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 […]

Hospices Seek Expanded Telehealth Post-Pandemic as Regulatory Uncertainties Linger

Integration of telehealth has become an important component in serious illness and end-of-life care. Providers leveraged telehealth to build efficiency and increase touch points with patients and families, while also reducing travel and leg work for staff. But as pandemic restrictions start to wind down, regulatory uncertainties and questions abound about the long-term impact of […]

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 […]