HealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
View All ProductsFulfill compliance requirements with a variety of programs and courseware designed to address critical regulatory requirements as well as educate staff to recognize and mitigate risks.
View All ProductsBy increasing your healthcare staff's focus on quality and safety with HealthStream, they can help to reduce medical errors and readmission rates.
View All ProductsLearn about what HealthStream's healthcare policy management software and how it can help aid your organization efforts.
View All ProductsHealthStream's education helps address diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, as well as promoting health equity in the communities you serve.
View All ProductsDeliver custom or industry designed product training directly to patient and resident care environments to reinforce proper use.
View All ProductsTeach your healthcare staff about the revenue cycle and claim management through targeted training and video tools from HealthStream.
View All ProductsNurture the skills of your nurses and medical staff to help mold them into effective leaders with development training from HealthStream.
View All ProductsIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
View All ProductsHealthStream's EMS Program offers a comprehensive, CAPCE accredited EMS course library that meets National Registry annual recertification.
View All ProductsMake sure your clinicians have the support they need to provide competent care with clinical competency training and development from HealthStream.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
View All ProductsGive your healthcare staff the decision support and skills training they need with the online products available from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream's solutions allow your healthcare workforce to be confident and competent with the knowledge they are upholding the highest of standards.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All ProductsNurseGrid and Keener - HealthStream's mobile apps built by nurses, for nurses - help nurses take control of their schedules, practice self-care, and build a more sustainable career.
View All ProductsTake the stress out of scheduling with real-time technology that engages nurses and healthcare workers from HealthStream.
View All ProductsProvide an easier way to view healthcare staff capacity insights while seeing a patient’s journey with HealthStream’s operational intelligence and machine learning products.
View All ProductsMitigate risk and elevate your quality of care. Improving both clinical and business outcomes starts with a smarter, more integrated approach to regulatory training, continuing education and quality management.
Learn MoreWhat is Hospice?
The concept of hospice care is still a relatively new one in healthcare. Dr. Cicely Saunders began what is now the hospice movement fairly recently – in the 1960s – when she established what is believed to be the first hospice outside of London.
Hospice care is designed to provide supportive care to patients in the final stages of a terminal illness. Rather than focus on a cure, this type of care focuses on comfort and quality of life. Hospice care may be delivered in a hospital, a free-standing hospice or (most frequently) in a patient or caregivers home.
Hospice uses a multi-disciplinary approach that embraces the needs of both patients and family. The team may include physicians, nurses, social workers, clergy, dieticians, respite care providers and bereavement counselors.
In order to meet the criteria for hospice reimbursement, most insurers require that:
Hospice – The Four Stages of Care
Medicare-certified hospice providers must provide all four levels of hospice care.
Routine home care is the most basic of hospice services and may be delivered in the patient’s home or in a skilled nursing facility. While this is described as the most basic level, it actually includes a broad span of services from nurses, physicians, social services, home health aides, counseling, medications, medical equipment and supplies and lab services.
At this level of care a nurse and or an aide will remain in the home for 8-24 hours each day. Continuous care is a short-term option for the provision of hospice care and is re-evaluated every 24 hours. It is used for patients when their pain is not well controlled, they are experiencing severe nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, breathing difficulties or when there is a problem in the patient’s caregiver network that results in gaps or inadequacies in the patient’s care.
A patient who experiences sudden or short-term symptoms that are too difficult to manage at home may need this level of care. Symptoms such as those described in Level 2 above may also necessitate a move to inpatient care. Inpatient care means that nurses are available at all hours to provide medication, comfort and to closely monitor the patient’s condition.
This level of care may be provided in a variety of settings that include a free-standing hospice facility, a hospice unit in a regular acute care hospital or a hospice unit in a skilled nursing facility.
This level of care is essentially for the family. If the family is having a difficult time caring for the patient at home due to caregiver stress or other circumstances, a patient may be admitted to an inpatient unit to provide a break for caregivers. There is a five-day limit on this type of care. At the end of five days, the patient is typically discharged to home care.
Hospice – The Cost
Hospice costs like most healthcare costs in the US are largely invisible to patients, but there are significant costs associated with hospice care. Care that is provided on an inpatient basis can cost up to $10,000 per month depending on the level of care that is provided. Approximately 85% of the costs of end-of-life care are paid by government agencies with Medicare picking up the largest share (approximately 85%). Medicaid, private insurers, charities and self-pay are all in the single digits.
The healthcare delivery system, and how it is financed, has changed considerably since the 1960s when Dr. Saunders formalized the concept of hospice care and it has gotten substantially more expensive. The strides made in medicine have resulted in increased lifespans and while hospice patients spend a limited amount of time in hospice, the time that they do spend has increased in recent years. This along with an increase in the number of conditions treated in hospice has resulted in cost increases of up to $1 billion dollars per year.
Learn more about HealthStream workforce development solutions for hospice.
HealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All Learning & PerformanceHealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
View All ProductsWhen you enact HealthStream's quality compliance solutions, you can do so with the confidence your healthcare organization will meet all standards of care.
View All Quality & ComplianceFulfill compliance requirements with a variety of programs and courseware designed to address critical regulatory requirements as well as educate staff to recognize and mitigate risks.
View All ProductsBy increasing your healthcare staff's focus on quality and safety with HealthStream, they can help to reduce medical errors and readmission rates.
View All ProductsLearn about what HealthStream's healthcare policy management software and how it can help aid your organization efforts.
View All ProductsHealthStream's education helps address diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, as well as promoting health equity in the communities you serve.
View All ProductsHealthStream offers professional training and education on how to best optimize your reimbursement process within your healthcare organization.
View All ReimbursementTeach your healthcare staff about the revenue cycle and claim management through targeted training and video tools from HealthStream.
View All ProductsImprove the preparedness of your staff, increase survival rates, and cut costs with the advanced resuscitation training services from HealthStream.
View All ResuscitationNurture the skills of your nurses and medical staff to help mold them into effective leaders with development training from HealthStream.
View All ProductsIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
View All ProductsExpand the decision-making skills and effectiveness of your healthcare workforce with HealthStream's clinical development programs and services.
View All Clinical DevelopmentMake sure your clinicians have the support they need to provide competent care with clinical competency training and development from HealthStream.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
View All ProductsGive your healthcare staff the decision support and skills training they need with the online products available from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream's solutions allow your healthcare workforce to be confident and competent with the knowledge they are upholding the highest of standards.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All ProductsDelivers everything you need to request, gather, and validate information about a provider to create a single source of truth for downstream processes.
View All CredentialingMake sure your healthcare staff can schedule out appointments and work schedules with ease using HealthStream's line of software solutions.
View All Scheduling & Capacity ManagementNurseGrid and Keener - HealthStream's mobile apps built by nurses, for nurses - help nurses take control of their schedules, practice self-care, and build a more sustainable career.
View All ProductsTake the stress out of scheduling with real-time technology that engages nurses and healthcare workers from HealthStream.
View All ProductsProvide an easier way to view healthcare staff capacity insights while seeing a patient’s journey with HealthStream’s operational intelligence and machine learning products.
View All Products