The market for hospice care is growing for both eligible enrollees and providers, yet the quality of care is prone to vary, and many institutions deliver suboptimal service, says Texas A&M University Distinguished Professor of Marketing Leonard Berry.
Low-quality hospice care is often blamed on the growing market share of for-profit hospices, but Berry’s research suggests that poor service quality is related to ineffective organizational leadership rather than governmental status.
In “Practical Ideas for Improving the Quality of Hospice Care,” published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, Berry and his coauthors suggest multiple ways to reform hospice organizations, such as creating more fairness in the patient mix.
Berry is a Regents Professor and holds the M.B. Zale Chair in Retailing and Marketing Leadership in Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on improving service in cancer care. His coauthors for the article include Stephen Connor, executive director at the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance in Fairfax Station, VA, and Brad Stuart, chief medical officer at the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care in Washington, D.C.
The full article is at http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/jpm.2017.0016.
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