By Phil Riske, managing editor
Over the past two years, this editor has witnessed the absolute marvelous services provided by three hospice organizations.
For patients to qualify for hospice services, they must be certified by two physicians that they have six or fewer months to live.
The Washington Post this morning released the results of an exclusive investigation showing that “over the past decade, the number of ‘hospice survivors’ in the United States has risen dramatically, in part because hospice companies earn more by recruiting patients who aren’t actually dying.”
The Post reports the proportion of patients who were discharged alive from hospice care rose about 50 percent between 2002 and 2012, according to its analysis of more than 1 million hospice patients’ records over 11 years in California alone.
Originally begun by religious and community organizations, hospice has evolved into a $17 billion industry dominated by for-profit companies, $15 billion of which was paid by Medicare.
The newspaper’s investigation should create an outrage against any organization that rips off the government by using medical patients — terminally ill or not — as pawns in a for-profit scam.
If you’re incensed after hearing this news, show your support for ethical hospice by donating to, for example, Hospice of the Valley, which has performed admirable care since 1977.
