Research Identifies the Most Essential Components of Palliative Care Programs

Standardized interdisciplinary team meetings, volunteer involvement and early intervention are among the beneficial components of community-based palliative care, a new study has found. Worldwide, providers that leverage these strategies, along with robust clinician and public education programs, achieve better outcomes, including more deaths occurring in the home, reduced hospitalizations and improved patient and family satisfaction, […]

Key Research Trends: Long Hospice Stays, Palliative Care Save Medicare Dollars

The health care space — including hospice — is increasingly shaped by numbers. During the past several years hospice providers have had to become experts in data management in order to remain competitive. Data has become invaluable to negotiations with referral and payer sources, as well as to regulatory compliance. But providers can also benefit […]

Study: Palliative Care Patients More Likely to Reach End-of-Life at Home

Access to community-based palliative care increases the likelihood that seriously ill patients will die at home in accordance with their wishes, a new study has found. These services also generate health care cost savings through reductions in high-acuity care. Researchers from Northern Illinois University (NIU) and Seattle University performed the first systematic literature review to […]

Providers Strategize to Close Racial Gaps in Hospice Care

While several health care providers have expanded their diversity initiatives to bridge racial divides, hospices have much room to grow in fostering stronger connections with underserved communities of color. Hospice providers who participated in a recent nationwide study indicated that increasing staff diversity and developing committees dedicated to diversity initiatives were strategies yielding the most […]

Hospice Outreach to Minorities Could Save Medicare $270 Million

Addressing long-standing racial disparities in hospice care could save Medicare as much as $270 million annually, new research has found. Outreach to underserved communities can ensure more patients receive quality care at the end-of-life as well as open untapped markets to hospice providers. “We all know the quality of life benefits but seeing the economic […]