Hospices Pay a High Price for Physician Burnout

Physician burnout costs hospices — both literally and figuratively — whether it occurs among their own medical staff or with their referral partners. One of the most damaging effects is higher turnover. Burnout causes a sizable contingent of physicians to leave their jobs, and it has only grown more prevalent during the pandemic. This not […]

Hospices Expand Inpatient Care, But Tread Carefully

Hospice inpatient centers have proliferated since the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rebased payment rates in 2020. While reimbursement increases can foster growth, a convergence of factors complicate providers’ ability to balance a healthy margin with the expanded access to care. The 2020 rebasing instituted a 2.7% payment increase in payments for […]

AccentCare Prioritizing Trauma-Informed Hospice Care

Surviving a traumatic event has psychological and physiological repercussions that can follow an individual for the rest of their life, right up until their final days. Recognizing this, post-acute health care provider AccentCare has made a company-wide push to integrate trauma-informed care into their services and staff support programs. While confronting their mortality is inherently […]

Aveanna, Advent International Reportedly Interested in Encompass Health’s ‘Enhabit’ Spinoff

Encompass Health Corporation (NYSE: EHC) last week announced it was keeping its options open on the potential sale or merger of its home health and hospice segment, Enhabit Home Health & Hospice. The spinoff saga continues to evolve, with new reports Monday naming Aveanna Healthcare Holdings (NASDAQ: AVAH) and global private equity firm Advent International […]

AccentCare De Novo to Build D.C. Hospice Presence, Fill Access for Gaps Underserved

AccentCare has received a certificate of need to provide home-based hospice services in the greater District of Columbia. The company anticipates that the expansion will help address a service gap among underserved populations and increase health equity in the region.  AccentCare will plant roots with an office in Washington, D.C. ‘s Ward 7, already providing […]

Hospice CEOs Share Top Lessons Learned During a Challenging 2021

Hospice providers saw a great deal of change during 2021. The industry continued to reel from a global pandemic while enduring worsening labor pressure. The market saw shake-ups through massive mergers and acquisitions that reshaped the competitive landscape, as well as regulatory enforcement reform and the onset of the Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in — to […]

Hospice Leaders: Rising Demand, Staffing Critical to 2022 Outlook

Hospice News spoke with a group of industry leaders about the most pressing market forces and trends that will shape the space during 2022. Their comments carried some common threads, including rising demand for care in the home, continued labor pressures and industry consolidation, the involvement of hospice in Medicare Advantage and intensifying regulatory scrutiny. […]

AccentCare Unifies Seven Brands Under Single Identity

AccentCare is unifying all of its business lines under the company’s main brand. This includes six subsidiaries as well as Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care. AccentCare and Seasons merged in Dec. 2020. The following brands are now consolidated under the AccentCare name: Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care, Sta-Home, Gareda, HRS, Texas Home Health, Southeastern Health […]

Capital Caring, Seasons Execs: Improving Hospice Diversity Starts from the Inside Out

Racial divides have long-plagued the hospice field, rising to heightened levels of concern amid the coronavirus pandemic and events leading to civil unrest in the last year. Though hospices have taken deeper dives into improving access to care among underserved populations and addressing diversity and equity in their organizations, much work lies ahead to create […]