Profit vs Not for Profit

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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...........................:angryfire

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...........................:angryfire

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!!!

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Specializes in Medsurg, Rehab, LTC, Instructor, Hospice.
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.

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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.

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Specializes in Medsurg, Rehab, LTC, Instructor, Hospice.
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?

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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.
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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.

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Specializes in Medsurg, Rehab, LTC, Instructor, Hospice.
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.

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