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What happens to care when private equity firms buy hospice providers?

On this edition of Your Call, we discuss the rise of for-profit hospice agencies in the US and how that's affecting care.

Between 2015 and 2022, 47 private equity firms bought 124 hospice providers. Though hospice began as a nonprofit, community-based service in the 1970s to provide specialized end-of-life care, over 70 percent of hospice providers are now for-profit, according to the CDC.

What’s behind this alarming trend? And how is it affecting patient care and the right to transition with dignity?

Guests:

Dr. Ira Byock, palliative care physician, public advocate, founder of the Institute for Human Caring, emeritus professor of medicine at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, author of Dying Well, The Four Things That Matter Most, and The Best Care Possible

Jennifer Moore Ballentine, CEO of the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California

Resources:

New York Times: Hospice Is a Profitable Business, but Nonprofits Mostly Do a Better Job

Los Angeles Times: A visit with my late mother’s nurse, and a lesson on what you should know about hospice care

STAT News: The hospice industry needs major reforms. It should start with apologies

JAMA: Association of Hospice Profit Status With Family Caregivers’ Reported Care Experiences

Rose Aguilar has been the host of Your Call since 2006. She became a regular media roundtable guest in 2001. In 2019, the San Francisco Press Club named Your Call the best public affairs program. In 2017, The Nation named it the most valuable local radio show.
Nina Kissinger is a producer on KALW's daily call-in program, Your Call.