Can we be connected while remaining separate? Forging partnerships between all-volunteer & Medicare-certified hospices.

When the Medicare hospice benefit was enacted 20 years ago, many hospices greeted the news with great relief. This benefit helped many fledgling hospices start up and survive. However, a group of hospices realized that some of the people for whom they previously cared were not eligible for services under the Medicare hospice benefit. Thus, volunteer hospices filled that need, supporting and advocating for people who did not fit the hospice benefit criteria, but who wanted hospice support. Since volunteer hospices and Medicare-certified hospices play two very different roles in the hospice care delivery system, there are many opportunities for the two types of hospices to partner to meet patient care needs.