Why Palliative Care Offerings Can Be A Differentiator For Home Health Providers

Home Health Care News | By Joyce Famakinwa
 
With a tricky payer landscape and lower margins, palliative care isn’t always the most obvious investment for home health providers.
 
However, providers that have gained a foothold in the palliative care space have seen strong clinical value in it.
 
Broadly, palliative care is both an approach to care, as well as an actual medical subspecialty, according to Rory Farrand, vice president of palliative and advanced care at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO).
 
“The goal of palliative care is to improve the quality of life for people living with serious illness, whether that illness is going to be life limiting, terminal, or just something that’s really serious,” she told Home Health Care News. “Our objective is to manage pain, symptoms and provide other types of support, depending on a person’s individual situation or their specific needs.”
 
The Washington, D.C.-based NHPCO is the largest membership organization for providers and health care professionals who care for people affected by serious and life-limiting illness.
 
Oftentimes, palliative care is conflated with hospice care services.
 
“The biggest difference between palliative care and hospice is that [the former] can be provided at the same time someone is receiving curative care or disease modifying therapies like treatments for cancer or dialysis,” Farrand said.
 
Palliative care is sometimes operated by home health or hospice companies — 41% of home-based palliative care programs are operated by hospice agencies and 7% are operated by home health agencies, according to Center to Advance Palliative Care and Palliative Care Quality Collaborative data.
 
Still, the reimbursement landscape for palliative care isn’t always as straightforward as it is for home health or hospice.

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