Palliative Care: A Growth Opportunity for Independent Hospice Agencies

Independent hospice agencies compete in a difficult market.

Large health systems have established referral networks. National hospice organizations have scale, name recognition, and large marketing budgets.

Smaller agencies don’t win by trying to outspend them. They win by being better, more useful, and personal.

For some hospice organizations, palliative care can be part of that strategy.

It can help agencies serve patients earlier in the serious-illness journey, build stronger relationships with referral partners, and create a natural continuum between palliative and hospice care.

Here are four things hospice leaders should consider.

1. Patient Choice Matters. Being Chosen Matters More.

Patients have choices.

CMS discharge-planning requirements emphasize patient goals and treatment preferences and prohibit hospitals from improperly limiting the qualified post-acute providers available to patients.

That’s important.

But simply being one of the available choices doesn’t mean a patient or referral source will choose your agency.

Families making decisions during serious illness are often overwhelmed. They may know little about hospice providers in their community. Familiar names and established healthcare relationships can carry significant weight.

For an independent agency, the question is

“Why would patients and referral partners choose us?”

Instead of competing on access to a referral list, compete on value.

Be responsive.

Make intake easy.

Communicate well.

Solve problems for referral partners.

And give them a reason to remember your agency.

2. Meet Patients Earlier in the Serious-Illness Journey

Hospice is an extraordinary benefit, but it has specific eligibility requirements. Under Medicare, hospice generally requires certification that a patient has a prognosis of six months or less if the illness runs its normal course, along with election of the hospice benefit.

Palliative care serves a different role.

It focuses on relief from symptoms and the stress of serious illness and can be appropriate earlier in the disease trajectory.

That creates an opportunity to help patients who need support but aren’t ready, or may not yet be eligible, for hospice.

It can also create a more natural continuum of care.

Instead of meeting patients for the first time during a crisis, an organization may already understand the patient’s symptoms, goals, family dynamics, and care preferences.

When hospice eventually becomes appropriate, the conversation doesn’t have to begin with a stranger.

It begins with an existing relationship.

3. Create Value for Referral Partners, Not Just Another Service

Don’t launch palliative care simply because it may produce future hospice referrals.

Build it because it solves a real problem.

Hospitals, physicians, facilities, and other healthcare organizations care about what happens to seriously ill patients after they leave their immediate care.

They care about symptoms.

They care about transitions.

They care about unnecessary utilization.

And they care about whether patients and families have adequate support.

Research has associated inpatient palliative-care consultation with lower hospital costs for adults with serious illness. Palliative care can also support symptom management, communication, and goal-concordant care.

That gives hospice organizations an opportunity to approach referral partners differently.

Don’t ask only:

“Can you send us hospice referrals?”

Ask:

“Where are seriously ill patients falling through the cracks, and how can we help?”

That’s a very different relationship.You stop being another hospice salesperson asking for referrals and start becoming a care partner.

4. Build the Infrastructure Before You Build the Program

Palliative care isn’t simply “hospice earlier.”

The clinical model, documentation, reimbursement, staffing, payer arrangements, workflows, and regulatory requirements can differ substantially.

Before launching a program, understand the model you’re actually building.

Ask:

• Who qualifies for the program?
• Who will provide the care?
• Where will care be delivered?
• How will referrals enter the organization?
• How will visits and documentation be managed?
• What payers and reimbursement models will support the program?
• How will patients transition between palliative and hospice care?
• How will information follow the patient?
• How will you measure whether the program is working?

Then make sure your technology supports the answers.

Trying to operate hospice in one system, palliative care in another, referrals somewhere else, and billing through separate disconnected workflows can create exactly the fragmentation you’re trying to solve.

The goal should be continuity.

One patient journey.

Connected teams.

Information that follows the patient as needs change.

Final Thoughts: Compete on the Continuum, Not Just the Referral

Independent hospice agencies don’t need to become national organizations to compete effectively.

They need to become valuable.

Palliative care can give the right organization an opportunity to serve patients earlier, deepen relationships with healthcare partners, and create a more connected path from serious illness through end-of-life care.

But the opportunity isn’t simply adding another service line.

It’s connecting the journey.

That’s the philosophy behind Hospice Tools: The Complete Hospice Platform.

Hospice Tools brings CRM and referral management, intake management, clinical documentation, built-in compliance, palliative and hospice workflows, mobile access, eBilling, full-service billing, and operational insight together in one connected platform.

Because growth isn’t just about getting the referral.

It’s about what your organization can do before, during, and after it arrives.

 

Book your demo & find out how Hospice Tools helps agencies like yours!

Check Out More Hospice Tools Insights!   Book Your Hospice Tools Demo Today!