Hospice by the Numbers – Palliative Care Comparison

We ran several queries in the MVI Benchmarking Application (BA) to get some stratified data that compares hospices with and without Palliative Care programs. Below are the results. In this article, as in all articles of this nature, we will not interpret the numbers, but rather will let the numbers speak for themselves.

Does having a Palliative Care program make a difference? We have also selected a number of data-points of interest relating to this query. Any filter criteria selection in the BA impacts MANY areas and aspects of operations. This is why we designed our query system so that interested parties can get a more complete view of hospice operations within the constraints of the data in our database. Querying the database by Palliative Care (with our without) is a great way to illustrate this.

Keep in mind that when looking for best practices, rarely (if ever) are they found in the masses or the most commonly used approaches. Otherwise, how could they be best?! The measure of central tendency (with the median being the most accurate) is absolutely essential in gaining perspective so that you can separate yourself from the herd. Without this, you have little perspective and are operating in a vacuum. True hospice professionals know what is happening in our industry.

MVI uses the median or 50th percentile as it is the most accurate measure of central tendency, superior to averages (mean) or modes.

There is a lot to talk about regarding Palliative Care programs in hospice. I believe we should be at the table, but not let Palliative Care eat our hospice’s lunch. Perhaps we will release another article on this topic in a few months.