Hospice Volunteers Paid?

[Janet Anstett]

Hi and Thanks for letting me become a member here.I have a unique situation. Have been a Hospice Manager of Volunteers for 20 years, in 3 different hospices. My administrator gave me some strange information the other day and I am unable to verify it anywhere, which makes me wonder where this information came from.She is saying that I can tap into the RSVP volunteer program, cross train them to do hospice volunteering, RSVP will pay them their ususal stipend as well their mileage...and I well still be able to take their hours as hospice hours for our purposes.It has always been my understanding that we could NOT use RSVP volunteers as hospice vols, and be able to take there hours as VOLUNTEER hours.Using RSVP volunteers for hospice has always been a "no-no" in every place I have ever worked.Any input would be most welcome...Thanks so much, Jan

[Debra Fujita]

I have been with Mercy Hospice for the past 6 years. We reimburse for volunteer mileage if requested at the same rate as employees. We also work together with the 6 other non profit hospice organizations to provide volunteer training 6 to 7 times a year. (Sacramento Hospice Consortium). Most all of our hospices provide mileage reimbursement.

[Kelly McAndrew]

Thanks so much - that'll be a great help for all these pre-med students!
Kelly

[Janet Anstett]

Hi Kelly,

To the best of my knowledge, mileage is non-reimburseable, in any form. That is the way it has been for the 20 years I have been managing hospice volunteers, and haven't heard of any changes to that. What I do, is give them a questionairre at the end of the training, asking them where they are willing to go "geographically" for us. Then I stick to that. If it means that a family can't have a volunteer because I don't have anyone in the area or someone willing to go, I will try and work with our team to find another solution. BTW...caregivers can go out when your staff is in the home, doing care. (I also have the volunteers get a calendar strictly for hospice mileage. They will document all miles on dates served. At the end of the year, if they want, I will give them a statment of miles traveled for hospice for an income tax deduction.) I will caution you though, that deduction can be as varied as the number of people asking for it. Depends on income, etc.

Here in Albuquerque, it is like pulling teeth to find ANY one to volunteer, much less asking them to bury themselves in gasoline debt! Sometimes if it is a critical need, I will go out and sit with the patient myself. Staff members do get re-imbursed for mileage.

Re: your "Background Check" question...this is a Federal Background Check, so it will be the same no matter where the perspective volunteer is from geographically. The irony in this is that ONLY convictions will be revealed...so your candidate could be an ax murderer in 50 out of 51 states, and if they have never been found guilty or been convicted, it will not show up on their background check.

Re: your question on the "Police Check"...I never heard of that until I moved here to Albuquerque. Our administration had no idea what it was either. In digging around, it appears that it is a report from the "Office of the Inspector General." That is public record, and you can get it off the Internet. Do a "google search" for "Office of the Inspector General." They only require a couple pieces of information on the individual. I have never found anyone to be listed on there with a police record. Print it out, and put it in the volunteers 'red' file. I have not had any problem with my files since I started doing this. They have accepted the "OIG" report to fill that requirement.

I hope this helps you, Kelly...

Here is my phone number: 505-323-1464. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me. Jan

[Kelly McAndrew]

Hi Jan, sorry it's been so long to respond. What about reimbursement for mileage? With today's prices it's hard to ask a volunteer to travel. Would a gift of a gas card be exempt? Also, what do you do when volunteers have not lived in your state for the time needed to do a background check? I have a University near our IPU with a large group of pre-med students who want to volunteer. Some live out of state. Would they go on to their home state's State Police site? Thanks for your insight.
Kelly

[Janet Anstett]

Hi Kelly,
Glad to hear from you...yes, RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program) historically has paid their volunteers a stipend and also pay something toward their mileage. The mileage thing in todays world is certainly NOT enough! However, because of that we could not use them because of the money involvement.

I phoned our local RSVP here in Albuquerque yesterday. It appears as though among other things it is a 'clearing house' for recruitment of volunteers. Your hospice will go on a list of possible places to volunteer, and RSVP will call you with that individual's name. At that point, you become their supervisor. They will go thru your volunteer training, be responsible for doing the work for your agency etc. and then they will do the paperwork for RSVP for the reimbursement.

This is where it becomes a conflict for me, because every place I have worked before (20 years worth) have stated that it is against Medicare Regs to pay hospice volunteers any type of reimbursement, from any source. However in speaking with this lady yesterday, other hospices are utilizing the services of RSVP as a recruitment agency.

I have asked RSVP to send me the paperwork to get on their list of providers. I also have talked again with my administrator, and we are pressing forward with it.

I am keeping very precise notes (documentation) on all of it. Just in case...

I hope this helps you. I would be happy to try and answer any other questions for you.

Have a Good Day...Jan

[Kelly McAndrew]

Hi Jan, I an a relatively new Hospice VC and had never heard of the RSVP restriction. Could you please point me in the right direction as to where I can find more info?
Thanks, Kelly