Home Health & Hospice Week

When hospice agencies and their representatives urge the feds to tread lightly with new mandates because they threaten access to the service, they aren’t kidding. Access to hospice service in some areas is already beyond strained.

For example: Lumina Hospice & Palliative Care in Corvallis, Oregon, and other hospices in the area are “grappling with pandemic-fueled staff shortages, which have forced them at times to turn away new patients or delay their enrollment,” reports The New York Times. “It’s devastating,” Lumina medical director Helen Kao told the Times.

The high-profile newspaper highlights similar scenarios in Indiana, New York State, and Washington state. Contributing factors including burnout, better-paying jobs as travel nurses, and vaccination mandates are exacerbating the staffing shortage that leads to waitlists, temporary closures, and higher caseloads for remaining staff.