Hospices need a deep bench of community and referral education tactics in order to thrive though competitive and financial headwinds on the horizon. Having a reputation for providing high-quality care will be a hospices’ hallmark.

This is according to the executive team at Illinois-based Oasis Hospice & Palliative Care. The hospice opened a new inpatient facility, House of Goshen, earlier this year. Launching a new center in today’s economic climate has involved overcoming several obstacles, according to Oasis CEO Hakeem Bello.

Hospices need to have a realistic and slow approach to growth, with a strategy that places patient and family needs at the forefront, Bello indicated. The hospice has plans to grow its general inpatient reach with another facility in coming years. Thus far, the journey to general inpatient hospice care has been one of hope, perseverance and people, he stated.

“It would be nice to have a replica of this center and to put this somewhere else in need,” Bello told Hospice News. “The strategic growth plan is to have another facility, hopefully within the next three to five years. But first is making sure this runs smoothly and the impact in the community we’re hoping for. We have quite a bit of learning to do in terms of educating our community. But once we are more comfortable doing that, then we move on to the next phase. Our next steps are about having an impact in our community.”

Hurdles on the horizon

Oasis Hospice & Palliative Care launched nearly a decade ago. The faith-based organization provides hospice and palliative care services across three counties in Illinois.

Located in Flossmoor, Illinois, its 4,000 square-foot general inpatient hospice facility has 14 patient rooms, administrative offices, family gathering areas and an outdoor memorial garden.

Opening the House of Goshen was no small feat, according to Oasis Hospice & Palliative Care CFO Sade Bello. Competition has heated up in the hospice industry for the past several years, a trend that has made sustainability difficult for smaller organizations, she said. The ability to thrive and meet rising demand in coming years will hinge upon the strategies a hospice employs to differentiate itself from competitors, Bello stated.

Misconceptions about hospice have held strong as the most significant challenges impeding growth and sustainability, she indicated. Building a strong reputation for timely and compassionate access to care will be key, as will strong community partnerships and educational efforts, according to Bello.

“It stems from not understanding what hospice is, or even general inpatient care or respite,” Bello told Hospice News. “We need education in the community and also in our health care system to where we’re more patient-focused with referrals. One of the greatest opportunities is really humanizing care [and] understanding that people are not numbers. It’s appalling to see smaller hospices being bought up to make a profit — that’s not the essence of hospice care. If we’re going to grow, we have to focus more on the humanity and connection of individuals. Invest in your interdisciplinary team to do that.”

Photo courtesy of Oasis Hospice & Palliative Care

Growth keys to meet future needs

Referral partners most value consistent communication and reliable support alongside high quality scores, said Katrina Agnew, COO at Oasis Hospice & Palliative Care. The ability to demonstrate improved outcomes is a cornerstone of hospice’s referral growth efforts, she indicated.

Slow, but steady growth is an important consideration, according to Agnew. Though hospices may want to take on more patients as referral recognition expands, it’s crucial to understand how to balance clinical capacity. Higher volumes of patients can lead to clinical burnout during a time of health care staffing shortages, meaning that hospices have to know their limits in terms of patient admissions, she stated.

“People want quality and that’s not about quantity,” Agnew said. “You’ve got to break it down to [having] the proper ratios of staff to patients. Our census is increasing as our name gets out there. But we want to be staffing ahead as much as we possibly can, because we don’t want to be behind the eight ball. It’s [also] very important to build and maintain relationships with hospitals and teaching institutions so that you can grow more resources and differentiate yourself.”

One way Oasis Hospice & Palliative Care has differentiated itself is the recent launch of an initiative designed to bolster its workforce. The company’s charitable arm, the Oasis Foundation, is now offering the Pathway to Purpose Scholarship, which includes $2,500 in tuition dollars for students whose lives have been shaped by hospice or palliative care.

The scholarship is led by Gabrielle Bello, director of the Oasis Foundation. Providing scholarships to students across the Chicago area is a “huge” opportunity not only in terms of workforce growth, but also in building community recognition, Hakeem Bello said. The scholarships offer educational opportunities that many students would not otherwise be exposed to, with the hospice thus far receiving several applications for the program.

Technology utilization is another differentiating factor for hospices, according to Joshua McClinton, marketing hospice consultant at Oasis Hospice & Palliative Care.

Innovations in artificial intelligence (AI), predictive analytics and virtual reality (VR) are just beginning to take shape in end-of-life care delivery. But hospices must carefully consider the types of technologies they’re integrating and how they employ them, McClinton indicated.

Technology utilization should augment, not replace, human touch in terms of patient care and referral relationship building, he said.

“We have to go back to being technologically savvy and innovative in [being] more people-to-people, because it’s a lost art,” McClinton told Hospice News. “Innovation really comes from the people and personal, full contact that we have with every person and referral source we come across. We cannot ignore the pace and way that technology is moving now. But before we move forward we have to really educate on the benefits of hospice and communicate with our community.