[webblarsk]

I am so glad to know I am working for a company that wants to do the right thing. It really bums me out that there is companies that are giving the good companies bad names. We are a small company but like I have said before our patients recieve whatever they need and we don't worry about the cost. We have social service, chaplain service, volunteer services, bereavement for 13 months, SN visits, HHA visits, dietician, physical therapist, speech therapist. Our HHA's see our patients 3-5 times a week to provide personal care. SN's visit 3-5 times a week. Nursing home patients are seen just as often and recieve the same care as those in the home. We go out for all deaths and have been known to spend hours with a dying patient and their family. I think I said earlier that we are a new Hospice in a Rural community but have had 60 patients in 8 months and have received nothing but praise. Alot of the cases I have seen here are CHF, Dementia, COPD patients. I have had some cancer patients but the need for palliative chemotherapy or radiation has not been an issue yet. I do currently have a patient with cancer of the larynx that I arranged a consult for trach placement for ease in breathing. The patient saw the surgeon and unfortunatley the surgeon said at this point the surgery would not help. But because the patient asked about the surgery I made the appointment. The day that I believe that the company is no longer intrested in the well being of the patient and family is the day I will no longer work for this company. I hope I am making some sense............I'm just really frustrated that day after day we are doing the right thing and still hear so much negative. Thanks again for letting me vent and being supportive..........

[webblarsk]

Originally Posted by renerian

massage therapist
pet therapist
aromatherapist
music therapist
respite workers


renerian

I am very intrested in the services listed above, could you tell me more about them. I would love to get some or all of those things implemented. Thanks so much.

[jcox]

Originally Posted by webblarsk

I am so angry. I work for a "for profit" hospice and am so tired of getting bashed for it. The non-profit agencies around try to make it sound like for profit agencies charge the patient. When in all actuality the patient is never charged. We accept Medicare payments, private insurance, and if the patient can't pay then we take them free of charge. Not for profit agencies also take medicare payments, private insurance payment, and patients that can't pay are taken anyways. That is federal law. We give our patients excellent care and have never had a complaint. Our patients and family members love us and are extremly satisfied with the care they recieve. We provide whatever is needed for the patients to make them comfortable.

Thanks for letting me vent...........................

You and the people you work with may very well have all good intentions of caring for you patients, but please remember you work for an "agency" that is a business in business for a bigger company, which means they are out to make money and actually have marketing departments out looking for dying people to make money!!!!!!!!!!!! If that sits well with you so be it!!!

[OneThunder]

Originally Posted by jcox

You and the people you work with may very well have all good intentions of caring for you patients, but please remember you work for an "agency" that is a business in business for a bigger company, which means they are out to make money and actually have marketing departments out looking for dying people to make money!!!!!!!!!!!! If that sits well with you so be it!!!

I personally think no one should die without hospice care, and if it takes a marketing team to find them, so be that.

[jharper]

Funny, got into a lively debate a week or so ago at a meeting and we agreed on only one thing: Stereotypes run rampant out there.
For Profits are greedy and don't provide care. Non-Profits are sloppy because if they do poorly they have a fundraiser. Neither is always true. I think it is all about the program, the mission, the leadership, the staff, and expectations being managed. One for-profit I talked to did 5% of their gross as charity, and a non-profit was proud to announce that they kept their charitable care below 2% by aggressive management of admissions. The for-profit took out a loan, the non-profit had millions in the bank. Another for-profit had RN caseloads of 21 on average. A non-profit at 13 (my hospice is currently at 12)

Yes, we non-profits do have a built-in advantage, and yes, the for-profits might be able to recruit superior staff, but the exact opposite can be true too.

It is a lively debate, but it seems to me that it is about spin for marketing, or our personal pride in our programs (or a bad taste from a bad program). Is it to naive to think we would be better served to make every company, regardless of IRS status, raise its standards in order to be competitive - and weed out the bad programs?

Its like when I play my harp, sometimes a bad artist can destroy a beautiful piece of music.

[OneThunder]

Originally Posted by jharper

Is it to naive to think we would be better served to make every company, regardless of IRS status, raise its standards in order to be competitive - and weed out the bad programs?

.

I agree. But shouldn't the marketplace dictate the standards? No business, no hospital, no hospice can stay in business with a bad rep for bad service. And there is the matter of Medicare survey and Joint Commission for monetary punishment.

[aimeee]

Originally Posted by OneThunder

I agree. But shouldn't the marketplace dictate the standards? No business, no hospital, no hospice can stay in business with a bad rep for bad service. And there is the matter of Medicare survey and Joint Commission for monetary punishment.

It can take a long time for a reputation to catch up with a company. Meanwhile, many patients/families suffer at a time when they are most vulnerable.

[OneThunder]

Originally Posted by aimeee

It can take a long time for a reputation to catch up with a company. Meanwhile, many patients/families suffer at a time when they are most vulnerable.

I'm not so sure about that. The media will "jump" on a negative story much faster than a positive one. And remember, just because a patient chooses one hospice, doesn't mean they have to stay with them. They can transfer to another. Hospice patients, like any other patient, must be a informed consumer. I understand that patients facing death (and their families) are in an emotional upheaval. Doctors, social workers, nurses need to be informed on the availability of hospice providers and their reputations, not just refer to the "non profit" hospice because it seems to them it is somehow "better" than a "for profit" hospice.