Hospice care thrives amid patient negligence concerns

As the for-profit hospice industry continues to grow and prosper, it is sometimes neglecting appropriate care for dying patients, reports Bloomberg News.

In fact, there has been a variety of instances where family members have seen their loved ones suffer neglect in the hospice setting, and are cut off from options to get them medical care, notes the article. According to a 2009 Medicare oversight report, nearly a third of hospice patients were not getting the services as described in hospice service plans.

"By admitting these folks to hospice, they are denied access to routine medical and rehabilitative care that they need to extend and improve their lives," Cristen Krebs, executive director of nonprofit Catholic Hospice of Pittsburgh, told Bloomberg. "A vulnerable and voiceless population is preyed upon for money."

Although many families report that their loved ones received high-quality palliative care, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services said federal hospice investigations jumped 50 percent between 2008 and 2010.

For more:
- read the Bloomberg News article