From Sea to Shining Sea: State Palliative Care Laws Yield Mixed Results

Stretching back more than a decade, a rising number of states have passed laws designed to raise awareness of hospice and palliative care, but to date, few if any have achieved measurable results. The reasons for this run the gamut. During the past two years, for instance, state governments and health care organizations have been […]

Nonprofit Hospices Fight to Compete with For-Profit Chains

Nonprofit hospices have been bleeding market share for several years—but are not going gentle into that good night. Rather, many nonprofits are adapting to compete with large for-profit providers that are entering the space in greater numbers. In the 1980s and 90s nonprofits provided virtually all hospice care in the United States, but the balance […]

MEDPAC: For-Profits Account for 100 Percent of New Hospices

For-profit providers are dominating the hospice market. The number of hospice providers in the United States during 2017 rose 2.4 percent, with for-profit providers representing 100 percent of the growth, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MEDPAC) annual report to Congress. That same year, the number of non-profit hospices declined 3.5 percent. Larger numbers […]