A growing number of hospice agencies are launching palliative care services as a separate business line for patients who are ineligible for—or do not elect—hospice care. These palliative care programs can address critical gaps in care for the patients living with a serious illness in their communities, and may also be an important referral source for an agency’s hospice program.

This toolkit contains resources specific to the challenges and opportunities that hospice agencies encounter when designing and delivering upstream palliative care.

What’s in the Toolkit

Engage stakeholders—patients and families, agency leadership, referrers, and financial partners—to guide program design that is aligned with their priorities.

Introduction to Palliative Care in the Community

Defining community-based palliative care: which patients need it, how it is delivered, and how it differs from inpatient palliative care.

Needs Assessment: Ensuring Successful Community-Based Palliative Care

Evaluating patient need, service requirements, care settings, and stakeholder priorities for the community-based palliative care program.

Community-Based Palliative Care Needs Assessment and Decision-Making Tool
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Step-by-step tool to evaluate patient need, stakeholder priorities, organizational readiness, and sites of care for a new or growing community-based palliative care service.

Community Toolbox: Conducting Focus Groups

Comprehensive instructions and tools for conducting focus groups during a needs assessment. Published by Community Tool Box.

Hospices as Providers of Community-Based Palliative Care: Planning Your Service Strategically

Considerations for the hospice before starting a non-hospice palliative care service line. Webinar presentation.

Business Planning for Palliative Care Programs

This Virtual Office Hour covers business planning for new or growing palliative care programs across settings.

Planning for Community-Based Care: Getting Started

In this Virtual Office Hour, ask questions of expert faculty about launching a new community-based program, designing your service package and staffing, and navigating the challenges of a new program.

Non-hospice palliative care programs are designed to address patient need, organizational priorities, and referrer relationships.

Quick Tips: Hospice-Operated Palliative Care: Designing the Community Palliative Care Program
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Program design considerations including patients, services, and staff. Center to Advance Palliative Care, 2019.

CEO Roundtable: Expanding Beyond Community-Based Hospice to Support Patients Earlier

This webinar, hosted by Tom Gualtieri-Reed, MBA, features a panel of three CEOs from community-based hospice organizations who have expanded to include palliative care.

Staffing Models Inventory for Home-Based Palliative Care Programs
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Staffing models and benchmarks used by home-based programs.

Hospices as Providers of Community-Based Palliative Care: Demystifying the Differences

Differentiating hospice and palliative care services and eligibility. Webinar presentation.

Designing a Home-Based Palliative Care Program

Practical tools and technical assistance for starting or growing a home-based palliative care program, from needs assessment to business planning, and more.

Designing a Hospital Inpatient Palliative Care Program

Tools and technical assistance for starting or expanding a hospital palliative care service.

Designing an Office or Clinic Palliative Care Program

Tools and technical assistance for developing a palliative care program in a community clinic or office setting.

Designing a Long-Term Care Palliative Care Program

Use this toolkit to evaluate models and design and operate a long-term care palliative care program.

Guidance on navigating differences in philosophy, staffing, financing, and referral protocols between the palliative care and hospice services.

Quick Tips: Hospice-Operated Palliative Care: 5 Building Blocks for a Strong Start
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Assists hospices operating community palliative care programs to understand five key steps to take before launching their program. Center to Advance Palliative Care, 2019.

Quick Tips: Hospice-Operated Palliative Care: Assessing Organizational Bandwidth for Community Palliative Care
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Checklist for assessing organizational capacity to launch a non-hospice palliative care service. Center to Advance Palliative Care, 2019.

Quick Tips: Hospice-Operated Palliative Care: Designing the Community Palliative Care Program
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Program design considerations including patients, services, and staff. Center to Advance Palliative Care, 2019.

Quick Tips: Financing Your Community-Based Palliative Care Program
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Navigating financing strategies for hospice-led palliative care, including Medicare fee-for-service, payment contracts, organizational support, and philanthropy.

Quick Tips: Hospice-Operated Palliative Care: Defining Boundaries and Building Cohesion
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Guidance for clarifying boundaries between hospice and palliative care services, and building internal cohesion. Center to Advance Palliative Care, 2019.

Quick Tips: Hospice-Operated Palliative Care: Ensuring Timely Transitions from Palliative Care to Hospice
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Best practices to promote appropriate, patient-centered referrals. Center to Advance Palliative Care, 2019.

Training for hospice and/or palliative care clinicians in communication skills, pain and symptom management, dementia care best practices, and family caregiver support.

Hospice Conversation Tips
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This resource offers some step-wise tips that foster comfortable, productive dialogue for 'the hospice conversation.'

CAPC Curriculum - Continuing Education Credits Overview

Course catalog for CAPC's clinical training curriculum. All courses provide continuing education credits for physicians, nurses, social workers, and care managers from all specialties and are free for CAPC members.

Online Clinical Training Courses For All Clinicians

Online training curriculum for all specialties and disciplines to strengthen their care of patients living with serious illness. Free continuing education credits for all, and physicians receive ABIM MOC credits for select courses.

Training Hospice Clinicians Using CAPC's Online Curriculum

A case study from Bluegrass Care Navigators.

Tools to identify measures, collect data, and use your data to demonstrate the value of the palliative care program to patients, partners, and the hospice agency.

Measurement Best Practices

Use this toolkit to select program measures that demonstrate value to stakeholders and support quality care delivery. Overcome common measurement obstacles and synthesize program data.

Certification programs for hospice-led palliative care programs based on national quality standards.

Community Health Accreditation Program (CHAP) Palliative Care Certification

Recognizes community palliative care programs delivered by independent providers of palliative care, palliative care programs that are a service of a clinic, physician group, skilled nursing facility (SNF), or of a CHAP-accredited home health agency or hospice. Certification award is for three (3) years.

The Joint Commission Community-Based Palliative Care Certification

Recognizes palliative care programs delivered by hospice or home health agencies that demonstrate exceptional quality.

Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC) Palliative Care Accreditation

Recognizes community-based palliative care programs that demonstrate exceptional quality; optional distinction in telehealth available. ACHC also offers palliative care distinction for accredited home health, hospice, and private duty agencies.

Practical tools and technical assistance for starting or growing a home-based palliative care program, from needs assessment to business planning, and more. Includes 96 resources.
Tools and technical assistance for developing a palliative care program in a community clinic or office setting. Includes 36 resources.
Use this toolkit to evaluate models and design and operate a long-term care palliative care program. Includes 43 resources.

See all 47 Toolkits

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