A home health care company in St. Paul is shutting down and eliminating more than 400 jobs, citing business challenges and upcoming regulatory changes.
Staff at Dependable Home Healthcare were notified Tuesday about the layoffs, which will occur in six phases between January and March, according to a filing this week with state officials.
In a statement, the company cited increased operating costs, difficulty with recruiting and retaining staff and recent legislative and regulatory changes. Those changes include reductions in allowable service hours and lower rates for overnight care.
“Dependable is actively supporting its clients and employees through this transition,” the company said. “We are working with each individual client and their family to locate continuing care without interruption with other providers.”
The company says it is assisting employees with job placement.
Dependable Home Healthcare provides home- and community-based services that allow people with disabilities and elderly residents to live in the community, rather than in institutional settings.
Some of those services are subject to paused payments and a third-party audit announced last month by Gov. Tim Walz meant to help the state detect Medicaid fraud across more than a dozen programs. But the company did not cite this as a factor in its decision to close next year.
The state Department of Human Services issued a statement Tuesday evening, saying it received notice of the company’s closure before the audit program was announced last week. A majority of the services Dependable Home Healthcare provides would not have been subject to pre-payment review, DHS said.
