The worst of the staffing challenges is far from over for embattled hospice providers seeking fruitful recruitment and retention strategies in 2024. Operators will continue to reckon with clinical capacity strains next year as hospices contend with rising demand from a swelling aging population, according to Nick Westfall, CEO of VITAS Healthcare, a subsidiary of […]
Category: Operations
Research around hospice care has come a long way. But data gaps exist when it comes to expanding understanding of some aspects of end-of-life care delivery. A range of researchers has amassed a growing base of data on hospice, with some common themes tied to quality outcomes, costs, length of stay and general inpatient care. […]
VITAS Healthcare Expands Hospital-Based Inpatient Hospice Center Chemed Corp. (NYSE: CHE) VITAS Healthcare recently expanded its inpatient hospice care unit at the Florida-based Broward Health Medical Center. The inpatient facility now has 12 patient beds, up from eight prior to the renovations. VITAS expects to serve roughly 550 patients annually at the center. “VITAS is […]
Pediatric palliative care providers can sometimes struggle to engage parents and families. Parental engagement can be a difficult hill for pediatric palliative providers to climb. Families often contend with an array of competing practical, financial and medical obstacles related to managing a serious or life-limiting illness. Parents and guardians frequently experience feelings of stress, anxiety […]
The lines of communication between hospice leaders and compliance executives need to be open and transparent in today’s regulatory environment. The complexities of hospice regulation alongside increased oversight in the space have led providers to zero in on compliance. A host of new audit activity has cropped up in recent years, as well as ramped […]
Recent health equity initiatives in hospice reimbursement may reverberate impacts into providers’ staff recruitment and retention strategies, particularly when it comes to leadership roles. The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) in 2021 announced a “strategy refresh” that included focus on health care equity in payment model design. The Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, […]
Having a greater understanding around the impacts of trauma and abuse can help hospices improve end-of-life experiences for patients and working conditions for staff. Training and education are keys to caring for patients and employees with unique needs impacted by trauma and abuse. This is the final installment of a two-part series that digs into […]
Strong performance on the Hospice Care Index is becoming increasingly essential to securing payer and referral contracts and will be a key consideration in the federal government’s forthcoming Special Focus Program (SFP). The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) designed the Hospice Care Index (HCI) to paint a picture of care processes that […]
Some states with certificate of need (CON) regulations have special focus policies that allow hospice providers to expand services among underserved communities. But navigating these CON processes can be a challenge. State medical facilities plans (SMFPs) are programs built into CON processes that focus on expanding health care services among populations with specific unmet needs. […]
Wages for hospice clinicians continue to go up amid widespread staff shortages, but they grew at a slower rate in 2023 compared to the prior year. The national average hourly rate for Hospice registered nurses rose 4.58% in 2023, down from a 5.95% increase in 2022, according to a new report by the Hospital & […]