Hospice News (10/24/19) As hospices seek new ways to engage patients further upstream, a rising number are diversifying their services to include home-based primary care, along with palliative care and other care models. Evidence indicates that these primary care programs carry substantial benefits for patients and families and can have a significant positive impact on a hospice’s bottom line.
Engaging patients before they reach the last six months of life can help boost hospice utilization. For example, Northwestern Medicine’s HomeCare Physicians (HCP) in Wheaton, Ill., saw 1,022 patient deaths between 2014 and 2018. Of those, 76% died in their homes and 76% died while receiving hospice, according to the white paper “Home-Based Primary Care’s Perfect Storm” by Thomas Cornwell, M.D., founder of HCP and CEO of the Home-Centered Care Institute (HCCI) in Shaumburg, Ill. Read more.