NHPCO Releases New Palliative Care Playbook to Support Hospices in the Provision of Community-Based Palliative Care

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia, April 30 -- The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization issued the following news release:

National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization proudly announces the release of its newest resource for members, the Palliative Care Playbook for Hospices. The Playbook has been created to help hospices who are offering or working to create community-based palliative care programs.

The Palliative Care Playbook for Hospices provides step-by-step instructions developed by hospice experts, to guide hospices in the development, implementation, and sustainability of a community-based palliative care program.

"The ability to provide care to more people, earlier, is becoming more important, and NHPCO is working to help our members prepare and succeed in this new healthcare landscape. The new Palliative Care Playbook for Hospices is an example of one such resource," said NHPCO President and CEO Edo Banach.

The Palliative Care Playbook for Hospices content includes:

* Needs assessment process

* Business case development

* Legal and regulatory considerations

* Quality and data

* Staffing

* Budgets

* Documentation

* Reimbursement

"Our patients and families need hospices to think outside of the box. We're seeing expanding demos and models coming out of the CMS Innovation Center with the goal of transforming person-centered care delivery in the U.S." said Edo Banach, NHPCO President & CEO. "Only a week ago, CMS announced the Primary Care First and Direct Contracting Models, which includes an advance care model for the seriously ill population."

Additional attention has focused on the forthcoming Value Based Insurance Design (VIBD) demonstration and discussions of hospice and Medicare Advantage. The Medicare Care Choices Model (MCCM) is well underway and many providers are already contracting with ACOs and other providers in their communities.

Additional chapters of the Playbook will be released in the future as they are developed.

"We are fortunate to have established programs in the field share some of their practical tools and resources for the Playbook," said NHPCO Vice President of Palliative and Advanced Care, Lori Bishop, MHA, BSN, RN. "In addition, members of our Palliative Care Council provide insight and generously gave of their expertise in the creation of the first several chapters of the Playbook."

To support the creation and inform content development of the Playbook, NHPCO conducted a palliative care needs survey of its membership in 2018. (The Palliative Care Needs Survey Report is available for download on the NHPCO website.) Survey findings indicate that 88 percent of survey participants are involved in community-based palliative care; with 53 percent already providing palliative care services and 35 percent in the process of developing a palliative care program.

As a leadership organization, NHPCO is interested in as many people receiving person-centered, interdisciplinary care as possible.