Engaged physicians can help hospices ensure regulatory compliance and help improve patient satisfaction. 

Hospice physicians are responsible for some of the most important aspects of care. These include determinations of patients’ eligibility, the level of care they need, prognostication, determination of relatedness to the terminal condition and medical management of the patient.

These factors, among others, make ongoing physician engagement crucial, Dr. Lauren Templeton, physician consultant for Weatherbee Resources said at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s (NHPCO) Annual Leadership Conference.

NHPCO has since merged with the National Association for Home Care and Hospice to form the National Alliance for Care at Home.

“As engaged hospice physicians, we have to understand that one piece of the puzzle is our role in compliance,” Templeton said. “So as we walk through admission to discharge, what are opportunities for physicians to take an engaged role in compliance? Well, the number one thing that we do, in my opinion, is certification and recertification. So that decision is the most important compliance decision that we make as an engaged hospice physician.”

To improve compliance, physicians can be active participants in interdisciplinary team meetings and provide guidance to ensure that clinical documentation is complete, accurate and supports the patient’s plan of care and personal goals, according to Templeton.

“You can imagine how this improves the level and consistency of our documentation. Engage hospice physicians listen for mistakes and help lead and correct in terms of how we care for our patients and how we document with excellence, consistently and not contradicting each other in the clinical record,” Templeton said.

This can also allow physicians to participate in anticipatory planning to gauge the patients near-future needs and ensure resources and interventions are in place for when they become necessary, Carrie Cooley, principal and CEO at Weatherbee, indicated at the conference.

“The [interdisciplinary group] is a great place to enhance or to begin physician engagement,” Cooley said. “Next is around the plan of care and coordination of services, and a big piece of this, in my mind, is anticipatory planning … A huge piece around the plan of care is anticipating patient and family needs.”