National Hospice Foundation Creates Grant Program for PPE During COVID-19

The National Hospice Foundation has launched a grant program to help hospices acquire necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The foundation is an affiliate of the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). Demand for PPE has risen astronomically across all health care settings due to the outbreak. Accessing PPE has proven […]

Pandemic Hits Hospice Revenues

As the novel coronavirus pandemic continues disrupting the business of hospice, many providers anticipate a decrease in annual revenues for 2020, according to recent research by the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC). Among the contributing factors to revenue drops is a decline in hospice patient admissions and referrals amid the public health […]

Hospices Stressed About Potential Rises in COVID Cases as States Reopen

Anxieties abound among hospice providers regarding a potential deluge of COVID-19 cases as states begin to reduce social distancing and shelter-in-place restrictions, even as many hope for easier access to patients in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Most U.S. states are to varying degrees lifting public safety measures such as stay-at-home orders, business closures […]

Hospice Providers Say ‘Reopening’ States Will Improve Access to Nursing Homes

Many hospice leaders believe that states’ gradual relaxation of COVID-19 shelter-in-place restrictions will positively impact their businesses, despite concerns about increased risks to staff. Providers expect that increased access to patients living in facilities will drive clinical and financial improvement. More than half of hospice provider respondents to a Hospice News reader survey indicated that […]

Hospices Help Families Address Disenfranchised Grief

Hospices routinely provide bereavement care to family members after a patient reaches the end of life, but increasingly during the COVID-19 pandemic they are seeing more people afflicted with disenfranchised grief. Disenfranchised grief is a form of bereavement that is not acknowledged as legitimate by others or even by the families themselves. Research indicates that […]

Hospices Mobilize Dedicated COVID Teams

Hospices nationwide are designating specific interdisciplinary clinicians who work exclusively with COVID-positive patients to reduce risk to the rest of their staff and vulnerable patient populations. Selecting staff to serve on dedicated COVID teams has involved several considerations and additional measures as hospices work to minimize exposure. “The communities we serve in general are seeing […]

VITAS to Launch COVID-19 Grief Helpline

Hospice provider VITAS Healthcare will launch a national grief helpline that will offer support from the company’s bereavement care professionals and social workers to those who are grieving a loved one during the novel coronavirus outbreak. VITAS is a subsidiary of Chemed Corp. (NYSE: CHE). The service, set to launch on May 26, will likewise […]

Hospices Lean on Nonclinical Staff During COVID-19

Nurses and clinicians have been on the frontlines of hospice care during the coronavirus pandemic. However, the unsung heroes of hospice are those who are working behind the scenes in nonclinical roles to help keep the operational fires burning. Health care organizations nationwide — and the communities they serve — are recognizing frontline staff for […]

Hospice Collaboratives Form Nationwide Joint Venture

Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN) and the National Hospice Cooperative (NHC) have created a joint venture that promises to further scale their regional partnership model to nonprofit hospices nationwide. TCN and NHC are collaborative networks of affiliated hospice and palliative care providers that partner to share best practices, centralize some back office functions, build more efficient […]

Navigating the Post-COVID Hospice Telehealth Landscape

As stakeholders in the hospice space call on the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to permanently extend temporary telehealth flexibilities following the COVID-19 national emergency, hospice providers are increasingly looking ahead to potential long-term impacts. Hospice organizations have much to consider as the future of telehealth post-COVID drives rising demand for virtual […]