Building a Viable Palliative Care Program (Part 1)

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Due to the historically weak reimbursement stream from CMS for palliative care, providers often have been conflicted with providing this undeniably helpful service and staying out of the red while doing so.

Some hospice providers started their palliative care service line with the mindset that it would be a “loss leader” – they expected to lose money on the service but hoped to build relationships with patients and families sooner, convert them to their hospice care as early as appropriate, and make up for the loss through stronger hospice census and LOS. For most providers, things didn’t really work out that way.

So how can providers deliver the comfort and quality of palliative care without hurting themselves financially ... and build a program that can be sustainable?

In this podcast episode, Mark Hendrix, president of nTakt, joins host Stan Massey of Transcend Strategy Group to discuss wise approaches to solving the palliative care dilemma. The conversation covers billing practices, the role of telehealth, a smart foundational model to build a strong palliative care program, the future of reimbursement and much more.

Mark Hendrix has over 35 years of experience in process improvement and business turnaround. He is trained as a Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt with over 10 years of hands-on experience applying Lean concepts in healthcare settings. Mark also has served as Operations Director for CMMI Palliative Care Grant and has had results published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine.