said. “August 23rd it has to be done and I received that letter on the 10th of August.”
Morgan said that the demand is unattainable due to the amount of time it takes to schedule the necessary medical appointments and that a threat in the letter that the company will send the account to collections if not met, had made it particularly stressful.
“It’s almost impossible to have new services started that quickly with any of the other companies that are here in the desert,” Morgan said. “There’s hundreds and hundreds of people in the desert alone that are also serviced by Lifecare and you can’t get equipment that quickly.”
Morgan said she is also worried about hundreds of other Coachella Valley residents.
“I’m going to make sure that I’m OK, but there are people who won’t be OK. All I can think of now, is what about the other repeople who may not have the wherewithal to deal with a situation like this,” she said.
At the location in Thousand Palms, the manager was not in when KESQ News Channel 3’s and CBS Local 2’s Katie Widner stopped by Wednesday afternoon. Employees there said they were unaware of the closure or why Morgan would have received such a letter.
However, a representative from the corporate offices in Arizona said all employees should have been notified. An emailed statement read:
“Preferred Homecare | LifeCare Solutions recently made the difficult decision to exit the California market. Our patients continue to be our number one priority. Over the next several months we are working closely with our patients, their insurance plans and physicians to ensure a successful transition without service interruptions. We will continue to service our respiratory patients tied to our Medicare Competitive Bidding contract, through December 31, 2018. Industry rate cuts up to 40% have made for an unsustainable business, forcing us to leave California, after 14 years of service.
For additional information, please reference the HME News article, “LifeCare Solutions leaves California,” dated July 7, 2017.“
We reached out to Rep. Raul Ruiz’s (Md.) office Wednesday afternoon but no one got back to us. Doctors within the Pulmonology Department at Eisenhower Medical Center, where Morgan said they are aware of the issue, declined to comment.
