Seasons Hospice pulls out of Steele County, opening of Homestead Hospice on hold

Hopes of reopening the Homestead Hospice House in Owatonna is on hold.

Originally Seasons Hospice and the Homestead Hospice House were expecting to reopen the facility this year. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, Seasons Hospice has had to make the difficult decision to close its home care and hospice services in the Steele County area.

“This was a very, very difficult decision to make,” Seasons Hospice Board President Dawn Beck said. “Seasons finds itself in the unfortunate position of financial difficulty unrelated to the Homestead Hospice House re-opening efforts.”

According to Beck, “staffing challenges, problems related to state and federal licensing and certification efforts, the uncertainty of federal priorities, and the stiff competition from for-profit hospice organizations were factors that led to this decision.”

“This news was unexpected, and we’re very disappointed. However, we understand how challenging it is to operate a residential hospice program due to lack of funding and reimbursement from payers,” Homestead Hospice House Board of Directors President Kasey Kamholz said. “As a board, we were hopeful of re-opening the house after the overwhelming response from the community during our fundraising campaign. Unfortunately, the dream of opening this year is now on hold.”

The Homestead Hospice House board of directors is meeting regularly to discuss next steps and how to proceed.