Providing Hospice Services in 2009

I think we can all agree that 2008 was one of the more challenging years in recent decades for our planet and its inhabitants. Those challenges have also fostered a new sense of hope for the future as we begin 2009. The hospice sector of the healthcare industry continues to be a rapidly growing business sector in spite of the economic slowdown. The number of patients served by hospice has nearly doubled since 2000 to 1,300,000 in 2006. However, economic pressures due to the recent financial crisis and the unabated rise in healthcare costs will continue to force the hospice community to be cautious in its choices for bringing care to those who are dying. Competitive forces are also at work -- the number of hospice providers grew by almost 50% from 2003-2006 while the number of patients served by hospice grew by only 30% over the same period. Professionally managed volunteer programs within hospice organizations can help ease these financial pressures. The return on investment for well-run volunteer programs can bring major benefits to hospices. The number of For-Profit hospice service providers has been growing rapidly over this same time period. In the 2003-2006 time period the number of Not-For-Profit hospice service providers has not had any significant change while the For-Profit sector has nearly doubled. It is anticipated the number of For-Profit service providers, which are presently about equal to the number of Not-For-Profit hospice service providers, will overtake the Not-For-Profit sector and become the dominant sector in the next 5 years. This dynamic will continue to place increasing pressure on hospice administrators in Not-For-Profit agencies to pay greater attention to their costs of doing business. It is one of the Hospice Volunteer Association's goals for 2009 to help hospices improve the efficiencies associated with running their volunteer programs by offering cost-saving services to its member hospices. A few examples are: -- HVA frequently receives requests from individuals who wish to serve their communities through hospice volunteering. If you are an HVA member hospice, your hospice automatically receives first priority on referrals of new volunteers. -- HVA publishes its quarterly HV News e-magazine as an excellent educational resource that has information about hospice volunteering and volunteer management that you will find nowhere else. If your hospice is a member of HVA, all of your volunteers are permitted to join HVA for free and utilize this resource. We encourage you to market your hospice's volunteer program by advertising that volunteers will be given a free membership when they complete the training. Use this to give your hospice a competitive edge!! -- HVA's Patient Data Vault service can greatly enhance your volunteer program. Volunteers are also more apt to join your hospice when you show them how you have made the reporting aspects of being a volunteer so easy -- to say nothing of the operational and cost efficiencies volunteer managers will experience in their programs and the communications with their volunteers. We also hope to launch our Hospice Volunteer Training Institute in 2009, which will bring an exciting new perspective to training volunteers. We encourage members to give us feedback about the HCF. The features of the HCF continue to grow and improve. If you are interested in getting more involved in the HCF Community, please let me know. This year we are encouraging all of you to initiate new discusssions with your questions and to make more contributions to the discussion groups. We wish all HCF members a most healthy and happy 2009!! Greg Schneider HCF Creator/Founder President, HVA

Recently Published!!
by Maryclaire Torinus

Surviving Hospice: A Chaplain's Journey into the Big Business of Dying Plus: How To Find a Trustworthy Hospice

This narrative is an insider’s look into the hijacking of hospice by private equity and professional investors and the subsequent harm to patients, their families, and to the interdisciplinary clinical teams. It was released by a NYC publisher on October 31, 2023. For sale on Amazon.

The author, a hospice chaplain, tells end-of-life stories of her patients who were harmed by financially-motivated policies. This is a book for anyone who is embarking on making a choice about a hospice for their loved one, working chaplains, those in training, and those interested in what dying is like with a hospice who places patients as their primary stakeholders.

Maryclaire's experience working for an owner who sold to a private equity firm helped her to realize that the reputation and viability of hospice is in jeopardy. Her goal is to alert all who love hospice to rid it of professional investors.

— Stacy Juba, author, editor, and award-winning health journalist

"Powerful, beautifully written, and eye-opening, this book spotlights the inner workings of a multi-billion-dollar industry and the effect on patients, families, and hospice staff. The author shares poignant accounts of hospice at its best and worst and the hard-hitting truths she learned on her journey. A must-read for family members exploring hospice care."

— Laura Kukowski, CEO, editor, For-Profit Badger Hospice, LLC

"Maryclaire Torinus speaks with authority, providing this essential handbook for choosing a hospice care team and why that selection really matters."

— Greg Schneider President, HVA, co-author of The Changing Face of Hospice Volunteering in Hospice and Palliative Care

"When I first found out that Maryclaire Torinus was writing this book, I immediately contacted her because in my 25+ years supporting hospice volunteers, I have seen a gradual decline in the quality of care volunteers are permitted to provide the dying and their families. There are a variety of reasons for this that I describe in the Foreward of this book. Maryclaire provides invaluable insights that everyone should know, along with solutions to help others make the right choice in choosing a hospice."

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The Changing Face of Volunteering in Hospice and Palliative Care
Contributing Author - Greg Schneider
HCF Creator & HVA President

Volunteers have a long history of supporting the development and delivery of hospice and palliative care in most countries throughout the world. As hospice and palliative care services anticipate significant increasing and changing demands, it is recognized that volunteers have a vital role to play in supporting the future delivery of services. However, as society changes so too does volunteering.

This multi-author text explores the complex phenomenon of hospice and palliative care volunteering from an international perspective and considers the influence on volunteering of different cultures and constructs. The book also explores the likely impact of changes in hospice and palliative care on volunteers and considers how and why volunteering itself is changing and the subsequent implications for managers, organizations, and policy makers.

This book does not attempt to offer solutions to the many challenges ahead, but rather poses questions that may help to reflect on new possibilities and opportunities.

Review

"The book is well laid out and written in an easy to use manner. It begins with setting the scene of volunteering and the modern context of hospice and palliative care. The book is well referenced and covers a range of topics making for a balanced and thought provoking read." -- Nursing Times

"If you run a palliative care volunteer service, or a palliative care service with a volunteer program, you need to read this book. Not only will it give you an in-depth view of where things are at, but also how things are changing in countries from around the world." -- Roger Woodruff, IAHPC Newsletter

Editors

Ros Scott, Honorary Research Fellow, University of Dundee, UK and Co-chair, EAPC Task Force on Volunteering in Hospice and Palliative Care. She is a researcher and voluntary sector consultant with a background in organisational development, research and the development of volunteering and of palliative care organisations.

Steven Howlett, Deputy Director at Roehampton Business School, London, UK where he teaches undergraduate and post graduate courses in management and ethics. Previously he was Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Volunteering research where he completed many studies on volunteering.

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