Question: Where do hospice patients receive care?
Answer: In October 2010, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) issued its report titled “NHPCO Facts and Figures: Hospice Care in America”. The report includes data through 2009.
Focusing on where hospice patients were residing at their times of death, NHPCO reports that 40.1% were at home in 2009 (compared to 40.7% in 2006). Here’s the breakdown for 2009:
- At home, 40.1%.
- In a nursing facility, 18.9%.
- In a residential care facility, 9.6%.
- In a hospice inpatient facility, 21.2%.
- In an acute care hospital, 10.1%.
Caring House will provide a home-like alternative for persons on hospice who cannot be at home.
NHPCO reports that 1.56 million patients received care from hospice in 2009 (1,020,000 of whom died under hospice care in 2009).
The reported median (50th percentile) length of service was 21.1 days in 2009, while the average length of service was 69 days.