Visiting Nurse Service aligns with Franciscan St. Francis Health system

INDIANAPOLIS – The largest home health and hospice care organization serving central Indiana patients for nearly a century is now part of one the state’s largest healthcare delivery systems.

Visiting Nurse Service Inc. (VNS) – a not-for-profit home health care and hospice program operating in 30 Indiana counties – will be known as Visiting Nurse Service at St. Francis.

The agreement, which fully integrates VNS into the Franciscan Alliance system, seals a series of discussions that have been ongoing for more than two years.

“VNS has an outstanding reputation and is a premier provider of home-based health care and related services,” said Robert J. Brody, Franciscan St. Francis Health president and chief executive officer. “Its values, mission-driven approach and programs have a strong outreach in many of the same communities we serve.”

“There is a great advantage to this partnership,” said VNS CEO John Pipas. “Both organizations will be enhanced by creating a stronger continuum of care to current and future patients. This is vital in the ever-evolving arena of health care.”

Founded in 1913, VNS has a solid corps of skilled nurses, certified home care aides, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, dietitians and medical social workers – all of whom work closely with patients’ primary care and specialty physicians.

The organization has offices in Indianapolis, Avon, Lebanon, Noblesville, Greenwood, Martinsville and Kokomo.

VNS serves patients in the following counties: Bartholomew, Blackford, Boone, Brown, Carroll, Cass, Clinton, Clay, Delaware, Grant, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Jay, Johnson, Madison, Marion, Miami, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Owen, Putnam, Randolph, Shelby, Tippecanoe, Tipton and Wabash.

The agreement also aligns St. Francis and VNS’ common goal of forging a health care model, designed to improve patient care, reduce medical costs and enhance the delivery of health care to the benefit of the communities served.

Franciscan St. Francis Health’s three central Indiana hospitals are part of Franciscan Alliance, part of 13 hospital network headquartered in Mishawaka, Ind. The system serves more than 2.9 million outpatient visits and more than 100,000 inpatient discharges every year, providing the most effective medical treatments, state-of-the-art medical equipment and an abundance of compassionate care.

To learn more about Visiting Nurse Service at St. Francis Health, go to www.vnsi.org. More information about Franciscan St. Francis Health is at www.stfrancishospitals.org.