In the spirit of World Hospice and Palliative Care Day on October 12th, I asked Greg Grabowski, partner of Hospice Advisors, to join me on the first Johnson Consulting Conversations: Insider Perspectives and Stories. Greg is also a co-author of our book Engaging the Heart of Hospice. He brings a wealth of experience, working with both non-profit and for-profit hospice organizations across North America and collaborating with funeral providers seeking partnerships with local hospice services.
The subtitle of our book, “Making Funerals and Memorials an Extension of Hospice Care,” eludes to hospices and funeral homes having some elements of care in common. The continuum of care can be strong and should be as the loved one and family members transition from hospice care to a funeral provider. Greg sheds light on what continuum care means to hospice organizations and how care team members work to give each patient and family a comprehensive, coordinated approach to healthcare that ensures seamless services tailored to patients’ needs throughout the end-of-life journey. Collaboration between hospice and funeral providers can enhance patients’ and their families’ emotional and spiritual well-being.
As discussed with Greg, we acknowledge funeral providers’ challenges when connecting with hospice care team members. It can be trying to coordinate with the hospice schedule, the time and effort it takes, all while running a funeral home, or assuming the turnover of hospice employees is too high. While the challenges are similar with funeral providers across the country we encourage funeral providers to take the first steps anyways which is gather the date needed to determine which hospices to approach and how to reach out.
Researching and collecting data to identify potential partners includes seven elements:
Knowing if your state is a Certificate of Need state, the number of hospice providers in the funeral home’s area, which hospices are for-profit and non-profit, the number of Medicare deaths per hospice provider, the range of services and key roles with each hospice and the level of community engagement. Greg shared a helpful link to identify every hospice.
https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/?guidedSearch=Hospice&providerType=Hospice
It’s not uncommon for a funeral home owner to say, “Wow. I didn’t realize that there were THAT many hospices in my area.” I asked Greg to share what could be another ah-ha moment for funeral homes, and that is “The Hospice Call Ratio”. To calculate your hospice call ratio, take the total number of hospice patients for every hospice in your area and divide them by 2. Why 2? Because half of all hospice patients are undecided on their funeral arrangements. The final calculation reveals the number of opportunities a funeral home has.
Since October 12th is World Hospice and Palliative Care Day, I encouraged our attendees to plan on posting to the funeral homes’ social media accounts an appreciation post and tag their local hospice providers. There’s another big day right around the corner that funeral homes have more time to plan for: Veterans Day on November 11th. Thousands of hospice providers participate in the program We Honor Veterans, a compassionate initiative designed to provide specialized care and support to veterans facing serious illness and end-of-life challenges. Greg gives great advice for contacting a hospice provider to discuss being a part of their We Honor Veteran initiatives. Check that out that part at the ___ mark!
We also talked in depth about having a prepared and heartfelt WHY statement and how it can resonate with hospice care team members. They have their WHY statements, and they would appreciate it if a funeral director had their WHY statement. To give you an example of a WHY statement for a funeral director here it is below:
“My desire to serve families is deeply rooted in the compassion and support I provide to all families during their most challenging times. I am committed to guiding them through honoring their loved one’s life with dignity and respect. Our funeral home will ensure that every detail reflects the unique story and legacy of loved ones.”
Notice it doesn’t say, “Our funeral home has been in business for 75 years, and our chapel seats 200 guests.” A personal WHY statement is a heartfelt explanation of why a funeral director is in the funeral service and what it means to care for loved one’s and their family members. As Greg likes to say, “Hospice professionals don’t buy what you do but why you do it.”
I encourage you to check out Johnson Consulting Conversations with Greg. I know you will have more than one key takeaway and feel even more motivated to work closely with your local hospice providers.
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