CHICAGO (AP) — For-profit hospices may be cherry-picking the least costly, most lucrative patients, potentially putting the nonprofit industry at a financial disadvantage, a study suggests.Read the rest of the report at Google News.
The researchers found hospice care provided by for-profit agencies averaged 20 days versus 16 days for nonprofit agencies. Care lasting more than one year was most common among for-profit hospice patients.
Also, compared with nonprofits, for-profits had about twice as many patients with dementia and fewer cancer patients. End-of-life cancer care is typically much more intensive and costly than dementia care.
Patients with more days under hospice care and lower skilled needs may be more profitable under the Medicare reimbursement system for hospices, said lead author Dr. Melissa Wachterman, a palliative care physician at the Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
February 3, 2011
New Report Confirms Earlier Suspicions and Findings Regarding For-Profit Hospice
A new study adds to the already convincing evidence that for-profit business motivations and hospice are incompatible. Financial incentives defeat compassionate care under such an arrangement:
