The University of Pennsylvania Health System (Penn Medicine) this week consolidated its hospice, palliative care, home health, and home infusion services under the new brand Penn Medicine at Home.
Penn Medicine at Home will contain five components, each providing a specific type of home-based care. No staff reductions took place as a result of the brand transition.
The rebranding affects hospice and palliative care previously delivered under several Penn Medicine-owned brands, including Neighborhood Hospice, Caring Way, Neighborhood Visiting Nurse Association, Affilia, and Wissahickon Hospice.
The new brand will also apply to the system’s home health and home infusion segments, as well as the hospice and palliative care components of New Jersey-based Princeton Health. Penn Medicine acquired Princeton Health in Jan. 2018.
“This change will enable us to further standardize our coordination of care as a member of the Penn Medicine health system,” Neighborhood Health director Beth Full, told local newspaper Daily Local News. “With the same leadership and staff as we have today, we will continue to provide comprehensive services and the quality of care our patients and their families have come to expect.”
Penn Medicine at Home will manage two inpatient hospice facilities, including a freestanding 26,000-square-foot,16-bed inpatient end-of-life care facility in West Chester, Pa., and a second facility in Philadelphia.
The hospice and palliative care segments of the business also provide free legal advice and services to patients and families through the Hospice Legal Project, in partnership with the Philadelphia-based nonprofit SeniorLaw Center.
Neighborhood Health Agencies and Neighborhood Visiting Nurses Association joined the University of Pennsylvania Health System in 2013 through Penn Medicine’s acquisition of Chester County Hospital, which had taken ownership of the two hospice and palliative providers in 1995. Among Penn Medicine’s holdings is Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation’s first, established by Benjamin Franklin in 1751, as well as the nation’s oldest medical school, founded in 1765.
