A homecare hospice profile: description, evaluation, and cost analysis.

After analyzing its first year of operation, a homecare hospice staff describes its patient statistics (n = 70), its evaluations received from the patients' families, its inability to accept many referrals (n = 150), and its cost analysis. The mean patient longevity in the program was 42 days for a cost of $65 per patient day. The patients' families reported they were more than 90 percent satisfied with services rendered, although their level of satisfaction with their physicians was lowest (75 percent). Many referrals were not accepted into the caseload because contact came so late that the patient died before processing could be completed. The data indicate that the hospice program was urgently sought by the public and that the hospice reported in this study will be able to provide homecare services at a cost which is competitive with skilled nursing home care.