Media Statement From Amedisys on Dr. Steven H. Landers' NEJM Commentary on the Future of Home Care

BATON ROUGE, La., Oct. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Amedisys, a leading home health care and hospice company (Nasdaq: AMED), commends Dr. Steven H. Landers' commentary on the future of home care in this week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Landers is a member of the Amedisys Strategic Advisory Board.

Titled, "Why Health Care is Going Home," Dr. Landers' commentary outlines his perspective on the future of home care as an increasingly crucial component of America's health care system. As the director of the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Home Care and Community Rehabilitation, Dr. Landers sees the many benefits of home care on a daily basis. As our country ages and more Americans cope with chronic conditions, Dr. Landers predicts that home care will prove to be the ideal option for care.

"It was enlightening to see Dr. Landers' commentary on the future of home care," said Michael Fleming, MD, Chief Medical Officer for Amedisys. "As our country goes through a health care sea change, it is becoming clear that home care is often the best option for patients, insurers and health care systems. Patients have a desire to stay in their homes and, as such, they are demanding home care. There is also a clear financial advantage to home care, as it is often less costly than institutional care."

Amedisys echoes Dr. Landers' call to adapt the policies and structure of our current health care system to bring patient care back into the home. As an innovator in the home care system, Amedisys has always been an advocate of increased technologies that allow seamless and state-of-the-art home care for physicians and home care professionals.

"During this critical period of policy development, we encourage our health care leaders and policymakers to respond to the demand for increased home care services," Fleming added.

About Amedisys:

Amedisys, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED) is the nation's leading health care company focused on bringing home the continuum of care. Each day Amedisys delivers personalized health care services to more than 35,000 individual patients and their families, in the comfort of patients' homes. Amedisys has two divisions, home health care and hospice. The Company's state-of-the-art advanced chronic care management programs and leading-edge technology enables it to deliver quality care based upon the latest evidence-based best practices. Amedisys is a recognized innovator, being the first in the industry to equip its clinicians with point-of-care laptop technology and referring physicians with an internet portal that enables real-time coordination of patient care seamlessly. Amedisys also has the industry's first-ever nationwide Care Transitions program. Amedisys Care Transitions is designed to reduce unnecessary hospital readmissions through patient and caregiver health coaching and care coordination, which starts in the hospital and continues throughout completion of the patient's home health plan of care. For more information about the Company, please visit: www.amedisys.com.

SOURCE Amedisys