Hospice News’ Top 10 Stories of 2022

In 2022, the hospice community laid the groundwork for a transformational 2023. This year saw industry-changing acquisitions, some of the worst labor headwinds to date, the return of sequestration and a sometimes volatile national economy. During late 2021 and 2022, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) developed new approaches for enforcing hospice […]

Hospices Brace for Year 4 of COVID PHE, Await Word of Telehealth’s Future

A fourth year into the pandemic, its effects have hospices continuing to combat against financial and operational headwinds, as well as uncertainty about the future of telehealth rules. The COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) is likely to endure past another extension. Currently set to expire Jan. 11, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health & Human […]

As More Hospices Close Their Doors, Staffing Strains Are Becoming Crystalized

Staffing issues have increasingly been at the root of leading causes behind shuttered hospice programs nationwide. Demographics are pushing up demand for end-of-life care amid long-standing staffing shortages in hospice. Some hospices have been unable to sufficiently fill their ranks to keep up with that demand for care, resulting in them either temporarily limiting new […]

Social Workers Leaving Hospice, Health Care in Record Numbers

Hospices have lost social worker employees at a faster rate than any health care setting in the care continuum.  Social workers have left the health care field at record-high rates during the pandemic, according to data from the Peterson-Kaiser Family Foundation Health System Tracker. As of October 2021, attrition rates exceeded pre-pandemic levels by 35%. […]