As hospice providers contend with industry-wide nursing shortages, some are taking matters into their own hands with in-house residency programs. A lack of hospice-specific clinical training is a significant recruitment barrier. Few nursing students receive exposure to hospice or palliative care during their education, and most do not feel prepared to provide end-of-life care to […]
Individually, palliative care and social determinants programs both have the potential to improve quality of life and reduce costs — but that potential may be greater when the two are combined. Social determinants are non-medical needs that can have a significant impact on the trajectory of patients’ health, such as nutrition, transportation, social or caregiver […]
A proliferating number of startups are developing tech solutions and services to support bereaved families, employing a range of business models — including partnerships with hospices. This budding industry includes a number of rapidly expanding companies of varying size and scale. Some, such as the tech firms Empathy and Betterleave, have secured millions in investor […]
Private equity firms are pouring investment dollars into hospices at a record pace. Meanwhile, legislators and regulators as far up as the White House are taking aim at those firms. Despite a cool down in the hospice mergers and acquisitions market during the first quarter of 2022, private equity firms have stayed aggressive on deals. […]
As hospices explore greater participation in alternative payment models, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) is urging Congress to reduce and restructure those programs. Hospice providers have been eying APMs emerging from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). These models represent an entry point to value-based reimbursement, as well as a means to […]
LHC Group (NASDAQ: LHCG) shareholders overwhelmingly approved the acquisition of the company by UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UHG) subsidiary Optum for $5.5 billion. Optum announced the forthcoming deal in April. The purchase agreement stipulates that UnitedHealth Group will acquire LHC Group’s common stock for $170 per share. The companies expect the transaction to close during the […]
Dr. Christopher Comfort, chief operating officer for Calvary Hospital in New York City, oversees the organization’s operating budget as well as all patient care. He is also an ambassador for the hospital’s CalvaryCare program, designed to educate the health care community and the public about palliative care and hospice. Calvary is the only acute care […]
A bipartisan group of nine U.S. Senators have written to U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, calling for a payment model demonstration designed to support greater access to palliative care. The lawmakers urged the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) to develop a dedicated community-based palliative care benefit, which […]
As more health care reimbursement migrates towards value-based payment models, providers will need to master the art of care coordination. Seriously ill patients can easily fall through the cracks in a fragmented health care system, leading to poorer outcomes and costly hospital stays and emergency department visits. Closing these gaps is a rising priority in […]
One of the defining principles of hospice care is honoring the wishes of terminally ill patients. Now, with increasing frequency, a health care provider’s failure to honor those directives can lead to litigation or penalties by regulators. These issues come into play when a health care provider does not adhere to a patients’ advance care […]
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