Hospice Mergers and Acquisitions Outlook for 2020

Demographic growth and the availability of capital are among a handful of forces driving a robust mergers and acquisitions market in the hospice space, motivating companies to make acquisitions at a relatively brisk pace. From 2016 to 2018, the hospice M&A space saw more than 10 transactions of $250 million or more in total enterprise […]

Hospices Rebrand to Shake Stigma, Reflect Scope of Service

As hospices nationwide develop new services to engage patients further upstream, some are rebranding to reflect their expanded scope and to avoid the word “hospice” in their company names, hoping to ameliorate patients’ anxiety about end-of-life care. Hospice Hawaii is now Navian Hawaii. The 40-year-old, nonprofit organization recently made the name change to better reflect […]

Hospices Embrace Direct-to-Consumer Marketing

In an increasingly competitive digital marketplace, hospice providers are embracing direct-to-consumer marketing tactics to include patients and families in their outreach. Among the drivers of this trend is the need to educate the public about the nature of hospice and palliative care. Most people in the United States have a low level of awareness of […]

Hospices Design Programs for Unique Needs of Military Veterans

As U.S. veterans age with the general population, hospices nationwide are designing programs and engaging in partnerships designed to meet the unique medical, psychological and emotional needs of veterans during the end of life. Roughly 18.2 million military veterans live in the United States, according to the most recent numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, […]

Hospices Leverage Social Media Marketing

To compete in the increasingly competitive digital marketplace, hospice providers must become more sophisticated in their use of social media, experts say. Using these tools effectively helps develop and promote your brand, identify and attract prospective patients, and recruit good staff.  Social media offers marketing opportunities that few businesses can afford to underestimate or ignore, […]

Complementary Therapies Can Build Hospice Market Share

From animals to acupuncture, hospices are supplementing traditional “heads, meds, and beds” care with complementary therapies. Programs such as pet/animal therapy, acupuncture, massage, aromatherapy, meditation, art, music, and other complementary therapies are drawing increased patient and family attention, leading more hospices to offer these types of services. In one study, 29% of hospices (169 out […]

Death Cafes Spur End-of-Life Care Conversations

Hospice providers nationwide are seeking and developing strategies for engaging with patients earlier in the course of their illness, as many patients come into hospice too late in the course of their disease to reap the full benefit of those services. One such strategy is to encourage early conversations about death, dying and associated health […]

Hospices Engage Virtual Reality in Staff Training

An increasing number of hospice providers are incorporating virtual reality (VR) technology into their staff training. Hospice of Southern Maine is one of those organizations. In 2018, they were approached by Embodied Labs, one of the leading vendors of this technology in the health care space. The idea was to collaborate on a new VR […]

Hospices Engage with Death Doulas to Support Patients

Doulas have long been present at one of life’s most important milestones: the birth of a baby. Now, some are trained to provide support during individuals’ final moments as End-of-Life Doulas (EOLD). As the number of EOLDs grows, hospices are increasingly coordinating their efforts with providers of these services and in some cases are training […]

Hospices Leverage Community Resources to Address Social Determinants

A rising number of hospices are building community partnerships to accommodate patients’ nonmedical needs, allowing them to continue receiving care in the home. These partnerships support quality patient care and position hospices to capitalize on the growing recognition among payers that addressing social determinants of health can reduce health care costs and improve patient satisfaction. […]