Hospice Inpatient Units in Healthcare Facilities A Guide and Toolkit By Ruven Liebhaber, R.A., and Jay Koeper, M.S.

A win-win for all parties involved, establishing a hospice inpatient unit allows hospice programs to effectively and efficiently provide high levels of care to terminally ill patients or dying residents. Not only affording a market advantage, inpatient hospice units also give healthcare facility discharge planners a viable alternative to in-home hospice services.

Hospice Inpatient Units in Healthcare Facilities provides a blueprint for successfully establishing and operating hospice inpatient units within the existing framework of hospitals and skilled nursing facilities. This comprehensive manual is informed and inspired by the experiences of the authors and their colleagues in planning, implementing, and operating hospice inpatient programs across the country.

Administrators will gain the knowledge and assurances they need to take the unknowns out of developing an innovative site-based hospice service. The guide includes detailed information about

• evaluating an organization's readiness and ability to develop a hospice inpatient unit
  
• negotiating an agreement between the hospice care provider and the hospital or skilled nursing facility
  
• developing sound financial and staffing models for the unit
• designing a comfortable care environment
  
• integrating the hospice program with the other services provided by the healthcare facility
  
• delivering compassionate hospice care to residents and their families
  
• meeting regulatory requirements
  
• implementing a marketing effort for the hospice program

This complete guide also provides a detailed project planning chart and 28 user-friendly templates for customized planning.

Distributed on behalf of The PentaView Collaborative, Lexington, MA.