Hospice, Inc.
The Huffington Post has updated Hospice Check to reflect current inspection data. Since we first published this map in June, the number of hospices that haven’t been inspected in more than six years fell below 400, from 759. The average time since last inspection also fell, from 3 ½ years to just under three. The increased pace of inspections reflects a push by regulators to step up oversight of the rapidly growing hospice industry in the wake of new federal legislation. Even so, compared to other health systems, such as hospitals and nursing homes, hospices remain infrequently and unevenly policed.
HuffPost published this information about hospice inspections as a resource for consumers making decisions about end-of-life care. The indicators do not necessarily reflect quality of care. The Washington Post in October published a database of other quality indicators. Both tools include information that in many states is difficult to access and is not typically shared with patients or families.
Read our full report here. Download the data here. Read about our full methodology here.
The information presented in this map reflects the results of hospice inspections provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the hospice industry’s federal regulator, in response to a public records request. The time period covers Jan. 2, 2004, to Oct. 16, 2014.
The time since last inspection is calculated as of Oct. 24, 2014 — when the database was exported — using the most recent date of a certification inspection or private accreditation inspection. Certification inspections, conducted primarily by state agencies, are intended to ensure that hospices meet health and safety requirements required as a condition of Medicare participation. Accreditation inspections — also meant to ensure health and safety standards are met — are conducted by private organizations paid for by hospice providers. The regulator is prohibited by law from revealing the results of those inspections and has twice rejected HuffPost’s request for the data.
Violations — also known as deficiencies — from all full-certification and complaint inspections conducted by state agencies are presented in this map, including those related to building code violations.
This map was updated on June 24, 2014, to include inspection dates for privately accredited hospices. As a result, the average time since last inspection decreased, and the number of hospices that have gone more than six years since an inspection fell below 800. These numbers fell again on Dec. 30, 2014, with the inclusion more recent data adding more than 1,600 inspections. This tool was also updated to allow users to search for a hospice by name and to more clearly label building code violations.
Due to a programming error, this map also originally indicated the incorrect number of months since the last certification for some hospices. Out-of-date registration information provided by CMS was also updated in several instances. Read the full list of updates here.
The methodology section was added after publication in order to more clearly explain HuffPost’s analysis.
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