Agape Care CEO Yarborough: Consistency Essential to Multi-state Hospice Expansion

Agape Care Group is a company on the move, focused on multi-state expansion in the Southeast quadrant of the United States while continuing to build density in its existing markets. The hospice and palliative care provider, a portfolio company of Ridgemont Equity Partners, acquired two organizations in 2023, as well as purchases of additional licenses, […]

Breaking Down Barriers: The Crucial Role of Social Workers in Dispelling Hospice Misconceptions

Social workers have an increasingly important role to play in breaking down barriers among underserved populations, including misconceptions about hospice that can deter or dampen utilization. Social workers can be pivotal to shaping care delivery approaches and community outreach efforts that improve hospice access and understanding, according to Arlen Gaines, licensed clinical social worker and […]

Unity Hospice and Palliative Care Expands General Inpatient Care

Unity Hospice and Palliative Care of Greater Houston has unveiled a five-year general inpatient (GIP) service agreement with the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) Health. The hospice will provide GIP care across the health system’s four hospitals. UTMB Health’s service region includes 10 cities in Texas. Among the driving forces behind the service agreement […]

Hospice Investors to Watch in 2024

Though the number of hospice M&A deals plummeted in 2023 compared to prior years, deals are still being made, and the industry may see a rebound in 2024. Transaction volume declined in the hospice and home-based care space in 2023, following the two record-breaking prior years. Only three hospice deals took place in the third […]

HHS: Hospice, Post-Acute Providers Lag on EMR Interoperability

Hospices and other post-acute health care providers lag behind hospitals and ambulatory settings when it comes to electronic health record (EMR) interoperability. More than 85% of ambulatory practices and 95% of hospitals have adopted and use some form of EMR to document patient care and share data to varying degrees, according to a new report […]

New Dementia-Focused Payment Model Emphasizes Caregiver Support

Without family caregivers, most hospice and palliative care patients would be unable to receive care in the home. Now, some emerging payment models are including caregiver support as a key component. Case in point is the Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) model, which the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) unveiled in […]

Hospices Call on Congress to Support Rural Hospices, Patients

Hospice providers, industry groups and other stakeholders recently penned a letter urging Congress to improve payment infrastructures that would increase access to end-of-life care among rural populations. The letter highlighted the unique challenges that rural and frontier hospice and palliative care providers face, and how strengthened financial support could lead to sustainable access and better […]

Bereaved Families Face Serious Health, Financial Hardships

Grieving family members often suffer physical symptoms and severe financial burdens following the death of a loved one. More than 70% of respondents to a survey by the bereavement care tech platform Empathy reported at least one mental health symptom for a few weeks after the death of a loved one; 58% indicated that the […]

Regulatory, Financial Hurdles to Engaging Hospice Patients Upstream

Moving hospice further upstream can have beneficial impacts for patients experiencing a range of acute, serious, chronic or terminal illnesses. But reaching patients sooner in their illness trajectories can also come with financial and regulatory risks. One of the largest barriers to building out a broader continuum of services are the regulatory and financial risks […]