Alexandria, Va, July 12, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With the growth and visibility of hospice care in the U.S., it is essential that hospice organizations offer the highest levels of quality care and demonstrate a commitment to organizational excellence. To help providers achieve these goals, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization is proud to announce that the newly revised edition of its seminal publication, Standards of Practice for Hospice Programs, is now available to its membership.

The Standards of Practice are organized around the core components of quality in hospice care, which provide a framework for developing and implementing Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement. Specific standards and practice examples are included for each component, and appendices provide additional standards for a hospice inpatient facility, nursing facility hospice care, and a hospice residential care facility.

This updated version of the Standards of Practice includes recent compliance and quality requirements such as emergency preparedness provisions. Change tables are also included that outline updates from the previous version of the Standards of Practice allowing hospice professionals to track changes.

“These practice standards are invaluable tools that empower a hospice to self-assess the quality of its services, set programmatic benchmarks, and integrate into the hospice’s performance improvement activities,” said NHPCO President and CEO Edo Banach.

The Standards of Practice is consistent with the Medicare Conditions of Participation and with national accrediting organization standards.

 “The standards are designed to be fully integrated within the hospice organization. This is not a document that should sit on a shelf in the office,” added Banach.

Components in the Standards of Practice for Hospice Programs include:

• Patient and Family/caregiver-Centered Care (PFC)
• Ethical Behavior and Consumer Rights (EBR)
• Clinical Excellence and Safety (CES)
• Inclusion and Access (IA)
• Organizational Excellence (OE)
• Workforce Excellence (WE)
• Compliance with Laws and Regulations (CLR)
• Stewardship and Accountability (SA)
• Performance Measurement (PM)
• NHPCO Performance Measures

As Medicare’s first proven coordinated care model, hospice is a program that works, serving more than 1.3 million Medicare beneficiaries every year.

NHPCO members may download the Standards of Practice for Hospice Programs from nhpco.org in PDF free of charge.  To reflect NHPCO’s commitment to quality and provider support, the organization is proud to make this valuable resource available as a benefit of membership.

Non-members will be able to purchase the Standards of Practice in downloadable format from the NHPCO Marketplace in the near future.