Home Health & Hospice Week

Reminder: Oct. 1 will bring lower RHC rates, higher GIP and inpatient respite rates.

Multiple hospice inpatient facilities opening around the nation may be poised to benefit from the imminent rebalancing of reimbursement rates, set to take effect in just a few weeks.

In Florida: Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care has opened an inpatient center at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, the hospice says in a release. Seasons is the largest privately-owned hospice provider in the nation, serving patients in 19 states through 30 Medicare-certified programs and 20 inpatient centers, it says.

Also in Florida: Cornerstone Hospice in The Villages has opened a new hospice facility, expanding on its already existing Hospice House, according to press reports. The new Mariposa House addition adds 12 beds.

In Pennsylvania: Lehigh Valley Health Network has reopened its Hospice House of Monroe County in East Stroudsburg. Lehigh Valley Hospice furnished inpatient care in LVHN hospitals and other contracted facilities, but community members worked with hospital leaders to reopen the six-bedroom house, LVHN says in a release. Going forward, “Hospice House and hospice operations will … be scrutinized, with formal evaluations every six months and an intensive review at two years,” said Lehigh Valley Hospital – Pocono President Elizabeth Wise in the release. “Financial viability and sustainability of Hospice House must be realized.”

In Oregon: But it’s not all openings. Legacy Health Systems will close its Hopewell House hospice facility in Portland, reports the Beaverton Valley Times. The 11-bed facility used to be full with a wait list. Now “home hospice has become so effective people are choosing to spend their final days at home with their families, surrounded by loved ones,” Legacy spokesperson Brian Terrett told the Times. Inpatient eligibility criteria have become restricted, he added, leading to the facility to have only two or three patients at a time. Legacy patients needing inpatient hospice will be admitted to hospital units, the spokesperson says.