Officials with the Cass County Board of Health said Thursday (March 3rd), the Board met February 15th and unanimously voted to name Cass County Health Systems (CCHS) as the official public health agency. The change will go into effect on July, 1st, 2016. Cindy Kail, local site manager for UnityPoint at Home, noted that UnityPoint at Home is committed to a smooth transition of public health services and staff to CCHS.

The hospital leadership has offered to assume the employment of UnityPoint at Home employees currently providing public health services. Kail said, “UnityPoint at Home will continue to proudly serve the community with home care and hospice services, including nursing, therapy, home care aide, and homemaker services. This transition will allow us to focus our energies on continuing to be the premier home care and hospice agency in the area.”

The Board of Health will continue to subcontract with UnityPoint at Home for nursing, home care aide and homemaker services for residents of Cass County. UnityPoint at Home will be funded with the Local Public Health Services grant and a share of board health funds (county taxes) to support patients who lack insurance coverage for home care services.

The board of health will fund the CCHS public health agency with Local Public Health Services grant funding to support local board of health coordination, as well as disease outbreak and collaborative relationships on behalf of the board of health. In addition, CCHS will be funded with a share of board of health funds to support other public health services, such as immunization, breast/cervical cancer screening, family planning, maternal/child health, lead follow-up, family home visitation, volunteer services, and Children at Home.

Grants for those programs will be prepared by CCHS staff this spring for the transition to occur this summer.