Home Health & Hospice Week

‘Scale matters,’ says one market expert.

Hospices are working hard to survive and thrive in today’s reimbursement environment.

For example: Hospice of Central Ohio will join three Dayton-area hospices as an affiliate of

Ohio’s Hospice, reports the Newark Advocate newspaper. Hospice of Dayton, Hospice of Miami County and Hospice of Butler and Warren Counties formed Ohio’s Hospice in 2013.

“We all maintain our own identity,” a hospice rep says. “It’s not a merger or acquisition activity, since we’re both not-for-profit.”

Such partnerships allow organizations with shared missions to share expertise, resources and best practices, a hospice exec told the newspaper. “The benefit of our partnership … is the ability for affiliated organizations to maintain their name, local identity and local presence,” says Ryan Mills, chairman of the Hospice of Central Ohio board of directors.

The newly enlarged Ohio’s Hospice will serve more than 7,500 patients annually — more than 900 patients a day — and employ more than 800 staff members in 20 Ohio counties.

Another example: Hyannis, Mass.-based HopeHealth will merge with Home Care & Hospice of New England based in Providence, R.I., according to the Cape Cod Times newspaper.

Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island, part of the HCHNE organization, will be known as Hope Hospice and Palliative Care of Rhode Island, the newspaper says. HopeHealth currently serves 1,100 patients and clients, while the Rhode Island-based hospice and visiting nurse organizations serve 1,200.

With Medicare reimbursement being cut, “you need to get big,” said Howard Gleckman, a resident fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. “Scale matters when you are buying supplies.” And marketing “is hard to do when you’re little and they’re big.”