The Importance of Residential Hospice Care

Hospice care helps a terminal patient die with dignity and without pain.  Hospice care can be provided wherever a person resides, such as a nursing home or hospital.  Most people prefer to receive hospice care in the familiar space of their own home, surrounded by their family.

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In some situations, however, in the final weeks and days of a person’s life, the challenge of providing 24-hour care becomes more than the person’s family can shoulder.  That is when a residential hospice becomes a ministry to the family, taking care of the hour-to-hour needs of their loved one so that they may focus on the process of saying their final good-byes.

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Families that have experienced the ministry of residential hospice sing its praises, grateful for their loved one being able to die in a home-like setting.  They realize that while their loved one received the best possible care, they were receiving care as well.  

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If residential hospice care is such a benefit for both patients and their families, you might wonder,  “Why are there not more residential hospices in our communities?”

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Why Aren’t There More Residential Hospices?

The answer to that is quite simple — one cannot make money providing residential hospice care.  The basic reasons for this are:

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Residential hospice care is expensive.  It costs over $500 a day to provide round the clock care. 

 

Medicare benefits provide about $175 a day, so the balance must be paid out-of-pocket by the families.

Residential hospice care requires flexible staffing.  Residential hospice care doesn’t occur on a regular schedule because people don’t die on a regular schedule.  An 8-bed residential hospice will have days when all beds are occupied and there is a waiting list of people waiting to be admitted.  There will be other days when only three beds are occupied and there is no waiting list.  The hospice has to be staffed 24 hours/day whether all beds are occupied or three beds are occupied.  From a business point of view, the flexibility in staffing required of a small residential hospice is a challenge.