Rural and Urban Hospice Financial Comparisons

[Frances Shani Parker]

If I asked you which hospices, rural or urban, face the most financial disadvantages, most people would probably say rural hospices. However, according to research reported in the “Journal of Pain Symptom Management,” rural hospices fare no worse financially than urban hospices. In the California study, 144 hospices were urban and 44 were rural. Adjustments were made in financial performance factors such as size, years of operation, profits, insured patients, etc. Compared with urban hospices, rural hospices were at least as profitable per patient-day, and they were determined to be “significantly” more profitable than urban hospices when charitable donations were excluded. Rural hospices fared no worse financially than urban hospices, at least in California. This information indicates a need to look further into these results on a national level. You can read more details about this study here. Frances Shani Parker, Author "Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes” “Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog”