With a carve-in seemingly inevitable - albeit over the course of several years - hospice-focused operators are considering three potential paths to future sustainability.
Path One: Organize around serving traditional Medicare patients on a standalone hospice basis - while hoping for the best with the plans.
Path Two: Establish yourself as a value-based partner to the plans via (loss-leading) pre-hospice palliative care.
Path Three: Move upstream from the pre-hospice phase into a "pre-palliative phase" focused on managing the complex/chronic needs of specific populations in full risk.
We consider the merits of each path with a focus on the future prospects for standalone hospice.