Chemed Corp. (NYSE: CHE) subsidiary VITAS Healthcare is banking on improved recruitment and retention to spur upward movement on patient census, admissions and length of stay. The company is leveraging two interventions implemented last year to build forward momentum, its Community Access Initiative and its recruitment and retention bonus program, according to VITAS President and […]
As the health care ecosystem changes, hospices will have to evolve. Going forward, this will likely include more engagement with managed care organizations. Though hospices operate within the dedicated Medicare benefit, market forces in the system at large wield considerable influence on how they operate — including the meteoric rise of managed care. This is […]
Seeds of optimism are taking root among hospice providers that industry-wide labor pressures may improve this year. Though staffing remains the greatest challenge in 2023, conditions are improving, reported more than half (54%) of hospice and palliative care professionals in this year’s Hospice News Industry Outlook Survey, prepared in collaboration with Homecare Homebase. Last year, […]
More providers are investing in virtual reality (VR) programs as a growing body of research shows that it can ease pain symptoms and improve outcomes for palliative care patients. Virtual reality technology can reduce the use of high-cost pain therapy services and medications, according to Dr. Joseph Shega, executive vice president and chief medical officer […]
Opportunities exist within risk-based payment models to improve coordination among providers and transitions of care between settings, according to Dr. Joseph Shega, executive vice president and chief medical officer for VITAS Healthcare, a subsidiary of Chemed Corp. (NYSE: CHEM). While the Medicare benefit covers the vast majority of hospice care in the United States, other […]
The possibility exists that hospice care will change more in the next few years than it has during the previous four decades. The Medicare Hospice Benefit turned 40-years-old in 2022, and in that time the program has remained fundamentally unchanged. Adjustments have occurred, like implementation of the “U-shaped curve” in reimbursement, the service intensity add-on […]
Hospice News spoke with a group of industry leaders — from publicly traded companies, private firms and nonprofit organizations — about the major trends and most pressing concerns on their radar as the new year approaches. Common threads among their remarks show that leaders in the hospice community continue to have their eyes on pervasive […]
The recent article by the New Yorker and ProPublica that branded “hospice” as a profiteering “hustle” was an outrageous misrepresentation of the provider community. Starting with the headline, the story uses “hospice” as a monolithic term that makes little distinction among individual providers — heralding its overgeneralized and oversimplified perspective. In many instances information that […]
Concern is mounting around whether current health equity initiatives will be a flash in the pan or yield long term improvement on reducing disparities in hospice care among communities of color. Racial disparities in end-of-life care access have long proliferated, but in recent years health care providers and regulators have been paying closer attention, particularly […]
Wages for hospice aides and CNAs are rising faster than those for other interdisciplinary team members as providers seek to stem rampant turnover among those employees. The national average hourly rate for hospice aides and CNAs rose 9.09% in 2022, compared to a 4.52% increase in 2021, according to the 2022-2023 Hospice Salary & Benefits […]
By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information
The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.
