Some hospices in different areas of the country have opened new centers while other providers have relaunched their programs after temporary closures.

Genesis Healthcare’s New Hospice Facility

Genesis Healthcare has begun construction on a new hospice facility in Ohio.

Dubbed as Straker House, the inpatient facility replaces Morrison House, operated by the health care system. The previous seven-bed center served patients across six counties surrounding Zanesville, Ohio.

The former facility reached the end of its “useful life” and needed to be replaced, Genesis Healthcare indicated in a statement.

“The new facility was absolutely critical because our older facility is literally on its last year of viable use,” Genesis Health Care CEO Matthew Perry told local news. “It is a bigger facility, there’s a lot more room inside for patients and their families in each room and it gives the staff resources and the systems to be able to take care of our patients in the wonderful way that they do every single day.”

Genesis Healthcare has provided hospice for more than 35 years, both facility- and community-based services. The nonprofit’s hospice program includes memorial and veterans services, a Pet Peace of Mind program, music and pet therapies and bereavement.

The nonprofit launched a capital campaign to fuel the new facility’s rebuilding, rather than renovate, in order to avoid suspending operations and inpatient care.

Anticipated to open this fall, the hospice provider’s new facility features eight patient and family care suites, a living room, kitchen, reflection room and an outdoor garden area. The center also has administrative and interdisciplinary staff offices and will serve as a hub for the hospice provider’s home- and facility-based workforce.

VNA of Texas to Launch New Hospice Center

The Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) of Texas has plans to open a facility that will provide end-of-life support to homeless populations surrounding the Dallas area.

Services at the new center, Katherine’s House, will be provided at no cost to individuals experiencing homelessness.

“This week we were honored to unveil the new vision for Katherine’s House – a warm, rent-free sanctuary … that will offer dignity, peace and compassionate care for those in their final chapter of life,” said VNA of Texas Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Olivia Rogersj, in a statement.

“Right now in north Texas, patients with out a safe home or caregiving support are falling through the cracks,” Rogers said in a social media post. “[They are] discharged with nowhere to go, admitted, discharged and readmitted in a heartbreaking cycle. Or worse, they’re left to die in hospitals not really designed for end-of-life care.”

The hospice facility will be located in a renovated Victorian-style house, with construction set to begin in January 2026, local news reported. The $5 million renovation project was funded in partnership with The Meadows Foundation.

VNA of Texas has offered home health, hospice and community-based services for roughly 91 years. The association also operates a Meals of Wheels program, which provides delivery services to individuals unable to afford, obtain or prepare food on their own.

Louisiana-based Hospice House Reopens, Expands Reach

Hospice Foundation of the South has reopened its inpatient hospice center in Louisiana after a temporary closure.

Owned and operated by the nonprofit foundation, Hospice House was launched in 2014. Located in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, the facility features a homelike-setting with three patient rooms, living and dining rooms and a kitchen. Hospice Foundation of the South recently served its 500th patient at the facility since reopening. Each patient room includes a private bathroom and screened-in porches.

The foundation opted to halt hospice operations at the facility, due “unexpected and unprecedented challenges” that led to a voluntary five-month, said Miranda Lindsay, executive director of the Hospice Foundation of the South and Hospice House. The foundation shuttered services at the facility from May to October to address interpretations of state law regarding enforcement of hospice regulations, according to Lindsay.

“We chose to close for those months while things were figured out,” Lindsay told local news. “We call them bittersweet benchmarks. It’s amazing for us in 11 years to have helped 500 families in our community, but at the same time, it’s 500 people who have passed.”

Hospice Foundation of the South began as part of Slidell Memorial Hospital Hospice Foundation. The foundations joined forces in 2008 upon the hospital’s sale of its home health and hospice programs.

The foundation has plans to expand and open a second inpatient facility, Hospice House West, in Louisiana. Rolling out a $500,000 capital campaign to support the initiative, the foundation’s expansion is an aim to ensure and improve access to end-of-life support.

Brian House Resumes Operations

The inpatient hospice facility Brian’s House could soon resume services after a temporary halt that began in September due to financial challenges.

Philanthropic donations have helped to improve the hospice’s financial stability, along with a revised payment methodology, according to Brian’s House President Jane Adams. Services at the facility are offered at no cost to patients in financial need, which drove up care delivery costs and led to financial strain.

The facility could reopen by the end of 2025 with “some restructuring and reimagining,” Adams said. Among the efforts is to establish a set fee for certain hospice patients upon reopening.

“This has been hard,” Adams told local news. “You have the senior citizens that make $800 to $1200 a month; that’s their only income. They haven’t grown up in the generation where you start a 401k and you plan for the future. So, we didn’t charge them, or it would be a low fee. Well, when you have staff 24/7, the low fee doesn’t cover one shift. So, we have to make that change.”

Alongside donation efforts, various fundraisers are being held to support the facility’s reopening. Various local hospice providers offer care at Brian’s House, which is located in Essexville, Michigan. The organizations include Americans Home and Health and Hospice Care, Compassus, Covenant Visiting Nurses and Hospice, HarmonyCares Hospice, Heartland Hospice, McLaren Homecare and Hospice, MyMichigan Home Care, Southerncare Hospice Services and Wellspring Lutheran Services. The hospices’ collective geographical region spans three counties in Michigan.