Private equity-owned hospices performed below not-for-profit hospices across all Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems hospice survey measures, according to a study published Nov. 18 in JAMA.
Researchers from Atlanta-based Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, New York City-based Weill Cornell Medical College, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, both based in Nashville, analyzed CAHPS hospice data from between January 2021 and December 2022.
Here are six takeaways from the study:
- About half of all active hospice agencies in the U.S. were included in the study, which provided care to 87% of all Medicare hospice users during the study period.
- Eight CAHPS hospice survey measures were evaluated and averaged for the study. The measures were communication, timely care, treating family members with respect, emotional and religious support, help for symptoms, hospice care training, hospice rating and willingness to recommend.
- Of the 2,676 hospices included in the study, 23.5% were owned by private equity firms or publicly traded companies, 40.1% were for-profit, non-private equity firm or publicly traded company owned and 25.7% were not-for-profit.
- Hospices owned by private equity firms or publicly traded companies had the lowest performance across all eight survey measures.
- Hospices owned by private equity firms or publicly traded companies also had the lowest average performance with a score of 79.8, compared to 81.2 for for-profit, non-private equity firm or publicly traded company owned hospices and 83.1 for not-for-profit hospices.
- "Greater ownership transparency would allow regulators and families to make informed decisions, safeguarding care quality and helping hold hospices accountable when ownership shifts occur," senior author Robert Tyler Braun, PhD, said in a Nov. 18 news release from Weill Cornell.