Increase in Hospice Agency Providers as Primary Hospice Attending: A Five-Year Retrospective Chart Review.

Abstract

The hospice attending physician plays an essential role in the management and delivery of hospice care. In this role, the attending physician is chosen by the patient or health care surrogate and is a resource regarding the patient's medical condition and needs. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants may also act in this capacity. Research recognizes the importance of the relationship between the patient and hospice attending through the end of life, but often the hospice attending role is filled by an attending from the hospice agency who generally does not have a prior relationship with the patient. We conducted a retrospective chart review for all patients enrolled in Rochester Regional Hospice (RRH) Care from 2020 to 2024 in Rochester, New York. We conducted a comprehensive review of 12,328 hospice admissions from 2020 to 2024, encompassing patients receiving both routine and inpatient hospice care, with no exclusions applied. The annual average admissions totaled 2465. Over this five-year period, hospice admissions electing to use hospice agency providers as their primary attending physicians increased by 26.7%, indicating a significant upward trend in this care model. The results demonstrate a consistent increase in patients choosing hospice agency physicians as their primary hospice attending providers. Further investigation is warranted to identify the factors influencing this selection and to better understand its implications for hospice care delivery.