The Stark Differences Between Nonprofit and For-Profit Hospices
In 2019, the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation partnered with Milliman, a global actuarial and consulting firm to conduct a study with the objective of understanding the differences and similarities in financial performance and quality of care between nonprofit and for-profit hospices serving Medicare beneficiaries. Here are the high-level takeaways.
THE BIG 5 FINDINGS:
Nonprofit hospices have an aggregate net margin of 3.0% vs. 19.9% for for-profit hospices.
Nonprofit hospices provide patients with 10% more nursing visits, 35% more social worker visits, and two times as many therapy visits vs for-profit hospices per patient day.
Inpatient stays—nonprofit hospices enroll a higher percentage of patients who have inpatient hospital stays immediately prior to hospice admission. Suggests they may be high-acuity patients with greater care needs upon hospice enrollment.
For-profit hospices report spending over 300% more on advertising costs than nonprofit hospices.
For-profit hospices report spending less than half what nonprofit hospices report on bereavement services.