Community based care in the time of Covid-19

Eric G Bush

Abstract

Community based hospice and palliative care has been instrumental in providing patients and families high quality patient centered care. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic in the USA; for profit hospices outnumbered not for profit hospice organizations by a more than 2:1 ratio, resulting in not for profit orsganizations that are very lean. With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in the US & already stretched resources, how can these organizations face the many challenges of continuing to provide quality care? These challenges include but are not limited to areas such as: personnel, regulatory and financing. This presentation will explore this topic from all aspects with the goal of stimulating thought in optimizing what, when and how to provide high quality patient centered care to patients in the community. What is the best way to provide this care given the current resources? Are we optimizing utilization of the current infrastructure in place? How do we best provide quality of life focused care with limited resources in the midst of a pandemic?