HEALTH CARE : Visiting Nurses Assn. Hopes to Strengthen Itself Through Merger

While Costa Mesa’s Abbey Healthcare Group does battle with a competitor in Boston to create the nation’s largest home health care company, the Visiting Nurses Assn. of Orange County is hoping for a larger piece of the local home health pie.

The Orange County association says it is negotiating a merger with its counterpart in Los Angeles County. The nonprofit agencies contract with insurance companies, health maintenance organizations and other medical groups to provide nursing services for patients in their homes.

Talks to consolidate the two nonprofit operations could take another year to complete, but when done would “enable us to strengthen the delivery of home health care services in a cost-effective manner,” said Gordon Martin, chief executive of the Orange County agency.

At 54 years, the Visiting Nurses Assn. is the nation’s oldest home health care operation. Industry observers say home care is only now helping to dramatically change the way medical care is provided.

Home health care provides ongoing nursing and rehabilitative services, undercutting hospital and convalescent home costs, Martin said.

But in an era of increasing competition and consolidation in the home health care field--as exemplified by the proposed Abbey merger with Lifetime Corp.--Visiting Nurses Assn., founded in New York City in 1939, wants to make sure it will still be viable into the new century.

“(Merger) discussions of this nature are increasingly common today,” Martin said. “Our consolidation would represent a logical opportunity.”