It’s a new year, a time when many of us make resolutions that aim to add healthy habits to our daily lives. As leaders of nonprofit hospice organizations, I invite you to consider actions you can take this year to ensure that your organization will thrive within the changing landscape of hospice. And, I’d like to share what a few nonprofit legacy hospices in California are doing to address these changes.
We all want the continued success and vitality for our organizations that we have seen in the recent decade. Many of us realize, however, that what got us here is not enough to ensure our relevance moving forward. Medicare Advantage and the approaching carve-in pose new challenges that we haven’t had to face before. We are already hearing from large traditional payors (including MA and Medi-Cal Plans) and at-risk providers that they prefer to negotiate with larger hospice entities – those often seen within the for-profit hospice sector.
To remain relevant in this next decade, not only do we need to be the exceptional hospice organizations that we are, we also need to be bigger so that we can create and deliver the next generation of products and services for our new payor sources. Innovative service and product development require scale, and we can achieve that scale by coming together, as extraordinary nonprofit hospice organizations, to serve our local communities more effectively. This is a time of both challenge and opportunity for nonprofit hospices.
The California Hospice Network (CHN) was formed in this last year as a strategic partnership committed to sustaining local nonprofit, community-based hospice care in California. The network’s founding member organizations – Hospice of Santa Cruz County, Mission Hospice & Home Care in San Mateo, and The Elizabeth Hospice in San Diego – are trusted leaders in the communities they have served for more than 40 years. Aligned in their mission and values, these founding members are working, sharing, and planning together to create stronger community hospices that enhance the quality of care and drive innovation. With a focus on scale, sustainability, and relevance, members of CHN are already benefiting from lower procurement costs, and are better poised to meet the forthcoming industry changes.
As the mergers, acquisitions and consolidations within our hospice industry continue, we have chosen a network model where collaboration will support the development and implementation of innovative hospice, palliative and serious illness services. Our changing market requires this investment in infrastructure for innovation while maintaining a focus on local markets, excellent customer service and an exceptional patient experience – areas where nonprofit hospices excel.
Over the next weeks and months, I’ll be sharing with you more about California Hospice Network, where we’re headed and how we can all benefit from this “stronger together” model. I invite you to reach out to me to learn more about CHN and the benefits to joining this group of nonprofit hospice leaders committed to excellence.
Warmly,
Jan Jones, RN, BSN
Chief Executive Officer
California Hospice Network
jjones@cahospicenetwork.org
