A recent study completed by the RAND Corporation shows that nonprofit hospices provide better care than for-profit hospices. RAND is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. Researchers analyzed data from a survey that is distributed to those served by hospice referred to as CAHPS (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems). The data showed that nonprofit hospices scored higher across all of the assessed metrics and that families were more likely to recommend their nonprofit provider to others than those served by for-profits.
The quality measures examined in this research included: hospice team communication, timely care, help for symptoms, respectful treatment, emotional and spiritual support, caregiver education, overall rating of hospice care, and the likelihood that they would recommend their provider to others.
“These findings are particularly pressing given the striking growth for for-profit hospices, which have profit incentives that have been shown to affect how they care for patients,” lead author Rebecca Anhang Price, senior policy researcher at RAND, said in a statement. For-profit hospices offer a narrower range of services than nonprofit hospices and, earlier research has shown, for-profit hospices have higher rates of hospitalizations and emergency department visits.
In 1982, when the Medicare benefit was established, most hospices were nonprofit organizations. In 2020, the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee reported that 73% of hospices operating in the United States were for-profit companies. Lumina is one of two nonprofit hospices within our service area of Linn and Benton Counties. To learn more about the nonprofit different in care, we invite you to explore our website. As a nonprofit hospice, your care -not profit- is our top priority.
If you think hospice might be right for you or your loved one, click here to learn more or reach out to us at 541.757.9616.
